So I have the most beautiful betta, his name is Chips, and he's been with me for most of the year. This is him:
Anyway, a little while ago I thought I'd get him some tankmates, and I absolutely adore guppies. After a trip to the pet store, and the worker there promising me they would be fine together, I left with 4 beautiful male guppies, who won't stay still long enough for me to get a picture.
So, I put them in with Chips, all hunky dory, and they were fine. Wake up the next morning and notice my orange guppy looks a little different than the others:
There's a notch in the centre of his tail missing, making it look almost symmetrical. I couldn't remember if his tail was originally like this, but, because it's so perfectly identical on both sides, I thought it was all fine.
The next morning, however, I wake up to this:
Dear Chips. This is not okay. You bully, you.
So now Chips is back in his own (smaller) tank, alone, and he's not too happy about it, and my 4 guppies are living happily with a group of 3 white clouds.
After doing a bit of research, I discovered that very rarely do male bettas and male guppies make good tankmates, usually because the guppies tend to get nippy at the betta. Of course, I'd get the betta who's a complete a-hole.
Morale of the story? Don't listen to the pet shops...
Anyway, a little while ago I thought I'd get him some tankmates, and I absolutely adore guppies. After a trip to the pet store, and the worker there promising me they would be fine together, I left with 4 beautiful male guppies, who won't stay still long enough for me to get a picture.
So, I put them in with Chips, all hunky dory, and they were fine. Wake up the next morning and notice my orange guppy looks a little different than the others:
There's a notch in the centre of his tail missing, making it look almost symmetrical. I couldn't remember if his tail was originally like this, but, because it's so perfectly identical on both sides, I thought it was all fine.
The next morning, however, I wake up to this:
Dear Chips. This is not okay. You bully, you.
So now Chips is back in his own (smaller) tank, alone, and he's not too happy about it, and my 4 guppies are living happily with a group of 3 white clouds.
After doing a bit of research, I discovered that very rarely do male bettas and male guppies make good tankmates, usually because the guppies tend to get nippy at the betta. Of course, I'd get the betta who's a complete a-hole.
Morale of the story? Don't listen to the pet shops...