Attack of the killer betta

DaisyTattoo

DaisyTattoo

AC Members
Jan 11, 2006
1,395
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51
Illinois
I have a white male betta in my 55g. He has always gotten along with all of the other inhabitants until yesterday. I put 2 small mystery snails in the tank. One was white and the other blue. Well the white one tried to come out of its shell and the betta attacked it! Every time the snail tried to come out the betta attacked! He has never attacked my huge apple snail nor did he try to attack the medium mystery snail I used to have. So why attack these? I wonder if it was because they were so small or maybe he didnt like the fact it was the same color as him? Anyway, I moved the snails to the 10g with the other betta and he didnt seem to mind the company.
 
first, I'm suprised the tetras and angels havn't shredded the betta yet. If you have angels pair off once they get bigger, they will likely kill the betta. Not to mention loaches seem to have a taste for fins as well.

why the betta attacked the snails...how small were the snails? He may have viewed them as food, or they may have been in his area. Betta's are tricky characters. some people have them in community tanks with good luck. many others, me included, have had bad luck with angels in communities.

All fish have different personalities just like people so you never know when, if or why one does something in particular. There are always exceptions to the rule. Kyle
 
The snails are about the size of a nickel. As far as anything bothering the betta, I have had no problems. I have kept bettas in community tanks for years and the only time I had a problem was with guppies and it was the betta that killed all of them. This is my first time with angels however. I have heard that if you get them small enough and raise them with the fish you want to keep them with, there is less aggression when they mature. That only time will tell. If there becomes a problem, I will just buy a 10g for the betta. I am thinking of moving the pristellas to the 10g I currently have when the angels mature, just to lighten the load a bit. I do realize that I will probably have to get rid of at least one angel when they pair off since I have an odd number, but I dont know what the sexes are yet. For all I know I could have 5 males.
 
I had a female in my tank at work...and she was viscious to the snails there. I had to take her out becasue of the male chasing her all the time(duh).
I see her in the 55 at home occasionally stalking snails..but so what. I called her Beatrix, after "the bride" in the Kill Bill movies..and I don't usually name fish.
 
the chances of you having two pairs and an extra angels is pretty low. you usually just want more than 2 unless they are paired, not really even or odd numbers. Evenso, if you had say one pair and 3 extra males, the pair will likely run the 3 males off. I don't really buy the raised-with other fish story either. I see where it comes from but most any cichlids when spawning don't want anyone around, whether they were buddies before or not.

I bought 4 angels from the same tank, about half dollar sized bodies. 2 marbled, 2 wild stripe coloration. They went in a 65 gallon with rainbows, congo tetras, corydoras, bolivian rams, pearl gourami's and some panchax. The two striped angels outgrew the marbled and began ripping up their fins so we traded the marbled to some friends and still have the striped. The striped are fine in the tank but when they decide to spawn, no one is allowed on that half of the tank. They seem to be more aggressive to some fish more than others but no one is allowed near the spawning site.

Betta's aren't very quick moving fish so if and when you do have a pair try to spawn, if he comes near he's likely to get beat up pretty bad. The pristella's would probably be ok with the angels in my opinion. I'm not sure if they're from the same environment but they should be able to coexist in the 55 as long as you don't end up having two pairs try to spawn at the same time and control the whole tank. In that case it's liable to be a bloody battle anyway. KYle
 
I figured the only fish in the tank that might have a prob with the angels were the pristellas and the betta since all the rest of them pretty much stick to the bottom of the tank. I dont know if they will give the apple snail a problem or not. If I am lucky, maybe mine wont be so aggressive. What would happen if all the angels were the same sex? Would they become aggressive towards each other? The odds of them all being the same sex are probably pretty small I know, but it could happen.
 
"normally" they wouldn't tend to be quite as aggressive without a female to compete for. However, normal doesn't mean always and there can be someone that causes a problem. Also, I've heard several instances where pairs of same-sex angels will go through spawning rituals. Normally it has been two females that go through spawning rituals together, sometimes only one lays eggs, sometimes both are ready at the same time. I'm not sure if males will do this as well or not. It could be that there is little evidence when males have gone through any spawning rituals since there are no eggs. If you had two same-sex fish try and pair up, I guess it would be the same as if you had a regular pair. Just keep an eye on them, it's usually obvious when a pair has erupted, same sex or not. Kyle
 
mine were always together (marbled together and striped together) but I don't think they'd actually formed pairs. I'm not really sure when they mature and become pairs. The striped ones were spawning at 3 inches (body size). Kyle
 
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