FishProfiles.com Message Forums

my betta did a lot of bottom feeding. he was always eating the food at the bottom of the tank thats meant for the kuhli loaches, so he got very bloated. like i always do when he gets like that, i separated him from the other fish by putting him in the cup i bought him in and fasting for a day or 2 to let him clear his system out. i woke up this morning to find the cup completely filled with water somehow, with no air in it, laying on the bottom and the betta dead inside. was it the complete lack of atmospheric air inside the cup that killed him?

Hi,
I'm afraid so. They derive the bulk of their oxygen from the atmospheric air. Much like our lungs, they have a very rudimentary lung that is designed to extract the oxygen. Their gills alone are not able to sustain them.

http://www.tropicalfishforum.net/showthread.php?t=2382

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Thanks. I got a new betta today and walked him home as smoothly as possible. I put him in the tank and he was actually attacked by the female betta... She's still very young and wouldn't even go near the first betta, even though he never bothered her to begin with.
I've separated her from him but he isn't doing well. as I type this he's floating at the surface on his side. I turned off the filter so he can rest. I hope he makes it. Once I can drive this shouldn't be an issue.

the new betta is dead..... just now netted him out of the tank

Hi,
You might want to go back and reread the information you have going through on bettas. You never place a male with a female in the same tank unless he has built a bubble nest, and, she is ripe with eggs. And...then, you place her, in "his," tank and remove her immediately after they have finished, back to a quarantine, or hospital, tank so she can recover.
He was the newcomer to "her" tank. He was vunerable, traumatized, in unfamiliar surroundings, with water that probably was a little different than it was used to. The deck was stacked against him.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

I know i was taking a risk when i did that. I have another female in the 2.5 tank on her own. I had originally tried to keep the two females together but the first female is very aggressive.

The female that's in the 10 gallon tank is still adolescent. I believed that she, not being mature enough to breed, would be left alone by a male.

She actually was left completely alone by the male. He never once attacked her. He would follow her around but not aggressively.

I think the reason the first betta wasn't very aggressive is because he had been with other tank mates pretty much his entire life. Ever since I got him he was with neon tetras and guppies and otos and for a while he was with the kuhli loaches in the 10 gallon.

I either got really lucky with the betta i had picked out or being with tank mates his entire life calmed him down. I really don't know.

Once I have another small heater I'll put her into the 1.5 gallon hex tank though. I do understand that male and female bettas shouldn't be kept together, but at the time I didnt have much choice without another heater on hand.

If I do get another adolescent male betta, could I remove the female and then add her back to the tank a day or two after I have the male acclimated so that the tank isn't "hers" anymore? I really think this can work if its done correctly, now that you've taught me that females are territorial.

Or if you truly don't think something like this can work, and both bettas be healthy and stress free, how can the 2 females be put together without them being aggressive towards each other? I know that females can be kept together.