Fish Fight!!! :(

[oolrobloo]

Please help, my fighter fish attacks my guppies, I have lost two and only have two left. The fighter fish does not fight with any of the other fish though. What can i do?

 

[LyndaB]

Many male bettas are not suitable for tank mates. They don't want them and they show you.

Male bettas will particularly attack anything with flowing finnage, like guppies. This is not surprising that they have been attacked.

This is why you always need to have a small tank (5 gallons) available to move the betta to should tank mates not work out.

 

[Georgieb45]

Apparently to keep a fighter with guppies it has to b in a large tank & u need a group of 8 or more guppies for th fighter to ignor them

 

[Jill]

I agree with Lynda. You'll have to separate them. In my experience, guppies can't be kept with bettas.

 

[Starka]

Ya, you will need to move someone. I put my betta with guppies, I would have been a massacre if I wasn't watching them. Though he gets along with my high fin platies just fine.

 

[LyndaB]

Apparently to keep a fighter with guppies it has to b in a large tank & u need a group of 8 or more guppies for th fighter to ignor them

There actually is no magic number of guppies that will make a betta ignore them. Whether the betta attacks or not depends entirely on the personality of the betta. They don't care if they're out numbered.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Remove one of the ASAP. If its killed two it will happen again. As said above bettas go after the flowing tails of guppies because the feel threatened. To them the guppy looks like another Betta.

 

[Lovin Fish]

Awe So sad. I'm sorry for your loss and for the guppies! Poor little guys! I have seen guppies kept successfully with male bettas but only in heavily, HEAVILY planted tanks! Plants reaching the surface of the water breaking the line of sight and providing escape into the mess of plants if the betta is in persuit.
If you haven't done so yet, seperate them or you will have no more guppies! If you don't have a spare tank head to walmart and grab one today; now! You could also snag a betta bowl to use temporarily until you figure out what to do with the last guppy. Or, if you don't want two tanks decide which fish you like best and take the other to the LFS.
Good luck!

 

[oolrobloo]

Mmm I don't know what to do with them though, it seems to be night time it all happens. I wake up in morning and there is a bite in him. It was all going so well lol. I think I will contact the store when I wake up in the morning.

Thanks everyone, I'm sure you can tell not had my aquarium long lol

 

[Lovin Fish]

Since it is too late for you to go to the store...the do you have a large glass bowl? If yes, what is your water temp in your tank? If it isn't much higher than room temperature, you should be fine.
Get your large glass bowl and clean it without soap! Scrub it really good (with your hands...no towel or sponge used for dishes); you can use some distilled vinegar if you want to. Rinse it all out though when finished cleaning. Take a handful or two of gravel from your tank and put it in the bowl. Put a fake plant (if you have any) in the bowl. Add water from your tank to the bowl. Do not fill it all the way because your betta may jump out. Let the water settle so you don't have a ton of gunk floating around from the gravel. Because most kitchen bowls are wide at the top, I highly suggest once your betta is in the bowl lay a paper towel loosely over the top. (or two full squares if needed)
This will keep your fish safe till morning and then you must not waste anytime figuring out your solution.

Please, Mumma, if I missed anything and you are reading this, fill in the blanks!

 

[sheilak]

help guppies ,betta

if you have a few 2 lt bottles there just cut off the top poke a few small holes in the bottle small enough that guppies cant get through then put you betta in bottle and float till u can make arrangements tommorrow thats what i used to make for preggo guppies till they had babes

 

[Lovin Fish]

if you have a few 2 lt bottles there just cut off the top poke a few small holes in the bottle small enough that guppies cant get through then put you betta in bottle and float till u can make arrangements tommorrow thats what i used to make for preggo guppies till they had babes

ooo that sounds like an excellent way to handle this problem!!!!

 

[Eliedaoura]

Apparently to keep a fighter with guppies it has to b in a large tank & u need a group of 8 or more guppies for th fighter to ignor them

How many liters for a tank to be considered as large?

 

[Alyxx]

I would say at least 30 gallons / 120 liters with lots of hiding places and tall plants to break line of sight before I would try it, and I would recommend a longer tank rather than a taller one. I had a betta with my guppies in a 20 tall (80 liters) and some fins were nipped, despite being full of fake plants.