Damit Damit Damit!!! Now they are fighting!

[Iggy]

I screwed up royally.

I was felling sorry for Reena my female betta (see thread http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8563)
and I removed her bully tankmate 'Suzy' and put her in a temporary I had.

Well, Suzy seems to get pretty scared in her new environment (horizontal lines) so after a hour or so I put her back in the original tank with Reena....

Well, Reena did NOT like that one bit, and started after Suzy. I tried to let them work it out but they would not stop fighting, so I felt it necessary to seperate them again.

I hate being such a rookie, now I need to bring both of them back because I bet the same thing will happen if I add any other females to the tank.

I only had them for 1 day and now they are mortal enemies

Damit! I only have a 3gal tank to work with for now... Do I bother with 2 or maybe try again with 3 females in that sort of tank????

 

[mike the zealot]

bettas are weird. You could have 5 together and they're fine, or you could have them all fighting. Each betta is different, and can change their mind about how they wanna be depending on the other bettas in the tank. Trial and error is the only solution.

 

[Iggy]

Well, ended up returning them both. I decided on getting 3 females this time and I got them put together and observed them for a while before I left the store. Reena (the 2nd), Shelby and Ruby are all original tankmates and are all different sizes. Reena is the biggest but docile, Shelby is a little skiddish, and Ruby is this tiny little thing.

So far, they are showing no aggression towards each other. They all seem to have established the pecking order already, so homefully this is the end of this issue for a while.

 

[PreciousGems]

I hope they get along for you! They sound great.

Alexa

 

[Jubilee]

Next time just take them all out and put them in new surroundings at the same time. That way noone 'owns' the tank. Then later you could reintroduce them to the original tank at the same time.

 

[revfred]

Bettas have such individual personalities, I am constantly amazed. I would agree with Jubilee . . . it is better if you introduce them into your tank together. They tend to be less territorial that way.

 

[Iggy]

Thanks,

Today, Reena (biggest) is chasing Shelby around a bit, but nothing serious. My little red Ruby stays pretty low and out of sight from the others.

Feeding the girls is a lot different from feeding the males - they males eat right away, out of the females, so far.. only Reena has eaten, just a few flakes.

Reena does not swallow the Haraki betta bites, and the other two have not tried yet.

They are all still pretty young, so I might try some live micro-worms or brine shrip - I have never used live food before, so I will have to get some from my LFS.

Also, for those of you who are concerned about bio-load (3/3gal) I am going to pick-up a 5gallon tank ASAP to hold my girls and give them a little more space (plus it will free up my 3gal tank for another male )