Fighting good for bettas?

[StickyGreen]

well.. not necessarily fighting but, them getting there blood flowing and beating up another fish, my bettas colors were nice when he was alone but now with the killi's in there he picks on them sometimes and its not tooo bad. Since their addition thou his colors have gotten more vibrant. any insight?

[fish_4_all]

Flaring, color posturing and "fighting" is always stressful to a betta. Anytime they are stressed they are more secceptible to disease and parasites.

[Blaxicanlatino]

dont make your fish "fight"

if you want him to flare, simply place a mirror in front of him for about 5 minutes. but not to long for it tires and stresses him out.

[fishygal852]

I dont think your betta should be living with fish that he "fights" with I mean yes a lttle excercise is good but a mirror could do that and even a mirror for about 5 minutes will tire it out.

[StickyGreen]

well its not really a fight he dominates the tank. Just sometimes he picks on the other fish during feeding

[StickyGreen]

ok so last night i took out the 2 killifish because it got worse....would 2-3 females be fine with a male in a 5gallon planted tank?

[okiemavis]

Definitely not! Females really cannot be kept with males, except for a few hours during breeding. If you want to add another fish, I'd recommend a small bottom dweller.

[StickyGreen]

im guessing ru referring to a cory...will 2 be good?

[King of Candlesticks]

I'm getting an african dwarf frog for mine. They are completely aquatic and apparently get along really well with Bettas. I just had to relocate my Betta away from my mollies because the mollies were nipping his fins.

[okiemavis]

Cories really do better in groups of 6 or more- not enough space for them in a 5 gallon. You could try something funky like a bumblebee goby- although I've never tried this myself, does anyone else think this would work?