My Betta has turned aggresive - anything I can do

[scorer14]

Well finally I have the crystal clear I wanted since starting my tank. I guess it just takes patience lol. Anyways all of a sudden my fav fish female betta (Ruby - pink/white/red coloring) has turned aggresive. She first attached a female guppy who had some fry, she was a small guppy but Ruby bit off half her tail (I'm assuming it was her) and today I found her trying to eat the same guppy, poor thing died. Know all of a sudden one of my beautiful red fancy male guppy is missing a portion of his lovely flowing tail.

Is there anything I can do except remove her from the tank??

 

[adadkins1]

Not really. Female Bettas in particular seem to be very moody. They will be fine with other fish, then just snap and go mad attacking tank mates. I'd advise you take her out if you want to keep your Guppies alive.

 

[VioletEmber]

After many bettas, I agree, you have to move the Betta! I just had to move a Betta out of a community tank last night... I got some new plants and rearranged things. Next thing I know he is going after everyone... I threw together a back up Betta tank and had him out within the hour. Waiting until morning would gave meant more shredded fins and possibly death. In my experience, once they decide to be a jerk, there is no going back! I do tend to try them in a different community tank after a bit of time out. When they are the new guy or girl they tend to be on their best behavior again. But definitely watch them closely.

 

[VioletEmber]

Oh, and in my experience, no amount of plants or hiding places will keep a determined Betta out. Even if the other fish aren't killed, they get stressed and have to hide all the time.

 

[Ashes2ashes]

I agree with the above. The betta will need to be moved. Female bettas a lot of the time turn bad and then there just isn't any returning them to any sort of friendly behavior. I will also say this though..a lot of bettas cannot be kept with guppies because they see the tails and either see it as similar to betta fins and it causes aggression, or the guppies are just too slow to get away. I had a female CT that could not be kept with any live bearers or she would tear them up, but she did just fine with my danios and other fish without much finnage and fast movement. =)

 

[absolutangel04]

I agree with the above comments as well. A lot of the bettas for sale are not actually fully mature, so it happens that they grow up and then aggression can happen. Sometimes, a fish is mature and fine, and then suddenly one day everything changes though. I also agree tat guppies are often not tankmates for guppies.

 

[siva]

I agree. I've curbed this type of behavior temporarily by re-arranging the tank, but they start up again. Same is true for all fish exhibiting this behavior..not just bettas. She may be fine with some types of fish..and just not guppies. Some bettas just don't do well with colorful flowing finned fish like gups.

 

[hippy guy]

Lots of plants can help fish aggression. If you can break the line of site you betta gets on a target, can can discourage this type of behavior. This isnt a fix all, though