new bettas

[longhorn13]

I just went out and got 2 bettas (1m 1f) and as of now i have them in their own little tanks (2G and 1G). i plan on moving them into a divided 10G (or if i can figure out how to divide my 5G mini bow). my ? is: the 2G the male is in is a hex and the back 3 sides are mirrors (don't know why i didn't see this as a potential problem) and the male is going nuts flaring at himself...he's still new to this tank, so will he get used to the mirrors, or should i move him? also, would the female do better in the tank with mirrors? thanks, any advice is welcome, as these are my first bettas hopefully i can get them to breed when i move them to the 10G, but that's another topic down the road

 

[White Whale]

Get your male betta out of the house of mirrors! Constant flaring will shorten his life expectancy.

 

[longhorn13]

will the mirrored tank be ok for the female, or should i just not use it?

 

[Jayderana]

I would say that you should get the male out of the tank with mirrors. I mean they do like a little bit of a challenge of another male but overstimulation could possibly be harmful to your fish. I would imagine especially now because he is just trying to settle into a new home. I say switch them for the time being until you can get them into the bigger tank as I would imagine it would be less stressful on the female. Good Luck and I hope you enjoy your new bettas....they are really wonderful fish. One piece of advice that I would like to add is make sure that your tanks are covered as bettas do jump!

 

[longhorn13]

thanks, i'm going to move them now. when i move them into the 10G, do i need to keep them separated all the time or just after breeding (if that happens)?

 

[Jayderana]

I believe they should be separate all the time, as the males will also be aggressive towards the females. From what I have read they should only be together for a short time while spawning and separate the rest of the time. So a tank divider would be wise.

 

[StanTheBetta]

I have a 1 gal tank with flattened out corners that my betta can see himself in and he constantly flared at them for about 3 or 4 days but now he's used to it and he just swims around.

 

[Dragonscales]

I keep all my bettas together in a community tank and have no probs, depends on the temperment of the bettas in Q though. If you really want to keep them together then keep an eye on them for a bit after you put them in, if they seem to get along then that's fine, if after a few days they're still not settled then seperate them.

 

[longhorn13]

do you think either of the bettas would work now in my community tank (it's got swords and mollies)?

 

[Dragonscales]

I don't see why not if their temperment is ok. I have 4 in my community tank and they are in with danios, guppies and platys which are all sort of similar in nature to mollies and swordtails

 

[Dragonscales]

best to stick to one male betta per tank though, two or more will lead to only one surviving as they are so territorial that the males will fight to the death over tank space.

 

[fish_breeder]

I agree with Dragonscales . I have all my bettas in seperate tanks. The females should never be in the same tank as the male unless they are going to spawn. The female can be hurt or killed from all of the stress with the male chasing her or from torn fins as he will nip at her.

 

[longhorn13]

well, i had switched the male to the one gallon and the female to the two gallon (with mirrors on the back). he did not like his new home at all and she had no problem with the mirrors, so i put the divider back in the 2G so the mirrored back is on one side of the divider and put them both in, male in the front, female in the back. they both seem happier, she is a lot more colorful now (her fins are bright red, they were almost transparent before) and the male is a lot livelier and has his nice fins displayed all the time instead of closed up looking sad. and after the first night when i got up in the morning, he had made a nice bubblenest...guess he likes her! can't wait to see how happy they get when they go to their 10g (divided of course)