Introduced 3 female bettas into my tank...

[Tuxy]

Now I have 5 flying foxes, 1 male betta and three female bettas. I have a heavily planted 25G tank. There's a number of places the females can hide but the male is on a never ending quest to find them. At one point I scooped up the male into the container it came in and floated it in the tank surface so the females would come out of their hiding places (eventually).

Another problem I have is that the females aren't eating the food I'm giving them. I think it's the dried shrimp I don't have it infront of me. Either the pellets are too big or they simply don't liek it.

Should I A. remove the male entirely as the constant harrassing will lead to a fatality or 3? B. What else can I use to feed them?

thanks

PS - I'll update will recent pics of my tank, the plants are twice the size as in my sig now.

 

[rommel39]

Yes, remove the male betta. He is trying to mate with them and more often than not mating leads to shredded fins and sometimes death for the female (sometimes the male). Males and females should never been kept together, unless you are trying to breed them.
Even when you are trying to breed them they should have their own tank, lots of hiding places for the female and then you have to remove the female from the tank when they have finished mating.

 

[FishGeek]

I would definately get the male out of there!

 

[Tuxy]

Will do, I wonder if I can return the females? I bought them at petsmart.

 

[ninamarie]

Yes you should be able to return your fish.

 

[Tuxy]

Females are out of the tank, I'm debating returning them or putting them in a new bowl recycled from a cookie jar. I'm prepping it right now. I bought 6 cardinal tetra's and placed them in the tank last night. Unfortunately I think the betta got aholod of one of the tetra's because I found one of them injured swimming barrel rolls with red discolouration to the throat (do fish have throats?).

I'm thinking of returning those now because I'm afraid they'll die. Plus they won't feed when I ad flake to the tank. Is this a learned behaviour or do they have to be near the surface to feed?

 

[hyunelan2]

When they get hungry, they'll figure it out. A lot of times when fish are new to a tank, they are stressed from new surroundings and don't feel like eating. Once they adapt to their new home they should start to eat.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Three females in anything under 5g (and 10 is much better) are pretty prone to fighting (but 2 females tends to be worse). One does fine alone, like a male betta. The females can be territorial too, but it's generally less aggressive and more tolerant than males.

Your tank looks very nice, by the way.

 

[ninamarie]

post teh cookie jar, i would like to see it.

 

[Tuxy]

Here's the cookie jar.

Here's my tank, compared to where I started out...

I've decided I'm giong to keep the females and put them in my 25G and put the male betta into the cookie jar. I couldn't bring myself to return the females bettas back; not after I "liberated" them.

I'm going to put a small potted plant in the cookie jar I don't know what yet but it will have to be something that works in low light conditions. ANy suggestions?