Female betta in community tank question

[trailmule]

I put a small female betta in with my tetras and it seems like she HATES it. All she does is follow the edges of the glass. She does eat, flakes and freeze dried bloodworms. What should I do? Leave her in there and hope she eventually gets used to the freedom of a 10 gallon tank? Take her back to my lfs if they'll let me? Keep her by her self in a smaller tank? I would rather not keep her by herself. I got her Saturday night. The tetras had no problem with swimming around. Hmmmm.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks and I appreciate it.

-TM

 

[MadridKid]

Two options here...Number One-Put the fish by herself on a nice spot in atleast a 1 gallon tank...Number Two-Let her get used to it for a little bit and see what happens, but don't put anymore fish in for atleast the next 3 days. Write back in 3 days..I'll try to answer for ya!

 

[trailmule]

I'll leave her in there and see what happens.

With the bubble strip off and the filter at medium flow, she ventures away from the glass. Perhaps I will post a question about filters/bubbles in the beginner forum....

I'll let you know what happens..

Thanks

-TM

 

[Kissyboots]

The first fish I put in my 20g was a male betta. For the first two days, all he did was swim in the same pattern across the glass. Sounds like yours has the same behavior. I think she'll be fine. I have a female betta with my tetras too and they don't bother each other. I bet she'll get used to it after two or three days.

 

[trailmule]

Oh the other fish aren't a problem at all. (yet) She will swim up to them and seems interested in them when they play. I think the tank set up was making her uncomfortable....

We'll see how it goes

-TM

 

[MadridKid]

OHHH! you should've mentioned that! Bettas HATE fast moving water! That was one problem...sounds like this tank might work out after all!

 

[trailmule]

I see you read my other post =) Yeah I think that contributed to the problem.

Hopefully we can come up with a solution that is good for the fish and the plants.

-TM

 

[MadridKid]

yep! Hope it works out...

 

[TabMorte]

Hope your female's doing better trailmute. Also you might want to make sure she's getting enough food. The tetra's are fast little buggers and can scoop up all the food before slow betta girl gets a nip. This happened to mine a lot at first before I put a second feeding ring into the tank for the betta's to eat at.

You may also wanna make sure you have (fake or real) plants, or a cave/castle/shelter in your tank that she can hang out in. I find the female bettas really like to hide and are much more active when they have a safe refuge they can go to when ever they like.

 

[trailmule]

I have 2 java ferns, and anubias on driftwood and 3 bunches of mondo grass which are going to be eliminated as soon as we can find something to replace them with. I don't like to disturb the tank more than I have to.

She eats well with the three tetras... I hoping that it will be okay with a couple more tetras. I feed flakes and freezedried blood worms. Not too many worms, but the betta eats the majority of them. And she's pretty quick at getting food.

The piece of driftwood has a "cave" and she goes in there sometimes. She is on the bottom more than I thought bettas liked - but she explores, looks for food scraps, investigates what the corys and the otto are doing. Except for the swimming on the glass she seems to be happy

-TM.

 

[TabMorte]

Keep an eye on her color. Female bettas get pale when they're depressed and get vertical stripes (usually two) when they're scared.

That said the female in my community tank likes to hang out at the bottom too. Infact she plays with my cory a lot (she likes to take his wafers and carry them around while he chases after her). She picks up a lot off the bottom of the tank too which I thought was odd at first too but she's been at it happily for quite a while.