Hiding Betta

[Alec2cool]

I have a 10g with 2 balloon mollies, a opaline gourami and 1 cherry shrimp. I had to move them there to make room for my oscar that i moved to my 37g. i got a crowntail betta and as soon as i put him in the gourami was harrassing him. i come back about 5min later and the betta is flaring at him and the gourami left him alone for the rest of the day. i come back from my vaca in florida and i find the betta hiding in the cave. he doesnt come out. Whats going on? if the gourami is still harrassing him what can i do?

 

[kevinb120]

Gouramis and bettas hate each other. Not to mention an opaline in a 10g tank...

 

[Alec2cool]

i just explained why the gourami is in there -_-. Anyways, i had no idea they didnt like eachother, so should i remove the gourami from the tank?

 

[H2Ogal]

I'm afraid you'll need to remove the betta or the gourami. (Not sure about bettas with balloon mollies, though. If they have lots of finnage, the betta might go after them once he's settled in.) Do you have a tank you can use for the betta that has peaceful, short-finned fish in it?

 

[Alec2cool]

Ok thank you. All the fish in the 10g except the shrimp and betta are temporary. as soon as my mom gets a fishtank for her oscar, ill be putting them back in the 37g

 

[kevinb120]

I don't think the mollies would be much issue, bettas are pretty durn slow fish compared to a molly, and even long fin ones like lyretails still aren't flowing fins. Then again, my betta only attacks food like a maniac, and never bothers other fish. The killi's, a ram, and an occasional 'time out' platy(I do have 3 males after all ) have spent time with him with no issues. My dwarf gourami pretty much has his way as far as being a bit grumpy at times(although every other fish in the 26 can run circles around him), I wouldn't dare put him up there with the betta.

If you are only stuck with this oscar for a very short time, you could always sequester the betta in a breed-n-show inside the 10g tank. Although it would stink to be him for a few days after being in a 10g as the 'feature fish', he'll at least be safe. Personally, if its going to be more then a week for the 'oscar tank', I would re-home the durn thing in a LFS and be done with it.

 

[fishycat]

:iagree: definitely need to separate the betta & gourami.

This is a great excuse for a new tank!

 

[MYname]

ya betas and grouramis are both from that air breathing fish family
and they both hate each others guts
if its gona be a short time before the oscar is gone like 1 week or so all you need to do is trap the gourami or betta under a decent sized fish net at the bottom of the tank
if its gonna be a while before the betta gets his 10 back than you have a problem
do you have any friends with fish tanks?

 

[fishycat]

ya betas and grouramis are both from that air breathing fish family
all you need to do is trap the gourami or betta under a decent sized fish net at the bottom of the tank

Okay - I have a problem with this contradictory statement. Yes, betta and gourami both are labyrinth fish. This means they breathe air. So ... why would you trap your fish under the water so it drowns??

 

[kevinb120]

Um, you trap them at the TOP: