# Bettas behavior changed, suddenly aggressive



## JamieL (Jun 4, 2013)

I've had my male betta, Diamond Sky in a 20 long for over a year with panda cories, and he's always been fine. There was a mystery snail at one point, he was fine with him as well. He used to occasionally chase a cory, then go about his business, but suddenly he is going after them relentlessly. He's being pretty vicious and he never seems to stop. Why the sudden change?? Should I remove him?? Id have to put him in a much smaller tank, I'm worried that would be stressful for him, but I don't want him killing his tank mates either. He chased/attacked one poor female cory so badly earlier, the poor thing laid on an anubias leaf breathing heavily when he finally let up. Can anyone offer any advice??


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## CNDBETTAS (Jun 21, 2014)

Im no expert and Im sure someone else will offer up better advice but heres my .02
It could be something triggered his spawning behavior. If he was previously perfect fine with tank mates but now chases them away, he may think hes getting ready to guard his nest. They naturally chase away other fish when guarding fry. Maybe moving the pandas out. You can try to donate them to the LFS if it comes down to it. Sorry I dont have any other advice. Just sounds logical to me.


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## Fishybitty (Dec 29, 2012)

What size is your smaller tank? I'm pretty sure he would appreciate being alone. 
Especially if he is harassing the other tank mates.


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## JamieL (Jun 4, 2013)

I have a spare 2.5 gal, it seems so small though, and it would be unfiltered. I don't really have the space for much else anyway. I have a spare 5.5 gallon, but it's currently being used as an ISO tank for a molting hermit crab, so I can't move him out and back into the main crab tank anytime soon.

Maybe I can move diamond sky into the small tank and just see how he does. Meh.


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## JamieL (Jun 4, 2013)

An update on my problem child, diamond sky:
I made the petco $1/gallon sale and picked up a ten, I divided it and moved diamond sky and my daughters betta into that. He was sulking for days, I felt really guilty. He was hiding in the cave, laying on the bottom, clamping. On Friday I added more plants from the community tank so it would be more like his old home, then today I looked in and saw this!










Also, the cories are suddenly like new fish. They're so much more active, they're clearly so much happier. They cruise all over the tank and putter around and play. They used to lay in a pile in the corner most of the time. I think this was a good move.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

That sounds all in all like a pretty good outcome!


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