Think I have a problem...

[x Fish x]

So I got a proper heater, and have been acclimating it all day. 74 degrees in the tank now, the girls are practically LIVING on the heater, and the Pygmies have left the warm gravel-spots and are roasting on the plants.

I was wondering if this change could possibly stress and infect the wounds dealt by my aggressive female, Athena? She has torn up everyone's fins, but has recieved a good side-bite herself. I'm worried. She is indeed a girl, but has the profile of a (guess what) Plakat male. Her anal fin tip stretches and meets a very round 160 degree tail. Her rays are split, her ventrals are long, her neck and head are large and powerful, and she can motor like anything. She's not like the others. Xena has a neatly pointed veiltail with ray splits and slight crowning (personable, I can't believe I thought she was the initial aggressor) Little Girl is tiny, with a more Veiltail-female type tail, round with a slight point, ray splits and slight crowning. The steel has either a Delta or Crown tail, she is too scared to leave the safety of her plants, though her size matches up against Athena.

Do you think I might actually have a male Plakat on my hands, or do female Plakats typically act this way? The pet store I got them from is a fish warehouse outlet, and while their males are segregated and easy to tell apart (extreme Crowning, sweeping Veils, round Deltas, huge Halfmoons, and teeny Short-tails, monster Plakats and strange 'Hybrid Tails') they had all the fish mixed that day, and no labels. Could I have picked out a Plakat, and mistaken it for a female? Athena has a typical coloration; dark underlay, green-blue iridescence, red and yellow fin membrane with the same iridescence, and a dark head. If she is or isn't a Plakat, will she calm down? Should I remove her, or wait and see how things work out? She seems very violent, bumping and pushing and whenever someone looks at her wrong, oo, watch out.

Sorry this got so long, I just had to write it all down. Oh! On top of it all, back before I got my heater, my dad decided putting all my fish in Drac's tank was a good idea. That's right, five females (one aggressive, two defensive) and five incredible-edible Pygmy Cories in a two gallon tank with an aggressive male Betta. Oh yeah, that'll end well.

 

[AlexsDaddy]

Have you checked for the egg spot(don't remember the technical name for it)? It is a small white bump or spot that is located between the ventrals. If there is no egg spot, then you may have a male plaket on your hands. If so, get him out of there asap. Either he will beat on your girls till they die, or vice-versa. If you keep increasing the temp slowly (a few degrees a day) it shouldn't stress them out much. So your dad put 5 females, 5 pigmys, and 1 male all in 1-2 gallon tank??? Maybe you should try and school him a bit on stocking, and what goes with what........

 

[x Fish x]

I've checked for the oviposter- finally got a full flare- and Athena is indeed Athens. Auck. He's being moved into Drac's old tank tomorrow after school, since that's the only time I can. I hope my girls live. He's been chasing them like mad, like a fight-trained Pit Bull.

And my dad tried to make me do that, because Drac's tank is constantly at 78, even though my room is 60. It's so strange. He thought the warmth would be better, I don't think he realised that 2 gallons and 11 aggressive/semi-aggressive fish is a good idea. And now that I know Athens is a male, that would have been utterly HORRIBLE.

 

[newfishies]

whoops!!!
good thing you caught the faker!!!!

 

[AlexsDaddy]

If you have a breeding trap you could put him in there temporaraly till you get the time to move him. If not, good luck with everything. Glad you were able to catch it before anything really bad happened. Well, your dad was right in one thing, the warmth would have been better, but most of them probably would have ended up dead in a couple days. If not from the ammonia levels, from the agressivness. GL!

 

[x Fish x]

The moment Athens was removed, everyone came out of hiding and did the Fishie-Dance-of-Joy. Fins were unclamped, wounds were paraded and fishies pouted and gobbled up bloodworms. All is well in the female-Betta-world.

Athens, on the other fin, doesn't like his new tank very much. I didn't have any extra gravel, and the reason that tank was put away was because of it's lack of lighting, hence little heat and no live plants. Athens is now in the dark, with a thin layer of gravel, a small plastic-wood cave and a huge pitted stone, to make up for the missing gravel, along with a few short silk plants. He doesn't look very happy. I'm getting a second Explorer II ASAP, maybe I'll have my boyfriend buy it and bring it up on my brother's birthday, and then pay him back. Or I can get a 2g hex tank with a UGF and light from my LPS for 30-40 bucks, but I'm not a UGF kind of person.

Hopefully, the little boy will learn to live in his corner. He's still getting lots of love, even if he's a terror. As for the other girls- Nightingale for the masked-steel Plakat female (she flares and chases occasionally, but not nearly as aggressively as Athens). The red Cambodian Crown still needs a name.