Very aggressive betta

[michaelp]

I only just joined, stumbled here as I am considering a tank mate for my Betta. I bought him a couple months ago. I hadn't had one in many many years and decided to go with an orange one. The tank he lives in is a 10 gallon with about 25 baby snails and some healthy plants. I am thinking about moving up to a 20 gal but I hate to change anything. The reason is before I had 5 neons and one full grown snail, which is where all the babies came from.

Shortly after all the babies started showing up the tank water turned completely green. I haven't had a tank in a long time and I made a major mistake and changed most of the water, knowing better. The neons died within a few hours
I was pretty sad about this so I left the tank empty for a couple months except for the snails. During that time the water cleared up and the plants grew well. So I went to good old wal mart and looked at bettas and immediately picked up the orange male as he had hints of blue in his tail and I just liked him. I never expected him to be so aggressive, though. He right away began to harass the big snail. I let this go on for a little while until I decided to try and take the snail back to wal mart, only to find the next day betta had eaten him!

He doesn't bother the little snails much. He does, however, either try to attack me or his reflection in the tank? So I am afraid to get another fish. I was considering a catfish or plecostomus as the algae is thick in a few areas..but I don't know I am afraid of killing any more fish! Perhaps he is one of the loners..

The betta I had when I was a kid lived with a female betta and a shark and an oscar in a 55 gallon tank and they were all happy together. This guy is not so mild mannered

I don't know anybody have any thoughts? I have so far been not so good a fish owner as I was when I was a kid that's for sure.

mp

[1fish2fish]

If he is attacking snails I would leave him by himself. Forcing him to live with tank mates will only stress him out and stress out the fish you put in the tank.

There are other ways to combat algae other than adding a bottom feeder. You can adjust your lighting and fertilization schedule along with manually removing the algae during water changes.

[michaelp]

I figure it is best to leave him alone. I will clean the tank eventually although it's not too bad yet. I'm gonna get a camera and take some pictures in the next couple days so I can post, I actually hadn't realized how good he looks since I brought him home from walmart and would like to share.
He's pretty cool, too. Sometimes I catch him hiding under one of the plants that's right on the bottom. I'm happy with just him in the tank he's awesome.

[JahBetta]

My Betta doesn't mind shrimp or big snails, but if he sees a little one moving about that he thinks he can munch he will; it's instinct. He will flare at a lot of little things too, little pieces of plant matter, dog hair, etc. But always seems to pass the things about his size; never picks on things he isn't insanely oversized of.

[michaelp]

I noticed yesterday he nipped at one of the little snails and it floated to the top. But I gotta say I just went over to the tank with my camera in my phone and he came right out and spread all his fins out for a picture. I love him

[gidgeystartedit]

Some bettas are TOTALLY different then others. I got a VT from Petsmart, I think, that doesn't like tankmates either. He flared at a snail. It was funny, but I took it out to not stress him out. I also have a betta next to a goldfish tank, and he never flared at them. My last betta won't flare at the guppies, but once I put a goldfish next to him and he flared. So every betta is different.

[kfryman]

Obe thing you have to remember is bettas only usually know other bettas, they haven't seen other fish really. So they either don't like the idea of other fish or they get curious and don't mind the other fish. All bettas personalities are different. He may be one of the bettas that likes the bachelor life.

[gidgeystartedit]

Originally Posted by kfryman

Obe thing you have to remember is bettas only usually know other bettas, they haven't seen other fish really. So they either don't like the idea of other fish or they get curious and don't mind the other fish. All bettas personalities are different. He may be one of the bettas that likes the bachelor life.

Lol that made me laugh at the last sentence, haha.

[kfryman]

I know it is funny lol.