Siamese Fighter Building Nest

[karlos100]

hi guys. i know i should post this in the correct sub forum but it looks a bit quiet in there! anyway i have a male fighter in my community tank and he has started building a nest in one corner of my tank. He has become very protective over that corner but i have no female in there. ive looked up on why they build nests and its for spawning. should i get him a female? i know they are aggressive fish,but mine is quite tame and does appear a little lonely ha ha. any info greatly accepted!

 

[Fish_mouth]

Hi what other fish may be in your community tank? If he is building a bubble nest it means he is happy, not always that he wants to spwan. Doesn't matter how tame you think the betta is it may change its mind. Only add a female if you are going to breed them or the female may get its fins ripped to bits and die. If you think it is lonely give it a mirror a few times a week.

 

[karlos100]

in my tank are two adult platies and two fry. two tiger barbs,two clown loach and a pleco. then i got my fighter. he only seems to guard off the barbs,the other fish he doesnt seem to mind coming near

 

[Fish_mouth]

What size tank is it?

 

[Fish_mouth]

You say that you have 2 tiger barbs, they will rip the Betta's fins apart as they are good at fin nipping. If you want the fin nipping to stop I think you have to have at least 6 to stop the nipping. You need at least 3 or 4 clown loaches as they are very social fish.

 

[karlos100]

the barbs dont nip any of my fish. the fighters fins are perfect and always have been. the loaches rule the roost followed by the fighter. the barbs keep themselves to themselves and are very playful with each other. all my fish have been together for over a year without any problems at all. if you say the fighter is happy that is why he is building a bubble nest we will leave it at that! thanks!

 

[Fish_mouth]

OK then. Sorry if I made you feel like you dont know anything. sorry

 

[karlos100]

hey mate wasnt havin a go lol. i tend to read books on fish keeping and ask my local aquarium shop for advise. the only reason i asked on here today is that i have a day off and if i needed to take action then today is the day to do it. i still listen to everybodys comments

 

[piper]

Karlos what size is your tank ?

 

[afishdude]

defiantly don't get a female, if you do they will in fact spawn. but then the male will kill any other fish in the tank.

what size tank?

 

[karlos100]

its a 130 litre tank,corner unit with stand and spray bar type filtering. i went to lfs and the owner has told me to get two females,he says im lucky to have a fighter or betta as you guys like to call em build a nest. i have 2 females now in there. he seems interested in one of them but both seem to be settling in and there has been no nastiness so far. ive also added more plants this weekend as my other ones were looking a bit 'tatty'!just in case they do decide to spawn i have a second tank upstairs that i have used for rearing platys and mollys recently. its currently empty and is still filtering with water and filter media from my main tank. if im a winner with my fightere they will go in there!! BTW its a 30 ltr and i have a fry trap too!

 

[lilfishie]

take the females or male out immediately, you clearly don't know the scale of breeding bettas, you end up with over 100 fry, you have to seperate all the males, have at least a 40 gal grow out, then theres rehoming them too. please remove either the females or male for the sake of your fish

 

[afishdude]

plus you need vinegar eels or micro worm, then 2 months of hatching brine shrimp every day to make them survive.

the male will kill the females!

 

[Polenth]

Where did the other community tank fish go when you added the females? If they're still in there that's another problem.