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hi every one i put my male beta in the fish tank with my 2 platys, 2 mollies, 2 plecos, 4 gohst shrimp,3 goldfish (i change the water offten to avoid disease) and my angel he dosent seem agressive towards any of my fish but i wonder if its beacuse hes just shy beacuse i introduced him to a new tank (20 Gal.) and its bigger than the small littel box i had him in so i want to know if i should remove him from the main tank or leave him any advice?
thanks,


>>>>>>a learning experience as an aquarist can be fun but you must be ready to take and obey advice and criticism but most of all be patient<<<<<<<

Bettas should genereally not be mixed in with other fish. They tend to go after any fish that has long fins, I'd say the platys and mollies are likely to be attacked. Not as much as if you had guppies, but still likely to be attacked. Bettas do fine on their own in small tanks that have frequent water changes.

HOWEVER.

Your tank is seriously overstocked. The plecos need a 55 gallon or larger tank.

As for the goldfish. Go find an adult and look at their hands. Then look at this photo

That is bruce the oranda when his owner was moving him a few years ago. From what I've heard he's gotten even bigger, and no, that's not a dwarf holding him. Goldfish get big, and need to be in a pond. NOT in a 20 gallon tank shoved in with other large fish that are heavy waste producers.

So yes, I say you move the male betta. You also need to find a 55 gallon tank for the plecos, and as a minimum a 75 gallon tank for the goldfish. If you live in an area that doesn't get a hard freeze every winter the goldfish will do just fine outside in a pond.

^_^

I don't know. I agree with the overstocking, and the keeping of goldfish with other fish, as they are high ammonia producers and tend to make other fish suffer because of it, but I have to disagree with the moving of the betta. I have kept bettas in with other fish time and again, and successfully. This last time not included because I lost the betta and my other fish to disease, but actually I've always found that it was the other fish that would bother the betta, not the betta bothering the other fish.

Perhaps it's that each betta is different and you need to gauge each betta's personality, but like I said, I have never had a problem keeping bettas in with other fish.

Well, that's my two cents on the issue.

Babelfish is 200% spot on and correct.

Your tank is seriously overstocked.

I think Babel was very generous even with those choice of words.
It would not matter if you changed the water every day its the "Tank" that is the problem is is just way to small.


Yes Bettas can go with some fish but certainly not any with long tails and/or fins sooner or later it will want to start nipping the fins. Neon and Cardinal Tetras are a good choice to be with Bettas.


Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith




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I know when you look at your fish they probably are all pretty small right now and it doesn't seem like the tank is too small for them. But you gotta think in the long run, the goldfish and plecos will grow really fast. And that tank just won't be able to keep up with them.

Hi,
Please don't get discouraged. Everyone is trying to help
in their own way. The mix of the fish you have in the
tank may look nice, and colorful, and be an interesting
blend of personalities, but, it's a disaster waiting to
happen.

First, the goldfish. As Babelfish mentioned and showed
in a picture, goldfish and Koi are members of the Carp
family. They are a heavy bodied fish that lives in cooler
water (68-74 degrees). They are not tropical fish, and
really should not be kept in tanks with tropical fish where
their water temperature is around 76-78 degrees.
They are messy eaters, and as they grow they will fragment
their food into pieces that will settle to the bottom and
if not collected, will rot and begin to pollute the tank.
Because the fish are so large bodied, and their metabolism,
they give off larger amounts of waste products both
solid and liquid (urea) than tropical fish.
They can pollute a smaller tank very very fast.
I've seen estimates where goldfish should be alloted
20 or more gallons of water - each! As these thing eat,
they grow, grow and grow. They can get large enough to
pan fry and feed a family of 5!
So the cold water fish and tropical fish mix is a problem.

Your angel fish can eventually grow to a height of 8 to 10
inches from the tip of the top fin to the tip of the bottom
fin. That tank will not support it. They are an "odd"
shape, and a beautiful fish, but the tank is too small for
it.

The male Betta can be problematic. When it is in the mood
and is building its bubble nest, it can become aggressive
toward the other fish. At other times they tend to hang
in one spot occasionally letting their long fins ripple.
It is that movement that catches the other fishes eyes, and
they will go after that movement. Over time, they can shred
the Betta's beautiful, long, fins.

