# Betta fish and dividers...



## tkvalentine (Nov 6, 2011)

So the usual story of having a larger tank and a divider for two bettas remains strong here. Tee divider is transparent with a bunch of little holes. The PetCo employee said that their vision isn't the greatest and it shouldn't be a problem (you see where this is going, right?). So I put everything together, and Tristan and Vlad were fine. I left for work and came back with no problems.

Well, this morning, Tristan was chilling by the divider, and Vlad saw him and went NUTS. I have never seen my boy flare up like that to anything other than his mirror toy. Tristan didn't seem to care at all. So as a precautionary measure, I moved Vlad back to his old bowl with the little pad heater until I can get back to PetCo for some fixes (as well as get a bottle to make a baffle for my filter).

So my question is this. I thought that maybe I could get one of those aquarium wallpapers and cut it to fit the divider to avoid any further stress to Vlad. My only concern now is that the water from the filter wouldn't reach the other side of the tank. Would this idea work if I poked holes through the wallpaper? My only problem there is I don't know how consistent my holes would be with the divider's, and I don't know how much would allow appropriate water flow.

If that's not the brightest idea, what are some other suggestions? I thought some tall plants would be good, but I still have this irking feeling that they'd still spot each other from time to time. Are there any plants (preferably fake; I'm still new to the aquarium business) that would work well and still allow substantial flow of water through the divider?


----------



## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

You could double up the divider, or get one that is darker to double it up with the one you have now.

Normally within a week neighbors will calm down quite a bit with each other, having flaring bouts every now and again. So it should be just fine to let them adjust to one another, and after a week it hasn't gotten any better then try the doubling up of the divider.

Also, adding some tall plants to one side of it will help break the lines of sights, so there would be less seeing of each other and less flaring competitions.


----------



## Littlebittyfish (Jan 5, 2011)

There are some bettas that just do not work out in divided tanks...most are fine after a week or so though..Make sure they both have places to hide out of sight of the other betta and place plants along the divider to help block the view as well.


----------



## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

You could try making a moss wall out of the divider, although I'm unsure how that would affect filter flow.


----------



## tkvalentine (Nov 6, 2011)

Ok, so the slits in the wallpaper didn't work. Vlad still saw Tristan. So I put a full sheet in (left a little room in the bottom corner covered by a plant so heat could get through and the aquarium wallpaper is also bent out a little bit to allow a little more water sharing.). HOWEVER. Are bettas able to "sense" another betta without seeing it? Because they both flare now! Maybe it's the wallpaper or the new environment, but I'm running out of options... Thoughts?


----------



## tkvalentine (Nov 6, 2011)

Also, I put in a floating log for Vlad and a big sculpture with places to hide for Tristan.


----------



## nel3 (May 29, 2011)

what is the best way to introduce 2 betta before the 2nd goes into the tank? atm i have one in the 5gal, the other is still in his .5g. the line of sight is broken outside the tanks. i was thinking of removing the obstuction to get them used to it before the 2nd one goes in. its just a cheap plastic snap divider you can put books in to display them. i just need to put it away in that case.

is it an omen if one of the betta in question bites his tail all alone in a 2.5g regarding sucess in a divded tank? the VT has always bitten the tail in anything larger than 0.5g. it took him 2 week to start on his tail in the 2.5g. it might be he wants more room laterally but im not 100% sure yet.

my VT was flaring like crazy when i had a picture backdrop on the 2.5g. he'd flare a bit and relax. then charge again after a 2 second pause and keep repeating it. i took off the backdrop and problem solved.


----------



## HatsuneMiku (Jul 29, 2011)

tkvalentine said:


> Are bettas able to "sense" another betta without seeing it?


my betta's sence each other and they are in their own separate tanks .. just next to each other .. i put a paper between them .. but they still know even when they can't see each other .. 

it's probably more so in a divided tank .. when one fish moves i'm sure there's a ripple effect so that the other betta knows where another life form is from the movement of the water .. even with the divider in place .. as long as water is shared ... they will sense it ..


----------



## Silverfang (Mar 25, 2011)

With any luck, they will calm down after a few days.
I just divided my 10 gal so I am watching my two, first nighty they were flare crazy, but I doubled up the canvas divider, dimmed the lights, and with a bit of time they calmed down a bit.
If you are really lucky maybe they will decide to have a bubble nest competition.


----------



## bastage (Oct 16, 2011)

Mine dont really care after the 1st little bit.. They will occasionally end up nose to nose & both flare for a few miniutes, but after a few they go there own ways again..


----------



## nel3 (May 29, 2011)

do you have to introduce the 2 fish prior to putting the 2nd betta into the tank? i can remove the paper so they might see each other from their 2 seperate tanks.


----------

