Siamese Fighter Problem?

Question

This might be a bit long winded but bear with me - Yesterday I bought two mollies and a siamese fighting fish to add to my 3 month old tank, I already had 2 red rams, 4 platies and 3 leopard catfish in there. I had read a lot online that siamese fighters are fine along with other fish as long as there are no other fighters in there, and the woman in the fish shop told me there would be no problems - but a few hours after adding them to the tank my male ram had destroyed the fighters tail and was absolutely torturing him so I put the ram into a seperate wee tank on his own for a while to let the siamese fighter establish himself, but then the siamese fighter started trying to eat my mollies so I swapped and put him into the tank on his own and let the ram out. Everyone was getting on fine and I left them overnight like this, but I got up this morning and one of my platies is dead! What's going on???? Does anyone have any advice as to what I should do?

Answer 1

Can I keep other fish with my Bettas?

Well the answer is complicated, a nice big maybe

1st lets see what you have;
a 5g tank or larger 10-20g being ideal?
1 betta male or female?
A desire to have an amazing home for your betta and other fish?

The tank:
The tank itself should contain 1 or more caves as space allows, plenty of plants, fabric or real. A smooth substrate, fine gravel or sand. A Filter, light and a heater. The filter should be adjusted so the water current is minimal.

I have bettas in various community tanks. I have had only 1 that was not going to be friends with his tank mates and so he lives alone.

So the list of critters I have with my bettas;
Danios, Rasboras, Black Neon tetras, wild guppies, African dwarf frogs, Cherry Shrimp*, Ghost Shrimp*, Cory cats, Zebra loaches.

Things I would never keep in with a betta;
Gouramis, Angelfish, goldfish, most tetras, tiger barbs, cichlids, crabs or crayfish, anything bigger than a betta, anything thats a fin nipper.

Always research any fish before putting it in your aquarium.

In my experience you need to watch the other fish for picking on the betta than the betta picking on the other fish.

When introducing new fish to a bettas tank, let them float for about a half hour, long enough for the betta to investigate them and get bored. Bettas are very curious and will follow and examine new tank mates very closely. Try checking your bettas fish aggression with a colorful and very fast male wild(feeder) guppy, if he kills it you know he is not suitable for a community tank. Odds are he will play chase with it and never actually hurt it. Out of the many bettas I have owned only 1 killed the guppy, she was very determined.

The next thing you need is a backup tank, all prepped and ready to be home. Be ready to move the betta to it if things go bad. Sometimes bettas will just let other fish bully them, sad but true. Remove betta immediately if this happens to him or he could be bullied to death. It is easier to catch and move a betta than other fish.

Remember each betta will react differently to tank mates. Be observant and careful and things will go your way. The larger the tank the less likely your betta will go ballistic on his new friends.

Also remember that no matter how big your tank is, do not place 2 male bettas in it or keep a male with females.

So now that your an educated betta keeper, when people tell you that bettas kill any other fish you can laugh in their faces and tell them they are full of betta myth BS.

Heres some vids of my 20g tank with Vash the Betta
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4TUmWSiHhs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4fbTPhlvRA

*Some bettas see shrimp as dinner and will eat them, same for snails.

Answer 2

I found this when I had my fighter in a community tank. Regarding the mollies, fighters have a tendancy to attack anything with long fins. I'd only put mine in with very short finned fish such as tetras. Almost the same reason for your problem with ram, it was probably just attracted to the long flowing fins of your fighter. I suggest you get another tank to keep the fighter in with maybe some smaller less flashy fish, or you can buy a small plastic cube that attaches to your tank that you can keep the fighter in, if you don't have another tank.

Answer 3

This must be something to do with the Siamese fighter. I had one and it attacked the rasboras in my tank. They fought back, and the fighter ended up finless! I moved him into another tank for a while - but the as soon as I put them all together again, they were attacking each other. I took the fighter out again, and within a few hours, he had died.
I know that this doesn't help you much, but at least your not the only one this has happened to!

Answer 4

your rams are not compatible with these fish, especially not with the betta, since he has long flaring fins

your betta didn't try to eat your molly, he was just flaring at him which is normal behavior

Your platy may have died due to the stress they were put through



hope that helps
Good luck



EB

Answer 5

hi,dont know if this helps but my cuz runs fish shop and its fine for siamese fighters to live in a normal goldfish bowl in normal cold water (we found they even live much longer than in tropical tanks).think it depends on each fighter how aggresive they may be.good luck