I have a 10 gallon, divided into 3 sections. I intend to have at least 1 betta in there. Right now, I am adding more plants and getting it ready.
My question is, if you have more than 1 betta, wouldn't the betta constantly flare at its neighbor? I am especially worried about the betta stuck in the middle being overly stressed and becoming ill. Do they eventually wind down and learn to ignore the neighbors?
Would it better if I kept bettas at each end of the tank and in the middle, get an apple snail or something other than a betta?
Some do, and others are not as interested. I just divided my tank into smaller sections, and one of my Betta constantly flares at his neighbor, but the other Betta just ignores him. It helps if you put tall plants along the divider, and eventually the divider gets algae and becomes more opaque rather than clear.
I agree with LinkLover, it all depends on your fish. I have a divided 5 gallon with two males. My HMPK is a bit feistier and he tries to flare at his tankmate all the time. My HMDT, on the other hand, could not care less and ignores his tankmate except for once in a great while when he'll flare back. Beyond that, he just chills on the other side of the tank.
Putting plants does help. I've got some Java fern growing on either side of the divider. When it gets large enough, they will hardly be able to see one another.
Depends on the fish I guess. I had two males divided in a 10, even with a solid divider they saw each other enough and they flared so much one bit his tail way down, the other one blew his out. I gave up and separated them. Other people have no problem with their fish in a divided setup. I think these two boys are just too aggressive.
I have lots of fish in divided tanks. For the first ~two week, they flare lots... Soon, however, they get used to each other and still occasionally flare to communicate, but IME it has never stressed them.
I doubled my mesh divider, they can still see each other (very blurred though), and my more aggressive male rarely flares at his more sedate neighbor anymore. +1 to adding plants near the divider. I also kept them near each other in separate tanks for awhile, my DSPK in quarantine at the time, just to see how they reacted to each other. My VT flared for quite some time, but at the week's end, he was fine, he'd flare maybe once or twice at my DSPK a day, and that was it, and once they were in their divided tank, they don't really flare at each other, they just go about their business.
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