Female Betta with other fish

[Shugo]

HI, um i'm having problems with my female betta nipping at my other fish in my tank. I recently purchased a 2.5 gallon tank and put an orange neon tetra, Otocinclus affinis (dwarf sucker mouth), and a female betta into the tank. The female is a dark blue, the neon is clear and orange and is slightly smaller than the betta, and the algae eater is tan and brown and slightly bigger than the betta. I heard that having fish with bettas that where the same color and size would cause them to attack the other fish, along with being very territorial and such, but i read all that about the male bettas. The females (i read) were suppose to be more laid back. They were all added to the tank within the same day. and it doesn't seem like the female betta is going out of her way to nip at the other fish, it seems like if she just-so-happens to be near one of them, she has to at least try to bite them once. If she misses, then she just goes on about swimming, the same if she succeeds. I dont know if i should take her back and get another neon, or what... If someone could give me some insight, i would appreciate it.

Also, the betta is just over and inch long.

[trashion]

Too many fish in a 2.5, simply, there's no room for territories.

Return the tetra and the oto, a 2.5 can only support one betta.

[Chrispy]

yeah, take the step up to a 10 gallon. the fish are too crouded

[lohachata]

there is a good possibility that she is just trying to establish a pecking order.i really do not believe that tank to be too crowded.3 small fish is not that much.if the betta wanted to,she would have killed the others already...provide a little cover for everybody.

[trashion]

Pretty hard to provide cover in a 2.5, though.

Tetras need to be in schools, too, not alone.

[Mew_chan]

yep I would say 2.5 is way too small for more than 1 fish... you need at least a 5 gallon tank...

[lohachata]

hmmmmmmm....i would really like to know what would happen to a tetra if it was kept alone..will it suffer extreme emotional anxiety and go on a killing rampage?will it die from a broken heart?and how does one know for sure how much a fish suffers from loneliness?do we take it to the Dr. Doolittle of the fish world and have him ask it?
i have often kept breeding groups of fish in a 2 1/2..there are many folks that keep breeding pairs of fish in plastic shoeboxes.

[WildForFish]

Hello Shugo,

May I ask, how the tank is set up?

Do you have plants, little hides & such?

WFF

[Shugo]

well, i do have 3 plastic plants along the back of the tank so they can hide, and a (fake) little rock formation that they all like to, every so often, hide behind. I was thinking of adding a couple real plants in front of the filter so that the water coming out the filter wouldn't be so strong, i have a Tetra Whisper 3i In-Tank Filter and it seems to give off a strong current (considering they are small fish). I did take the betta out this afternoon after the first post, and it seems that the neon isn't so stressed out now. It was racing up and down the walls like crazy when i had the betta in there, it still does it a little-not nearly as much though. I also haven't seen the neon eat either.. It seems content though..

Oh, does anyone know where i can get a good lid for the 2.5 gallon tank, it came with a piece of glass with a handle attached to it, but it cant sit down in the groove of the tank because of the hose that goes to the filter.

and someone said that the neons should be in schools, do they have to be the same kind, like orange with orange, or can i put a blue-red one in with the orange one?

And i'm just going to keep my betta in another tank for right now, till i can upgrade.-and i also thought that she was establishing a pecking order, considering that she wasn't chasing the other fish down and biting them..

[Shugo]

the tank is set up, looking at it from directly over-head, there is a filter to the top right, 3 plastic plants along the back (they're out a little way so that they can get behind them), and there is a stand up rock formation that they can swim through all the way to the left. The rock is turn at a 45 degree angle so that the last plant to the left is behind it.
-------------------------------------------|
|--------|---------|---------|....|[[[[[]]]]]]|
|[[Plant]]|[[Plant]]]|[[Plant]]]|....|[[Filter]]]|
|--------|---------|---------|....|---------|
|......./////..............................................|
|.....//////..............................................|
|..../////...<-rock.....................................|
|....\///......................Gravel...................|
|.....\/.................................................. .|
|................................................. ..........|
-------------------------------------------|
i hope the picture helps...

[WildForFish]

Hello again,

I would suggest getting some real plants such as Java Fern and or Anacharis.

You can use these two plants to make a maze type setup:

1) have hiding / resting places 2) Have the line of vision broken up-a straight view
across the tank is probably not helping the situation.

Neither one of these plants need to be planted.

The rock, is it solid? You can add a cave (1), which has several openings and is hollow.
This will more than likely be the Bettas main hideout/favorite spot.

I will post picks as soon as I can of my 2.5 gal tanks, several of these house 2 females.
You can see the set-up I'm writting about.


WFF

[WildForFish]

P.S. It will be a couple of days for the pics, my camera battery died & I will not go into
town before Friday

[Shugo]

ok, went out and splurged on a 5 gallon tank, do you guys think there will be enough room now... and i got another neon to accompany the first one

[Cacatuoides]

wow, splurging for me would be going out buying an 75 gallon full setup, but... The 5 gallon is still pretty small but i think it might be ok, i'm an idiot though so wait till the smart ppl post

[Shugo]

i say splurge cuz im in college, and am low on money.. but i love fish.. it's a big delema...