Betta *Eating* Danios?

[nphsmith]

Our tanks is a month old, 78 litres (20 Gallons), with 5 Danios, 2 Platys, 2 Small Corys, 3 pentazoa barbs. Nitrites and Ammonia zero after a fished cycle.

On Saturday we bought a male Betta. He looks gorgeous floating around the tank with his red 'skirts', but;

a) He's not eaten any of the food we offer
b) We've seen him chasing some of the other fish, which I assumed was dominance 'games', but
c) this evening I noticed that 2 of the danios have big - really quite big - chunks missing from their tail 'fronds'. They have pretty much lost half a tail each. Another Danio has also lost some.

If it were just one I might assume that he had got stuck and scraped some tail off, but 3...

Is this normal Betta behaviour? Anything that can be done to mitigate?

Many thanks

 

[cinnamaldehyde]

Take the betta out and put him in his own tank? If you're pretty sure it's the betta and he's injuring other fish, removing him would be the easiest way. They aren't always the most neighbourly of fishes.

Just as a sidenote, those barbs get pretty big and will need a bigger tank, plus the barbs, danios and corys all like to be in groups of 6 or more.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Bettas can mistake long fins for those of other Bettas. Are they Longfin Danios?

 

[nphsmith]

Yes they are longfins. Sounds like I made a mistake putting him in there.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Yes then that is what's happening. One fish type needs to be removed.

 

[nphsmith]

OK, my daughter has agreed that the Betta should go. I don't think my wife will go for another tank, so we'll return him to pet shop. Any advice about best way to get him there? Just put him in plastic box with decent amount of water and a lid I can open up for Oxygen? It would be about a litre...problem is I have to leave for work about 90 minutes before shop opens.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Little water, lots of air is best if it is a closed container. Fish are usually fine if you go straight there. Just make sure they deal with him as soon as you get there and don't leave the container (with fish) sitting around.

 

[nphsmith]

Great, thanks. (Pacifist, vegetarian, Lisa Simpson) daughter couldn't sleep for worry so I have trapped him by sinking a 2 litre plastic box within the main tank, and putting a net over it...he probably won't be pleased with me, but he won't be able to beat up the others, and shouldn't be harmed?

 

[Tim Wheatley]

He will need access to the surface. Bettas need to breathe air as they are labyrinth fish.

 

[Bettababe1011]

He will need access to the surface. Bettas need to breathe air as they are labyrinth fish.

Absolutely. A Betta can't get all the air he needs from his gills, he uses a special organ to breathe air from the surface. If he can't get to the surface, he will die.

Courtesy of Dakota's iPod.

 

[nphsmith]

Sorry i should have replied ages ago. Fortunately, my wife remembered the air breathing and woke me in middle of night. I released the betta, made sure room was completely dark, and snuck in next morning before daughter was awake to retrap him.

I then took him to work strapped in in front seat of car. Im a londoner so traffic was slow enough that i was able to take the lid off a few times for air refreshes. Got him to fish shop at 9am on the dot and watched him go back in his original tank and have a swim around.

The danios seem ok, and tails are recovering, so all has ended fairly well, and ive learnt lots. Many thanks for all advice.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Glad to hear it worked out.