# At What Age Do Fry Start To Become Aggressive?



## Mohan85 (Aug 27, 2011)

I know it's probably different with each spawn. but in general... at how many weeks do they start becoming aggressive? when are they usually taken out to be seperated?


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

at around 7 to 8 weeks bit these are usually play fights like puppies have. around 12 weeks they get a little more serious. you'll be able to tell the difference.


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

I agree with Mr V. ..... in general. But mine often get serious at 9 - 10 weeks. The more docile batch could stay together until 4 months or so.

Usually it depends on how often you disturb them or how often do they go through environment changes (adding or reducing plants, pumps etc). The more disturbance after they are 2cm, the sooner they become aggressive.


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

indjo I have a spawn that's about 9 months old and has never been seperated but has moved tanks and tubs several times and they have been removed for spawning. they are only agressive when paired up to spawn but become peaceful once they're back in a group situation.


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## CrowntailTwitchy57 (Jun 25, 2011)

i think its all up to the fish. i mean, there's no specific age that children grow hair, so why is there a specific age for this? just keep watching therm after 6 weeks or so. If you ever spawn, post pics! Good luck!


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## GreenTea (Jan 31, 2011)

CrowntailTwitchy57 said:


> i think its all up to the fish. i mean, there's no specific age that children grow hair, so why is there a specific age for this? just keep watching therm after 6 weeks or so. If you ever spawn, post pics! Good luck!



o_0 there is a pretty specific window kids grow hair in. And there's a general window fry become aggressive in. Just like children don't decide when the grow hair, bettas don't decide to become aggressive as a conscious choice.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

indjo said:


> I agree with Mr V. ..... in general. But mine often get serious at 9 - 10 weeks. The more docile batch could stay together until 4 months or so.
> 
> Usually it depends on how often you disturb them or how often do they go through environment changes (adding or reducing plants, pumps etc). The more disturbance after they are 2cm, the sooner they become aggressive.


That is very interesting. I never thought disturbing them could cause aggression.


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## cajunamy (Apr 28, 2011)

Mine never really got that aggressive - they're 6 months. I pulled them at 4 months though when I started noticing a few fin nips.


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

MrVampire181 said:


> indjo I have a spawn that's about 9 months old and has never been seperated but has moved tanks and tubs several times and they have been removed for spawning. they are only agressive when paired up to spawn but become peaceful once they're back in a group situation.


Yes I've heard people achieving this but I can never keep mine that peaceful. My average is around 3 - 4 months if I don't disturb them too much. The best I can get is a male together with females in sororities.

One of my current spawns is only about 9 weeks. They began biting - not flaring - at about 5 weeks. So I put in some docile adult females to "referee" them. It worked until they grew as big as the adults. And at less than 9 weeks they're starting to flare again (this time its more of a play flare, but they do bite). So I put in giant females - including mommy (daddy is too aggressive). They're rather calm .... as long as their belly's are stuffed with food. lol - I don't really care about their fins, I'm trying to power grow this batch so I'm reluctant to jar them - until they reach 2".


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## Dragonlady (Nov 29, 2010)

Some spawns become aggressive earlier than others. I generally start pulling males as early as 8 weeks, but some are slower to develop aggressive tendencies than others. Some lines are certainly more aggressive than others. If the growout tank is large enough and heavily planted, it is not unusual for young fish from a betta spawn that have lived together their entire life to set up a pecking order. Remove the dominant male, and the subordinate males will become more aggressive toward one another to try to replace his dominant position. By 3-4 months old, most males will need to be kept alone if you want their fins to look nice. Occasionally, a very nice slower developing male will become obvious in a group of sorted females at 6 months old.


