my g/f bought 3 beta fish the other day....2 f, & 1m...?

Question

she has the 2 f's on one side of the tank & the male by hisself...the 2 sexes are seperated...but she just saw what looked like an attack or something from one female...my question is....was it....from the looks of things, from what she says it looked like the red, pretty female attacked the purple beat up feamle b/c there was something like a piece of fin floating around...it kinda sounded like human females....pretty ones attacking the not so pretty ones....she has seperated them now but does she need to buy another tank or what....

Answer 1

Female bettas are aggressive, but not as aggressive as females. They will fight until the figure out a pecking order. Some females are just plain mean, and will even beat up the males. Some times you'll get 2 evenly match females, and they will just kee fighting. In general you can only keep 1 per 5-10 gallons, and need lots of cover. Also adding or removing a female will restart fighting.

Also I recently discovered that the mere sight of a male makes females more aggressive. I moved into a new place and put the girls tank nexts to the guys. In the space of 1 minute my girls went from peaceful coxistance to a full on cage match. It's the only time I've ever seen a female flare at another female.

Answer 2

Most Betas are relatively easy to take care of but can die if everything is not just right. What you need to due if you really want it to live with no problems is the following; Get a 10 gallon tank and "beta dividers", the kinds with wholes in them. Put one divider in separating the tank with a 1:3 ratio. Then on the smaller of the sides put in the water filter. You do not need a super powerful one either, just one designed for a 10 gallon tank. You do this because most betas really need the filtration system but are affected by moving water. Then on the side housing the beta put in the castle (or whatever you may have) and a few plants that it may nibble on. Just buy beta fish food and feed it as directed on the packaging. However you must watch the fish as it eats. You do not want to put in so much food that any (<2%) makes it to the bottom. If you like the tank to stay clean with out risking killing the beta from shock (cleaning the tank shocks the fish) buy a small scavenger fish i.e. algae eaters. Just make sure the algae eater doesn't die. But do not put in "competing" fish, if you really want it to have the best chance of staying alive. Good luck! Mine were named Fantasio (really pretty white and pink), then Dr Jeykll (Deep blue) and Mr Hyde (Red). Fantasio lived for about three and a half years. Mr Hyde lived about two years. And Dr Jeykll lived a little under three.

Answer 3

Two female betas will fight. As a rule, betas can be put with other fish, but not other betas, male or female, unless the females have 5 gallons each and there are several. But there is another part of your question I want to address. A piece of fin floating around is a bad sign. Damaged fins from fighting are usually torn, but having a piece of fin fall off is usually a sign of a bacterial or fungal infection like columnaris or fin rot. Even if it is just a damaged fin, the fish is now very vulnerable to infection. After seperating the fish, I would look into buying betafix or metafix or another broad spectrum antibiotic from your pet store to treat the injured fish.

Answer 4

Female bettas CAN be housed together ALONG as you have ATLEAST 3. IF you only have 2, ONE WILL BECOME DOMINANT and attack the other one. IF YOU HAVE 3 or more, they then can establish a pecking order. I had a sorority of 9 females in my 30 gallon tank and didnt have any problems whatsoever. Before that i had 4 in a 5.5 minibow and still didnt have any problems.

However, just because you can mix females DOES NOT mean you can mix males and females. If neither are ready to breed, one will kill the other.

Your g/f NEEDS to either get a 3rd female betta or seperate the 2 female bettas.

I also hope that the tank is atleast 10 gallons because 3 female bettas and a male betta even tho its divided is TOO MANY fish for that size tank. If its only a 2 gallon then only the male betta will be ok in it.

Answer 5

I have had females attack each other. Provide plenty of cover for them to hide. I had success with 3 females and one male for years. I just had lots of plants and cover in the 10 gallon tank.

Good luck. Also, I think, just like people, some fish are meaner than others.

Answer 6

Well, female fighting fish do fight amoung themselves. But they are just less aggresive compared to the males. From my experience, it's possible to to keep two female fighting fish togather if your tank is bigger (mine is a foot) and there is some hiding places.

What I do is I pick up some thick tree branches (make sure they are none toxic) with a couple of fork and drop them in the tank, I also pick some dried leaves ( also make sure they are none toxic) and drop them in the tank. These will provide the hiding place needed and the females will is very happen in this environment. Moreover the water will get alittle brownish which looks pretty nice overall.

That said they'll still chase each other around but thats a much as they can do because there are too many hiding places to enable them to do much damage to each other.

Answer 7

All beta fish attack eachother no matter what sex it is. They use to say if you stuck a mirror up to the side of the tank that the fish would run its head into the tank thinking its another fish. I dont know if its true or not though.

Answer 8

If all 3 fish are seperated it should be fine. if they are together they most likley will attack eachother its there nature but if you cant keep them all sperate then yes get a new tank. i would put all 3 fish in seperate tanks

Answer 9

usually females dont fight but i would say keep all in seperate beta bowls

Answer 10

first understand the complete name of beta fish.

Siamese Beta FIGHTING fish.

These fish will fight any other fish, period. A tank should never have more than one beta in it.