My Betta is mean now

[grimlock3000]

My Betta has taken it upon himself to start ramming my lonely Cory Catfish. A few times this week the Betta has darted into the Catfish and knocked him across the gravel! This is after the Betta being docile for months and not doing anything bad except scaring Guppies away and eating Guppy fry. After some observation, the Betta appears to be waiting for the Catfish to find some food, then tries to knock him off the food and eat it for himself. My Catfish now spends most of him time sitting on plant leaves or the corner filter. Luckly the Betta is not biting the Catfish, just swimming into it.

As a solution, I am going to get some more Cories, and move them all into my 26g tank so they can school. I just need to talk the wife into letting me setup a QT tank for the new catfish when I get them

 

[lmw80]

While that is extremely mean for your betta to do, corys should not be kept in anything less than pairs....3 or more preferably. If there were 2 or more of them, I think your betta may feel too threatened to "attack" the corys.

 

[grimlock3000]

I know, my other Catfish died The Cory has never been the same since it was a loner, I am hoping it cheers up with some more Cories around.

I was thinking of getting four more Cories and using the larger tank, or maybe just getting two more and keeping them in the 10g.

 

[Christmasfish]

The cory is probably now large enough with enough color to register on the betta's radar.
Lonely fish can annoy bettas anyway if they attempt to hover near them because of size. And betta are greedy. SHerbert "stomps his feet" and hovers over the feeding dish when the rummy nose come. they come making hit and run snack snags until he chases them. the penguins WANT him to chase them, but can only raise his ire occasionally..where they gleefully run circles around him and the tank, then stop about one fish length away from him.
But he will get huffy and flare at the bronze cories. Specially the smaller betta size one.

My theory is they register cories as another labyrinth fish because the frequent trips to the surface they make. They cannot be with my mean colisa, Dragon for that reason. The otos are not noticed and they are with some fairly squabbly bettas. The bettas watch them eat ..saw eeeww veggies..and swim away. But my daughter traded cories for otos becuase a large portion of the bettas target them. And otos don't like it hot.

 

[grimlock3000]

Last weekend I got two more matching Peppered Cories and put them in the tank after acclimation. No QT, wife was not digging the idea of another tank currently, oh well. Anyway, The Cories are very cute, the three get along very well and it is fun to watch them swim around together.

The Betta does not seem so agressive now with the three Cories in the tank. I also mixed up the flake food to something the Betta seems to like more. Once of the new Cories is really small, so I am hoping the Betta does not pick on it.

Can I feed Cories sinking pellets and wafers when the tank is completely dark? Is it same to assume they will find the pellets?

 

[lmw80]

Oh! I am so happy to hear that! That's great! I didn't think the betta would be as aggressive when outnumbered.

I would think that you can put the sinking wafers in when it's dark, they have an incredible sense of when food is around.

 

[webmoose]

Yes the corys will sense and find the food with their barbels / whiskers. I prefer to drop mine in the same place where I've seen them eat. Then I can extra gravel vac that spot and they know where it is..

 

[Strikh]

Just out of curiosity...

Does it matter if the corys are the same kind? Will they be happy with a small school of different kinds of corys?

 

[grimlock3000]

Most Cories will school with other types of Cories. I got matching ones because all of the Peppered Cories I have seen seem to stay pretty small compared to other Cories. And they look nice together

 

[Christmasfish]

I am glad you Mr. Splendens has called a draw..poor lil thing. Though being armoured and having those spines I doubt he was in any danger as some fish may have been. Bet your cory gives your betta "the Fin-ger" now when he huffs at em. Mine picked on the cory his size and now ignores it as it is not as brightly colored as it gets big. He gets all upset at the penguinfish, tho. ^_^

 

[grimlock3000]

My Cories have recently take up residence behind the corner filter where the Betta likes to sit for most of the day. Now the Cories and Betta take turns chasing each other away from the spot What type of things to Cories like rest in so they can have their own area?