Mollies are a live bearer fish. They particularly like
harder water (GH) and a higher pH than the other tropical
fish in your tank. For mollies you would want the pH up
around 7.8 to 8 and the GH should be 6-11 degrees or
100-200 ppm. The other fish in the tank would prefer a
pH of around 7 and a GH of 3-6 degrees or 50-100 ppm.

Now some folks do manage to keep a mixture like that
running for a short time, but over time the odds are that
you are going to loose fish to stress related diseases
or just a drastically shortened life span because of trying
constantly, to adapt to water that they should not be in,
or a tank that is too small.

Ideally, you should be in the market for some more tanks,
or to return the fish you have for some more compatible ones.

Frank

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

well the placos i got from my neighbor and she had them for like 5 years before me and the betta look dossile compared to the fish bulling it and the gold fish i have are the common ones and ive kleept those for YEARS and the most theyv grown is like 3-4 inches but how big will the mollies grow? thanks for your help evry one but the biggest problem is the gold fish right i guess ill give them away or something *sigh*

>>>>>>a learning experience as an aquarist can be fun but you must be ready to take and obey advice and criticism but most of all be patient<<<<<<<

I'm guessing you're too young to have ever heard of foot binding. It used to be practiced in China. Basically a womans foot was intentionally broken and tied up tight in a way that prevented it from growing, so you had adult women with feet the size of a child.

100 years (and more) ago in the "western" world women wore corsets to give them a perfectly small hourglass figure. Not only were there health issues to the women, but many of them lost their unborn children.

If something is prevented from growing it will, and that is what happens when a fish is kept in a tank that is to small.

Just because they look "fine" does not mean they're HEALTHY OR HAPPY. Goldfish grow much to two feet and more.
Two feet.
If they're more then a few months old they should be in a much much larger tank. Because, like the foot binding, and the corsets you are doing those fish permanent damage.


You asked us what you should do. It is up to if you continue torture your fish.

^_^

well i just heard about the foot binding today matter of fact but the torture thing made feel guilty ill see if my uncle will take them he has a 66 gallon tank but im just concernd about what to do if i dont have any one to take them i dont want them misrable for as long and they live i truly love all my fish even the plecos (theyr just funny lookin)so that made me fell real bad

>>>>>>a learning experience as an aquarist can be fun but you must be ready to take and obey advice and criticism but most of all be patient<<<<<<<

You can always bring them to a fish or pet store and give them to them. Most of the time, they should be willing to take fish. They won't buy them from you, but you can give them up to them.

Just a suggestion if you can't find someone to take them.

You can also contact your local nature center to give the goldfish to them. If they have the room for them, they'll probably take the fish too.

I once had two frogs in a five gallon tank. A Chinese Lemon frog (beautiful little girl), and a Leopard frog. I tried to take care of them as best I could, but I quickly realized that not only did I not know what I was doing, but I was concerned for their health (particularly the Chinese Lemon frog). I contacted my local nature center and talked to the person in charge of the animals/reptiles/birds/etc. and he agreed to take them since he already had Leopard frogs, and figured he'd give the Chinese Lemon frog a try. Turns out it was the best thing I could have done for them. The Leopard frog grew to be a big beastie, and while the Chinese Lemon frog didn't last as long, I know she was at least happy in her final days and I found out that she was a water frog. They put her in a big enclosed tank with deep water and some land, and the guy told me that she spent 90% of her days swimming around happily. I would never have known this if I'd continued keeping them in that little 5 gallon tank.

So, it's just something to consider 1st_signer.

yea i hear betas need to be alone not much else to u can do

thank you Delenn ill try thanks evry one ill see whatt i can do

>>>>>>a learning experience as an aquarist can be fun but you must be ready to take and obey advice and criticism but most of all be patient<<<<<<<

You are very welcome, signer. Good luck to you!

thanks evry one but geting back to the beta he seem to be dooing good he flairs his gills at my mollies but dosent hurt the m thanks evry one!

>>>>>>a learning experience as an aquarist can be fun but you must be ready to take and obey advice and criticism but most of all be patient<<<<<<<