female betta death

[crabguy]

i had three female bettas in my 29 gal community tank and the smallest one was beaten to death. is this unusual or normal? have 1 blue gourami, 1 dwarf gourami, 2 green tiger barbs, 2 platies, 1 cory cat and 1 cae.

[jm1212]

some of the fish you have in the tank are very aggressive, especially towards the fish you have put them with. to most people, it is unusual to have a fish beaten to death because most fish keepers do not want aggression in their tanks, or if they keep aggressive fish, take measures to calm the aggression down a bit.

blue gouramis are just plain aggressive towards other fish, especially other gouramis and bettas. blue gouramis WILL kill any other gourami/betta in the tank.

dwarf gouramis can also beaggressive towards toher gouramis and bettas

tiger barbs are notorious fin nippers and need to be in a school of 12 to keep them focused on the other tiger barbs instead of harassing the other fish in the tank.

CAEs arent algea eaters- they eat your fish- so they should be avoided and are also aggressive towards other fish in the tank.

[crabguy]

thanks, nice to know all this.

[Aislinn]

Female bettas, while not as aggressive as males, are still not exactly "community" fish. Their ability to mix with others, and most especially their ability to live in numbers of their own kind, is variable at best.

It is also generally not a good idea to "mix" labyrinth fish, so you shouldn't have gouramis and bettas in the same tank unless the tank is huge.

I've never personally kept blue gouramis, but I believe they can get to something like 6" and I would consider that too large for a 29g.

Chinese algae eaters also get large, I don't know exactly how large because I've never kept them. They don't eat algae, and as they mature they get very aggressive. They are known to suck the eyes out of fish, not to mention outright killing and eating other fish.

Tiger barbs and corys are both schooling fish, and should be kept in numbers no smaller than 6. I've never known a cory to be aggressive, but they are very skittish, shy, and prone to stress when kept by themselves. Tiger barbs are fin nippers, and are VERY active schooling fish. When kept in small numbers, they can be quite aggressive to their tankmates.

This honestly isn't meant as a flame, and I don't mean to be harsh, but the mix of your stock is far from ideal. I would definitely remove the blue gourami and the Chinese algae eater - either put them in larger tanks with appropriate tankmates or trade them to your lfs.

I would also choose between the female bettas and the dwarf gourami. I wouldn't keep both in a tank as small as 29g. Then I would add to the numbers of tiger barbs and corys until you've got groups of 6.

This should help ease the stress levels in your tank, and you should start to see more normal behaviours. Things will tend to be more peaceful, less anxious for both you and the fish, and more fun for everyone.