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## Mohan85 (Aug 27, 2011)

my problem was my fry are 10 weeks old but they are still so tiny.. about an inch long.. so i didn't think they would turn aggressive yet....

one day i was siphoning the bottom of the tank and i accidently sucked 3 out of the tank... they landed into a bucket i usually siphon the water too.. i didnt think nothing of it and netted them and threw them all back in the tank.. and everything was fine but i noticed that ONE of the fry was acting weird.. he was acting kinda funny.. as if he was infected.. infected with some angry disease.. he was striking and nipping at all other fry that came near.. and they all kept inspecting him with great curiousity.. then i actually saw the little shrimp flaring! he was relentlessly nipping all the other fry.. i felt like i had a crazed zombie fry in my tank... so i decided to jar him.. and all peace resumed in my fry tank.. kinda didn't wanna jar him when he was so small though!


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## animallover4lyfe (Jul 7, 2010)

Mohan85 said:


> my problem was my fry are 10 weeks old but they are still so tiny.. about an inch long.. so i didn't think they would turn aggressive yet....
> 
> one day i was siphoning the bottom of the tank and i accidently sucked 3 out of the tank... they landed into a bucket i usually siphon the water too.. i didnt think nothing of it and netted them and threw them all back in the tank.. and everything was fine but i noticed that ONE of the fry was acting weird.. he was acting kinda funny.. as if he was infected.. infected with some angry disease.. he was striking and nipping at all other fry that came near.. and they all kept inspecting him with great curiousity.. then i actually saw the little shrimp flaring! he was relentlessly nipping all the other fry.. i felt like i had a crazed zombie fry in my tank... so i decided to jar him.. and all peace resumed in my fry tank.. kinda didn't wanna jar him when he was so small though!


Oh good! You can answer my question! So once you jarred the fry, how did they adjust? And how often are u doing water changes?? My worry is they are used to heated water, my heated water to room temp is very different at the warmest my room temp is MAYBE 75 if my heat in my house is on, a couple days ago it was barely above 60-65!!


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

If you are only jarring aggressive fry, you should be jarring one or two at a time. I usually float them in the fry tank. If your air is rather cool, cover the top. 

If my fry tank were filtered, I would pour everything in the tank and immediately re-fill with water from the tank - daily. Other wise I do 80 - 100% daily water changes (new water). This depends on what I feed - how dirty is the water.


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## Mohan85 (Aug 27, 2011)

indjo said:


> If you are only jarring aggressive fry, you should be jarring one or two at a time. I usually float them in the fry tank. If your air is rather cool, cover the top.
> 
> If my fry tank were filtered, I would pour everything in the tank and immediately re-fill with water from the tank - daily. Other wise I do 80 - 100% daily water changes (new water). This depends on what I feed - how dirty is the water.


how do you "float them" ? i think i seen this technique before on youtube.. but couldn't get a response on how its done


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

Keep em together a little longer. I find jarring to early can cause them to grow very slowly. I don't jar until they are at least 1.5 inches long and finning out. Even then I sometimes keep them together. Bettas have play fights.


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

I use 2L plastic bottles cut in half. Just fill it enough that it doesn't sink (about 1-1.5cm of the bottle is above water). If you're using pumps in your tank, make sure the jar doesn't move around - it may tilt and sink.


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## Mohan85 (Aug 27, 2011)

animallover4lyfe said:


> Oh good! You can answer my question! So once you jarred the fry, how did they adjust? And how often are u doing water changes?? My worry is they are used to heated water, my heated water to room temp is very different at the warmest my room temp is MAYBE 75 if my heat in my house is on, a couple days ago it was barely above 60-65!!


hey so its been 3 - 4 days now.. and he seems to have adjusted ok.. i keep his jar under the lamp i have my BBS hatcheries at.. so i think the water stays fairly warm.. although i was concerned about that too.. i'm in georgia and its starting to get cold.. but i think he's doing just fine under the lamp.. oh yea and i change the jar water everyday.


