Return to old time Beta Fish

[Ryomaechizen]

Hi Betafisher!

3 days ago, I fulfilled my long time wish to own beta fishes once again after 12 years of my last beta fishes. I bought 2 blue nearly identical colored beta fish, 1 confirmed male and another one looks like female but then i don't see any egg spot visible between the ventral and anal fin but it does own smaller fins and shorter body. Kept them both in separate mini aquariums.

PROBLEM:
So few hours ago when i were about to change their water, I was determined to let em' meet together in one tank..So it goes like this:
1. They flare at each other for a couple minutes
2. The female back away and hide (White stripe visible on her [stressed])
3. The male keep on flaring at her
So i took the male off the tank and put him back to his..After sometime he starts to look lazy, bored and keep on gasping, floating in the corner of his tank. He wasn't even flaring to his mirror reflection anymore.

INVESTIGATE:
I thought it might be because of the new water i replaced into his tank, so i take him and put him back into the female tank (which i haven't change the water yet) So the result changed:
1. He back away from the female
2. The female flare at him few times and then stop completely!

CHECK AGAIN:
So i put them both now back to the male tank (new changed water)
1. The female seems very comfortable now after few minutes with the male (she turn from stressed white stripe visible back to bluish red)
2. Male still gasping and not flaring at all
3. Female is playful as always swimming here and there and the male is now like dormant and weak..

QUESTION:
What actually happened?
The male turned soft and gasping?
Female now like doesn't acknowledge the male existence in the tank.
No water problem?
I read somewhere that after we separate male and female especially after breed, the male will sulk, bored and even let themselves go and die! But now that i put em' together again, nothing changed..He looks very blank..

[shellieca]

Not sure what you are trying to accomplish. I wouldn't put a male & female together unless they are ready to breed & all breeding conditions have been set up. It is VERY RARE that a male & female can remain in a tank without severe injury or death to one or the other. IMO, you're asking for trouble by leaving them in the same tank especially if that tank is less than 20g.

[gemsbok]

It sounds like you shocked your male by putting him in different/new water without acclimating him first. Are you using water conditioner? You shouldn't be keeping a male and female together, especially in a "mini aquarium". Please take the female out of the male's tank and put her back into her own space.

[Myates]

It does sound as if they are in shock from being moved without proper acclimation to both temp and chemistry.. along with the stress of being placed together in a small tank without proper introduction.

Keep in mind, males and females naturally do not stay together long - in the wild a male will have a good sized territory and stay put, while the females will travel around and only stay with a male long enough to breed.

Even controlled breeding deaths can happen easily - placing them together with no barrier can lead to stress death or fighting death. At first they will be scared and stressed and want to stay away, but shortly they will start to get territorial and/or in self preservence and become aggressive in order to scare the other away.
The only way to ensure safety is to do proper introductions.. and even that is still always a risk. Why breeders tend to watch them like hawks.

Unsure why you were determined to put their lives and health at risk.. why not just place the tanks next to one another and they can see each other safely? They soon become less stressed once they realize the other can't get to them, so they will interact with each other more.

If you are attempting to breed them, understand it takes weeks to properly condition them, along with hundreds of dollars+ for a proper set up to breed in and grow out the babies, and hours a day to care for them. Bettas are not live bearers and will not breed in such a way - at least not safely and healthy.

Right now separate them, make sure to acclimate the male properly to both the temp and chemistry of the new water. Go to the breeding section of the forums and read up on the stickies.. then do more research, and yet more research before attempting to breed them.

A lot of times they will not pull through from os shock from improper acclimation - add in the stress of being placed with a female he is in danger of death. Right now all you can do at this point is get him into a safe tank and hope he gets better.

[Sena Hansler]

... I use the shock method for breeding. Would I ever put female/s with (a) male/s as a set up? Probably not. Unless I had a wicked awesome long 100+ gallon tank that was planted so much there would be a jungle where water should be

I find, since fish set out a scent, sort of like, "hello, here I am!" the opposite gender may get awfully stressed. I had to put a female in a divided tank and the male chewed his fins clean off after she was removed... Despite there being a water change.

Everything Myates has said I agree with

[Myates]

Shock breeding is fine - what the OP did wasn't meant to be for breeding, and if so, may need to do a bit more research in proper breeding tanks and proper acclimation of the to the water.. mini tanks tend not to be ideal for housing multiple bettas, nor for breeding them.

I may try the shock technique down the road, but sometimes just gotta love their flirting :P

[Sena Hansler]

Haha my pairs usually go... "Huh... Who's that?!" And then flare, chase, flirt, flirt, flirt, and spawn I got to see my female do a vey slow and purposeful dance after she caved into his flirtatious demands

I'd say 5 gallon is minimal if OP would like to breed. 10 is better (my opinion) but first research tons. And take a year to collect stuff you need. (Trust me. Bettas can give you 1-300 fry. I got 233 -_-)

[Myates]

lol.. I've been researching the past 18 months and spent over a thousand on a set up for 2 spawns. So yeah.. a simple plopping of a male with a female won't cut it. I just hope the male pulls through.. sounds as if he is in shock.

[dramaqueen]

+1what Myates said. Also, fry cannot eat what adults eat. They need live food that has to be prepared ahead of time.

[Ryomaechizen]

Thanks for the replies guys..Foolish of me to let em' meet while i was changing the water the female looks healthy and still playful as ever. The male start to regain his mood now responsive to my finger but then doesn't wanna eat anything at the moment and keep on gasping.

By the way, anyone ever face that your betta like a live food (worms/larvae) so much that it start to reject other pellets type food? My female betta start to reject the usual pellets for worms/larvae..