Passive Male??

[laryenhilllvr]

i rescued a male betta from petsmart on Saturday, when i brought him home i sat him next to a mirror, but (no lie) he did not flare up!! So i put him in the same container with one of my females and she was more aggressive than he was, she wopuld swim up to him,and hit him with her tail, but hi did not respond in the slightest, why is this?

 

[Alien Anna]

He's probably been kept in a tank with another aggressive fish and he's been scared into submission. I had a betta like that - he'd been put in a tank full of serpae tetras who nibbled him, and then the LFS put him in a tank full of dwarf gouramis. By the time I got him home he was scared of my black neons (and that's about as cowardly as you can get).

It's taken weeks before he would not cower before his own reflection and we had a sticky moment or two when he realised he was the king of the tank and started to bully the tetras. But that subsided when everyone learned their place again.

Make sure your betta has somewhere to hide and give him time.

 

[BettaBoyz]

i have some pretty passive boys, though i'd never stick them together. Donahue just flares at algae and his reflection, but didn't even nip at Mackenzie's fins when he invaded the tank (long story) they actually swam along beside each other since, i've determined Donny is a nitpicker, and just doesn't like seeing people 'on his property' without being able to deal with them if he has to. Pierce, i have yet to see Pierce flare. i've also yet to see his tail close. i think he's a weird Veil/Delta hybrid or something.

otherwise, yes. your boy's probably been bullied. lots of TLC, bloodworms and hidey-holes should fix the problem in time

 

[Kossy]

My old betta was a passive one, he did flare up at a mirror due to pride however when it came to females and other fish he was quite a gentlefish and I loved him. Also feed him live-food, change water and keep it quite for a while and soon he should be a normal betta

 

[laryenhilllvr]

hey, thanks for all the great replies. I put him in with Victoria, because i wanted to breed him with her, but she chased him around and flared at him, after about ten minutes he began flaring at her and chasing her around, so i think he should be alright.