My Betta lost it's colour and died

[Sailfin Pleco]

I used to have a lovely red male betta which over a few weeks lost it's colour untill recently is was a very pale pink/red colour. It tried to keep out of the way of the other fish and hid in the plants. Yesterday I was very upset as it had died overnight.
Any idea's to why this fish lost it's colour and died after being in my 27 inch tank for about 3 weeks. Could it be stress from the gourami's that were in the same tank.
I really want to get another male betta but not if it's going to get bullied by the gourami's so am considering moving the gourami's to my 36 inch tank.

 

[FishWhisperer]

Do you mean 27 gal tanka nd 36 gal tank?

 

[Sailfin Pleco]

Not sure what size is in gallons but in litre 27 inch tank is 70 litres and 36 inch tank is 120 litres.

 

[twoluvcats]

bettas and gouramis do NOT get along. they WILL fight. The gourami may not have let him eat. Bettas really don't do well in community tanks anyway. If you want a betta, get him his own tank to live in.

 

[Lotus]

Sorry to hear about your betta.

Pale colors on any fish is a sign of stress. As soon as you see that, you should try to work out what it wrong (aggression, water problems, disease). It seems your betta was very stressed by the community tank (probably the gouramis). By the way, your 27" tank seems fairly overstocked, which doesn't help anyone have their territory, and can lead to poor water quality.

Bettas are generally better off in their own tanks, as twoluvcats says.

 

[ashleigh]

I agree, and I'm sorry- you might want to keep a close eye on your gouramis for sings of stress as well, they are known to fight amongst themselves.

 

[Iggy]

Sorry for your loss.

Like it has been suggested, gouramies and bettas are a pretty bad mix. They tend to fight for space and food, and will often mistake each other for a rival male.

A nice 5 gallon heated tank would be perfect for a single male betta.

 

[Sailfin Pleco]

I'm thinking that tonight it might be best to move the 4 gourami's from the 27 inch tank to the 36 inch tank so they are with other gourami's.

 

[ashleigh]

no, see, gouramis don't get a long well either- I hate to ask but could you possibly find homes for four of them? I think this will be the best solution- gouramis are very territorial.

 

[Sailfin Pleco]

I've got one of these large bamboo ornaments in which fish can hide which I was going to put in to the big tank when I transfer across the 4 gourami's from the small tank. I'm thinking this should work and will keep you all posted.

 

[ashleigh]

no- gouramis do not want to be with other gouramis- I'm not sure a cave will help.

 

[AquaticGem]

Gouramis are semi-aggressive fish, so I don't know if throwing all your Gouramis in the same tank will help at all. Could get messy in fact.

 

[Sailfin Pleco]

The 2 golden gourami's get on ok so why shouldn't the cobalt blues and dwarf reds.

 

[ashleigh]

like I said, they are very territorial fish who like a good deal of space with no other gouramis in it. the more concentrated the gourami population in a tank the more fighting you are going to see.

 

[Sailfin Pleco]

Ok thanks, best I keep a very close eye on them all to see how they get on. Hope they get on ok as I want to get another betta in to the small tank now they have gone.

 

[ashleigh]

I'm not sure I understand why you feel the need to do this- can you explain?

 

[Sailfin Pleco]

The cobalt and dwarf gourami's in the space of 3 weeks had killed 5 fish in my small tank so I think that when they are in a bigger tank with more room and bigger fish of which 2 are gourami's that they will settle better.

 

[ashleigh]

but do you see that they are not going to because of territory issues? they'll just stress each other this way- can you take some back to the store?

 

[Sailfin Pleco]

So far so good, the 6 gourami's are all swimming about as normal. There are no signs of them chasing each other or any bullying so hopefully it will stay this way.