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## Mohan85 (Aug 27, 2011)

MrVampire181 said:


> Keep em together a little longer. I find jarring to early can cause them to grow very slowly. I don't jar until they are at least 1.5 inches long and finning out. Even then I sometimes keep them together. Bettas have play fights.


i seriously wanted to keep him in longer.. but i think he was confused or something because i actually saw the little 1 inch shrimp of a fry FLARING! and he would not stop striking n nippin all the other fry.. he was even taking on the bigger fry.. it was as if he had turned into a zombie fry and all reasoning had gone out the window... he was infected with mad hate diease and could not be cured -______-


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## GreenTea (Jan 31, 2011)

Mohan85 said:


> i seriously wanted to keep him in longer.. but i think he was confused or something because i actually saw the little 1 inch shrimp of a fry FLARING! and he would not stop striking n nippin all the other fry.. he was even taking on the bigger fry.. it was as if he had turned into a zombie fry and all reasoning had gone out the window... he was infected with mad hate diease and could not be cured -______-



Sorry I know you're bummed you had to move him but that made me laugh! Imagining a little fry taking on everyone...


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## animallover4lyfe (Jul 7, 2010)

Mohan85 said:


> hey so its been 3 - 4 days now.. and he seems to have adjusted ok.. i keep his jar under the lamp i have my BBS hatcheries at.. so i think the water stays fairly warm.. although i was concerned about that too.. i'm in georgia and its starting to get cold.. but i think he's doing just fine under the lamp.. oh yea and i change the jar water everyday.



Thanks! I think ill take my chances and let them be, my room is too inconsistent to put them in jars. Plus all my fry are different sizes so id prob jar more than one lol


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## Mohan85 (Aug 27, 2011)

GreenTea said:


> Sorry I know you're bummed you had to move him but that made me laugh! Imagining a little fry taking on everyone...


haha its ok.. today i am gonna go out to look for a small plastic breeders net type thing so i can put him back in with his brothers and sisters  course he will not be able to get at them anymore ;-)


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

I'd think it'd also be on the fish... and what changes in their environment and if their environment is big enough. I mean having 20 males in a 10 gallon (about 1.5 inches each) would be a bit skeptical (to me anwyays 'lest you can do it xD) but if they were in a 30 gallon, I'd see it being more plausible... just my opinion


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

In larger tanks they maintain the peace but in smaller tanks they become aggressive earlier.


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## Punki (Apr 30, 2011)

Mine were turning aggressive at 2 months so i moved them to a larger space and now all but 1 are peaceful at 3 months. The aggressor was just like yours, just flaring and taking on EVERYONE, hed taken claim of an ammonia reader stuck to the corner of the tank and nobody could come near it without getting nips. I removed him and the rest are all peaceful and calm now


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## Mohan85 (Aug 27, 2011)

He has rejoined his brothers and sisters, YAY... i found a floating breeders container at petsmart, lol... btw i have decided to name him Aggro


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## Punki (Apr 30, 2011)

Aw adorable babies you got there! Growing very nicely! Glad you could rejoin him


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## Mohan85 (Aug 27, 2011)

hmm with this one isolated in the tank i'm begining to see alot of nipped fins!  wonder if there is another bully in the tank! or i think i may just have an aggressive spawn.. their dad was super aggressive, so i guess this shouldn't come as a suprise -___- i'm gonna post a video of them soon..


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

LOL maybe  it's possible! Just make sure it's not too aggressive really. Usually they sort things out but if they won't you'll have to remove the aggressors soon


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## Mohan85 (Aug 27, 2011)

Sena Hansler said:


> LOL maybe  it's possible! Just make sure it's not too aggressive really. Usually they sort things out but if they won't you'll have to remove the aggressors soon


yea hopefully its just play fights.. i don't feel like jarring a bunch of them right now when they're still kinda small.. even tho i see many nipped fins.. i dont actually see the fights.. so i guess its not so bad, but this tells me i'm gonna need to work on my betta drip system ASAP! i already bought a shelf and a water pump.. now gotta start building the pipes and stuff.. oh god, so much to do and so much to buy -____- hopefully it pays off


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