70ltr betta

[Georgieb45]

The other half now has the 70ltr set up with a male and female fighter & for now 5 neons

 

[LyndaB]

Beautiful tank.

I'm a little confused. You have a male and female betta together with 5 neons? In the same tank?

It was unclear as to who was in what divided section....

 

[Georgieb45]

Thank you , Yea 5 neons and a male and female

 

[LyndaB]

Ok, well..... here's the bad news.

You must separate the male and the female. Once they reach spawning age, they will try to kill each other.

Again, as they mature, the male may not tolerate the neons. You always have to have a backup plan when putting a male or female betta in a community tank.

 

[Georgieb45]

Yea i work in a fish shop lol, the male doesnt seem to well so pretty sure hes not goin to make it .

 

[LyndaB]

Sounds like you and the rest of the staff need to take some lessons in fishkeeping 101.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Please separate them. They WILL hurt or kill each other. If you really insist on doing this please provide as much cover as possible to break up line of site. It will allow one to escape the other easier. Does the female have horizontal lines? If so she is VERY stressed!

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Yea i work in a fish shop lol, the male doesnt seem to well so pretty sure hes not goin to make it .

What's wrong with him? What are your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH?

 

[Georgieb45]

All my levels are correct i think he just needs more oxygen so pick up some oxy tabs today so see how it goes , had a word with oata and they say female and males are perfectly fine to live together as long as theres a hide for the female .

 

[rreekers]

All my levels are correct i think he just needs more oxygen so pick up some oxy tabs today so see how it goes , had a word with oata and they say female and males are perfectly fine to live together as long as theres a hide for the female .

those tabs are bad news!
also bettas breath from the surface ...
did you cycles the tank even?
what are the actual numbers for your parameters? and how are you testing ( liquid or strips)

you need to remove 1 of the bettas

 

[Georgieb45]

I work in a pet shop selling fish my boss has been a fish keeper with oata for 28years hes 100% on the living arrangements , I test them with liquid with our testing kit at work , bought airpump instead of tabs , he seems fine now just drops sometimes

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Just because someone has been keeping fish for nearly 3 decades doesn't mean they know it all. Take everything with a grain of salt. Even advise from here on AA. When you get multiple people telling you the same thing, I think it's about time you go and do some research on Bettas. Taking people's word for its not enough anymore.

 

[alia258]

You need to remove a beta dude, there's no real way to keep them together. You could try and keep the female in there (they're a little calmer) but you need more neons because it's likely the beta will nip at the neons fins. They're called African fighting fish for heavens sake, they naturally fight other fish. And most pet store people are simply not educated enough about fish, I doubt your info source is correct. Keep some tetras in there, and get the betas out of there (they do fine in 2g aquariums, and they're very low maintenance) you could get black skirts and the such (different tetra species tend to shoal together at times) or you could get a white tetra, and they turn the color of the food you feed them!

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Siamese fighting fish I think you meant.

 

[alia258]

Yes Siamese that's exactly what I meant! I was reading about African chichlids because I crossed this article and ended up reading about them. Funny part is that I don't even want one! I got the names mixed up, thinking of two things at once.

But still, a beta in a tank with neon tetras isn't very nice to the neons, especially with the low amount of hiding places in your tank, if you're that set on keeping a beta in that tank you need to have lots of plants and caves and such for the neons to hide in. And upping the amount of neons will help with their high stress level, because the beta is likely to be chasing the other fish (they fight their reflection too...)

 

[LyndaB]

I work in a pet shop selling fish my boss has been a fish keeper with oata for 28years hes 100% on the living arrangements , I test them with liquid with our testing kit at work , bought airpump instead of tabs , he seems fine now just drops sometimes

I'm sorry but your boss doesn't know what he's talking about.

You need to separate them. Immediately.

Plus, don't use oxygen tabs. That's ridiculous. If the tank is being properly kept, there's no need to toss in magic potions.

 

[alia258]

Live plants are far better than oxygen tabs, and the eat nitrates nitrites and any ammonia in the water, and as long as you don't get a heavy root feeder, then the plant should only require being planted. They put a large amount of oxygen in the water. (I know so, my filter was broken and there was no surface agitation but the fish made it through the night cuz I got plants in there) plus they'll make a great hiding place for the neons, because the fighting fish will stress the poor guys out while hiding places and a larger group would make them relax more

 

[Coursair]

Just remember each Betta is different. I've had peaceful Community Bettas several times and I've had super territorial Bettas that killed all tankmates !

It is hard to keep a pair together since in nature the female can swim away. They don't bond. Once they breed, males care for eggs and drive females away. Males tend to kill females if they aren't ready to breed. I've seen a male kept with a harem in a heavily planted tank. So not just chasing one.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Live plants are far better than oxygen tabs, and the eat nitrates nitrites and any ammonia in the water, and as long as you don't get a heavy root feeder, then the plant should only require being planted. They put a large amount of oxygen in the water. (I know so, my filter was broken and there was no surface agitation but the fish made it through the night cuz I got plants in there) plus they'll make a great hiding place for the neons, because the fighting fish will stress the poor guys out while hiding places and a larger group would make them relax more

Live plants use o2 and produce co2 at night. I doubt it was the plants that 'saved' your fish. One night without a filter usually isn't a big deal. Depending in the Betta they might not even take a second look at other types of fish. I have multiple bettas with community fish without issue (including neons). It all depends on their personality.

 

[rreekers]

Live plants use o2 and produce co2 at night. I doubt it was the plants that 'saved' your fish. One night without a filter usually isn't a big deal. Depending in the Betta they might not even take a second look at other types of fish. I have multiple bettas with community fish without issue (including neons). It all depends on their personality.

I agree. it depends on their personality because I also have a betta with neons as well as shrimp and I have no issues