Betta Damaged Fins

[Larougeraven]

Hello,

I bought an female betta on Tuesday. She's pretty small, but no smaller than the other new fish I've brought into the tank.

I moved her out of my tank after noticing my Angel going after her, I did notice some nips of her anal fin. It wasn't until later that I noticed that one of her pectoral fins was missing.

She's not swimming any different, not in circles, sideways, etc. I'm hoping that I can bring her back to full health and help assist in the fin grown. She is at the moment in a litre of water, the water is being changed roughly every 12 to 14 hours (since the container is so small. I have given her water with aquarium salt and prime in it.

I have hidey holes, caves, plants, in the tank, I thought they would be enough for her, but she never seemed to go to the bottom of the tank, so I have ordered and getting today a false silk plant that is apparently 3 feet long that will add a lot of top tank coverage.



I'm thinking of keeping her out of my big tank for a couple of weeks until she is a little bigger.

Is there anything else I should try, do, or get to assist in her?

 

[Aiken Drum]

A litre of water isnt going to be enough for the fish to recover in. Surely you can get something bigger, a totebox, even a bucket would be better.

A stress free environment and pristine water is going to be the fishes best chance of recovering and neither of those is going to happen in a litre of water.

 

[Larougeraven]

She's only in a litre of water at the moment because I needed to take her out of the tank. It's not going to be where she is staying, but it was better than nothing at the moment.

 

[Aiken Drum]

If the betta recovers, and you return the fish to your main tank i only see a repeat of the angelfish attacking the betta. Long term you cant keep these individual fish together, the angelfish will kill the betta.

Short term, set up a hospital tank, airstone, heater. Isolate the fish in there with daily water changes. A little aquarium salt might help, 1 tablespoon for every 20 litres/ 5 gallons of water. Remember to redose a proportionate amount of salt with every water change.

Longer term, rehome the betta or get another tank to keep her with more appropriate tank mates than an angelfish.

 

[Larougeraven]

My angel has been fine with other female bettas, Sadly, my previous betta passed away, nothing to do with the Angel, I had her for 4 years. I'm not sure if its just because she happens to be very small at the moment. I recently loss my tetras through a move, possible that since shes small and no other small fish our in the tank, my angel acted out.

But thank you for the advice.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Every individual fish is different. Just because your angelfish got on with female bettas in the past doesnt mean it will continue to get on with other female bettas in the future. Angelfish and bettas are considered poor tank mates, you have seen the result of putting these 2 individual fish together.

 

[Andy Sager]

To pile on a little to Aiken's response, Angelfish are aggressive feeders while Bettas are not so you also run the risk of the Betta starving when housed with Angelfish.