New betta person here..

[JadedTiffa]

Um..ok. I am Really new to the whole betta thing. I have a 10g tank for a betta, an algie eater, and some kind of brightly colored fish...not really sure what it is. But the betta is being extremely mean to the bright fish. It will fight over food for it even though I feed it betta food, flare it's gills at it, and it chases the colored fish around the tank... The algie eater is just fine . Anyway, I was wondering why the betta does this..When it isn't chasing or eating, it just sits near the bottom of the tank in a corner...any type of fish I could buy to bring my Betta some company?? Also, how can I tell what gender my betta is??
Anyway like I said, I am new to this so please don't be mean lol.

[fish_doc]

If your brightly colored fish is a male guppy that could be part of your troubles. Male bettas will attack these on occasion for what seems to be a mistaken identity. They take these as another male betta in there territory.

Your betta is prefectly happy being alone and a 5 gallon tank is a great tank for it. I wouldnt worry about wanting to give him friends. They are a solitary fish by nature and dont care if it has tankmates.

[Milo]

You better remove the brightly colored fish. Your betta is going to kill it sooner or later.

[anasfire23]

It's most likely that your betta is a male, the males are more the clolured ones with long flarey tails. Females are alot plainer and dont' have the nice tails. Also very few pet stores really sell female betta's as they are plainer and people don't want them coz they aren't pretty like the males. Though some do sell them for breeders such as myself. If you can post a picture of your betta we could tell you with more certainty. Also if it appears to be attacking the other fish it's most likely male too, they are more agressive by nature (though my females do pick on each other also, just not as severly). Good luck with you betta, if all else fails you might need to give the betta his own tank so he has his own territory and not have to defend it.

[aaa]

anasfire23, i have to disagree that female are plainer than male. the female betta can be attractive. the reason petstore don't carry them because their tail usually shorter(although some are not). you can tell by looking under the fish's belly, between her ventral and anal fin, if you see white dot, the fish most likely to be a female betta. if not, it most likely to be a male. plus female can be really aggressive too. in lots of case the female can beat up a male.

[anasfire23]

Yeah I agree that some females can be attractive, I have one that has pretty irridessant blue/green throughout her fins, and yes most females do have shorter fins , I myself have never seen a long finned female. Females can be as agressive as the males but it's not as common for a female to kill a male as it is for 2 males to kill each other, not to say it doesn't happen though. And it isn't always as easy to tell a male from a female, a month ago I bought a creamy/red betta as a female, paid $6 for her too and after 4 weeks trying to spawn her with my males i found one of them on the bottom of the tank ripped to shreds. Turned out that she was in fact an immature short finned male (which matured in my care) mistaken by even the breeder and aquarium owners as a female. On the lighter coloured females it isn't so easy to tell if they are female or not. I now have 2 dark blue females that you can tell very deffinitly have an ovipositer, though they do change to light tan with brown horizontal stripes when stressed making it hard to see. I think I'm going to have a fun time trying to seperate the nearly 100 fry I have at the moment when they are large enough to be sexed.

[(RC)]

Welcome to Fishforums.Betta don't like other colorful fish and will chase them.


RC

[aaa]

anasfire23, no offense, but the female you saw at pet store are not very good fish and they are not that beautiful. anyway, good job on your spawn! i am not trying to knock down your pride but just let you know that the hardest part of breeding betta is raising them. it is hard to nail it the first time. just be careful. if they make it into 3 or 4 weeks, you will be fine. wish you luck.

[bettalove]

well...this has turned into something i have questions on...how can you tell the difference between a mature male/female and a immature male/female??

[mlefev]

It can be very difficult. If you can see the white spot under their anal fin, that's the ovipositor (which is how they lay eggs). If it doesn't have this, it could be a male. Also, behavior is a big part of it...aggressive males are more common than aggressive females. Another clue is to put a mirror in front of the betta and see if they flare and attack the reflection. Some females will, but not as commonly. Males also build bubble nests on the top of the water. You can watch them and see if they try to spit bubbles toward the top of the water. Females will, once in awhile, but it's much much more common for males to show that behavior.

Generally, if you buy a betta in a small cup at a chain store (Petco, Petsmart, Walmart, etc.) they are 99% of the time male. Independant pet stores will carry both male and female, but inexperienced fishkeepers at this store can mix up males and females frequently unless they have really long fins (which means they're male).

[honmol]

First, I have a long finned female who is very colorful. Second, when I tried to breed her she beat up the male really badly. Third, she bubblenests frequently. The only way to really tell is by the ovipositor.

[Alisha]

Honmol---Wow, I've never seen a long finned female, but the female I have did kill one of my very aggressive males, and builds bubble nests.

JadedTiffa---Well at least you have your betta in a decent sized tank. The reason your betta is acting aggressive towards your other fish, is simply because of the coloring. Most bettas will not tolerate most brightly colored fish, but some will, it really depends on the individual betta. It sounds like your betta is very stressed, and either he or the other fish should be removed. There are a few fish that are okay with bettas. I personally cant give advice on what they are because I have always kept my betta solitary, which I believe is the best decision, I think bettas are really happier when living alone.

[honmol]

bettas do well with otos, cories, ADFs, white clouds, And I think harlequin rasboras.

[micstarz]

danios and certain tetras do well too