He didn't mind the move, I think he actually became more relaxed & is happier now.
Watching him after the tail grabbing events seemed to be very unsettling to him, Like he had just shaken something that was trying to eat/kill him, He'd go to a corner and just look very upset almost like he was shaking ,
I've yet to see any real aggression with the females towards each other, or the cories.
The smaller females do tend to bow under (become very passive) to any passing larger female,
I did remove one very small female today, She seemed overly stressed from all the larger females,
I'll keep her by herself until she gets much larger, Then try her back..
I am probably going to try adding a different male in the next day or two, A blue one this time, See how that works out.
Looking at the tank and watching every one swim around it just never looked like as many fish as there should be, (at least to me it didn't) Yesterday it got to me so much I slowly dipped everyone out in small cups to count, (make sure everyone was alive) and check each for signs of trouble, everyone was there and seem to be doing fine, So I put them all back in the tank,
Did a bit of re-arranging while I was at it too.
anyways I feel better knowing every one is at attendance and doing fine, thus far
Well I woke up this morning to a rather nice surprise,
The red male that I originally had in this tank, I put in a gallon tank after removing him,
He's an older male and never was overly active, Don't ever recall him having made a bubble nest either,
But when I went to do a water change this morning, He had a hugh bubble nest made,
I think he's really happy to be away from the female betta's,
He's been in bigger tanks before by himself and smaller tanks, Had close company of both females and males that he could see, Yet never made any attempts of a nest, So I think this guy is definitely happy to be away from the wrecking crew.
On another note:
I dropped a blue male betta in with the females yesterday, Boy was he flamboyant when I put him in there,
You'd a thought he was in hog heaven, But only minutes after dropping him in he was grabbed by the tail and he freaked out, I was up until 3 o'clock last night watching them, Decided the next time a "Blue" female grabs his tail I'm going to remove her, (thinking maybe it's the same femal over and over) gonna see anyways, But she never did it again, So I went to bed, This morning I get up and I can't find the male, I go looking and find him hiding out, Every time he peeked his nose out a couple females came to the entrance and he'd disappear back inside,, Think this spelled trouble, So I got my net and removed the castle, Scooped him out and put him in his own tank, They have shredded a fair amount of his tail,
He's happy to be alone again.......
So now it's back to just the girls and the cories.....
Hmm, well it was an interesting thought to see if perhaps a different colored male would illicit a different response from the females, but I guess the old facts are still proving true, the males and females just aren't going to stay around each other for long before they get nasty.
Good to hear the rest of the fish are all still present and accounted for in good health. It's still amazing that you've managed to combine together so many females with such success so far.
thats too bad about the male[s].
I too have done my own share of betta-testing. Sofar my first two Betta's have been together since Dec. 1st. They have been happily co-habbiting together since, and Blue Bandit loves building her bubble nests, and show off his stuff. They attempted breeding once [Jan 30th], with no real success other then the eggs...mostly as they decided to spawn the day of their water flush, so water conditions weren't ideal. :S
I added them to my larger tank [10 gal upgrade to 15 gal] already inhabited with over a dozen guppies [male and female] and one CAE [6" long, think male] I got for free from a previous boss. At first, they didnt know what to do, and just swam around. A little pecking, but nothing serious, then was onto investigation. No serious battles, no deaths, even the next day, so they have been there since Feb. 19th. Still no casualties.
I was so pleased with my community tank, then I decided to take it another step, and really fulfill Blue's "herlm of females" I told him Id get him last year [deciding to only get 1 instead...Red Petite Mermaid].
As of April 20th, I caved in and bought 3 beautiful females from Petco I just couldnt bare to leave without. When I got Red, I saw her 4 diff times in the store over a month before buying her [partly out of pity, mostly 'cuz of her looks / personality, and perfect match for Blue] this time I didnt want to wait.
I got 2 crown tales, like red. One a beautiful iridescent while, with a black spot on her anal fin, small reddish marking on caudal fin, and black eyes: Ghost Pearl. The other a sort of mini me to Blue being a iridescent blue with pinkish coloring on her fins and white accents [if blue was a crown tale ;D ], thus her name: Mime
The last [but not least, and Blue's new favorite] Scarlet Seahorse. She's a little feistier then the 2 crown's and defiantly takes the role of dominate female between the 3 of them [Red doubles all their size, so they all "bow to her"] Named so as she's a brilliant red / scarlet colored Veil tale, with some black accents on fins.
Day 3 now, and all is still peaceful. The new gals haven't figured out yet the good stuff is at the top...for now they just rome the bottom for fallen flakes while the guppies [AKA pigs ;D ] take over the top.
Scartlet only becomes fisty when she's in her cave, and the other[s] dare to disturb her peace, of if they start to "shadow" her too much [Blue became so taken from her, he immediatly started flaring adn strutting, shadowing along side...she cashed him off a few times until realized he showd no threats. Now she just ignores him...its so cute! Like a betta sop-opera xD ]
was curious, with so many fish in your tank, how do you go about cleaning it [whats your cleaning schedule for them?]
50% Twice a week
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I have a male in my tank now, (blind in one eyed, called popeye) been there for a little while, I removed the tail hugger(grabber), And the three dominate (older females) Now everyone gets along great,,
Just an update, I removed the male and won't be trying any more with the females, I do believe its futile to think a male can live peacefully with a community of females,
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
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