# 1.5 Weeks in Divided Tank.. One of the bettas still flaring...



## Newtonbetta (Nov 5, 2010)

I have a Betta Bow 2.5 Gal from Aqueon.. I have two male bettas separated by a divider. While I realize some here may think the 2.5 is too small to divide, my question relates to the aggressiveness of one of the inhabitants... One of the bettas flares thru the divider at the other fish all the time.. The other one never flares and doesn't seem to care too much when he's flared at. They can't physically touch eachother thru the divider.

The research I've seen on the internet says that too much flaring is too stressful. Other webpages say it doesn't stress them that much and flaring is normal. Other pages say the aggressive guy will calm down eventually.

Any thoughts?


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## Panthera (Nov 2, 2010)

Well even though you probably don't want to hear it, at least part of the aggressiveness is most likely related to the small living quarters. From what I've read, 2.5 gallons is just enough for one fish, let alone two. Also they are two males, if they can see each other, they're going to flare. It's what they do. If I were you I'd either get a bigger tank, about 5 Gallons, or if you don't want to, at least put some plants along the divider so they can't see each other. 

They're both going to get stressed out sooner or later.


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## Newtonbetta (Nov 5, 2010)

Your response is reasonable, even though I didn't want to hear it .. It's just that space is the issue in my apartment. I put silk plants all along the divider on the less aggressive beta's side to hide him, but the aggressive guy patrols his side of the divider looking for his adversary quite a lot.




Panthera said:


> Well even though you probably don't want to hear it, at least part of the aggressiveness is most likely related to the small living quarters. From what I've read, 2.5 gallons is just enough for one fish, let alone two. Also they are two males, if they can see each other, they're going to flare. It's what they do. If I were you I'd either get a bigger tank, about 5 Gallons, or if you don't want to, at least put some plants along the divider so they can't see each other.
> 
> They're both going to get stressed out sooner or later.


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## TaylorW (Sep 4, 2010)

Is your divider glass or mesh or what? I'm just curious if they can see through it clearly or not. If it's clear or glass, that could be a big part of the problem.

They do have a hair over a gallon of water, which isn't bad, just not suggested by most forum members.


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## Colibri (Sep 29, 2010)

I don't think that space has something to so with the fact that one male is more aggressive than the other. That's just the way bettas are, although some are more aggressive, and other more passive and calm. I would suggest you... instead of putting more plants on each side of the divider (because that would give them even less swimming space) is using a divider where they can't see each other at all. Flaring all the time will stress them out, and that's not a good thing for their health. I have a 5 gallon divided tank with a frosted glass, it's glass but not transparent. I have a female and a male living there, and that way they don't see each other (I guess though that if they come really close to the glass they somehow recognize the shape of another fish and flare, but, that almost never happens) and live peacefully. You should better try they don't know the existence of the other with such a divider, that way you'll leave them much more space to swim. (Although, you should really try giving them a larger tank... )


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## Newtonbetta (Nov 5, 2010)

Here's my setup below.. the guy on the left is the alpha male.. always patrolling the divider.. The guy on the right is pretty docile, loves sleeping in the plants. But I can't get the one on the left to behave!
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## TaylorW (Sep 4, 2010)

Oh my, they can really see through that! Try to get something solid or a thick mesh that is very difficult to see through. That should solve your problem!

Stress is not good for your fish, so you might want to replace your divider :/


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## Newtonbetta (Nov 5, 2010)

will mesh hinder filtration on the weak (right) side?


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## TaylorW (Sep 4, 2010)

I think it should still let the water pass through fine. Hang on, let me find you the thread about making your own divider!

This thread is about a 10 gallon tank, but in your smaller tank I don't think the filter will be as big of a problem. I would still get a 2nd opinion though! 

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=40025


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## Colibri (Sep 29, 2010)

Hmm... I think that with that kind of filter if you used a glass it would only work on one side. Mine is an undergravel, so the filtration is everywhere. The mesh would still let the water flow through to the other side, and would make it more complicated for the boys to see each other. You should really try it out.

Edit: The tutorial TaylorW suggests is great! You could do that!


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## Newtonbetta (Nov 5, 2010)

thanks for all your input, folks. I'm thinking of adding mesh to the already existing foundation thats in there.. in essence, just adding mesh to one side of the divider.. Trick will be figuring out how to adhere it to the existing divider.


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## TaylorW (Sep 4, 2010)

You could use aquarium sealant! Some people use clear hot glue as well


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## Newtonbetta (Nov 5, 2010)

Ok, so lets say I do this.. Its going to require getting the fish out of there, taking divider out, adding mesh and putting divider back in. Due to the gravel, I'm going to have to empty out everything to re-position the divider.

Will it be a big deal robbing the tank of the good bacteria by doing in effect a 100% water change?


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## TaylorW (Sep 4, 2010)

My tank isn't cycled, so I don't know much about tank bacteria :/ But good luck though!


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## Colibri (Sep 29, 2010)

Reading the DIY divider post... try finding a mesh that's plastic, and without a "rare" color would be great, the color could dye out. And, well... if you do a 100% water change, and your tank is cycled you will get rid of all the bacteria. But, it's not that big of a deal... you can always recycle it. In a 2.5 gal tank it's not that complicated, many say that such a tank can't even be cycled. Or, try just pouring 75-80% of the water and put the divider back in, then refill.


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## Newtonbetta (Nov 5, 2010)

*Update - Mesh Added*

As an update.. I added some plastic mesh... I think its working better.. the little jerk on the left still flared thru once or twice. The frequency is lower though, and the flaring isn't lasting as long.


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## Colibri (Sep 29, 2010)

I'm glad to see you did it! It looks great! That will have them more relaxed.


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## MMK (Nov 5, 2010)

I still think a bigger tank would be better. However, What I did for my guys was very similar to the link above, but I used plastic craft mesh. I put two pieces of mesh into each divider slots and sandwiched Java Moss in between it. This way my guys can't really see each other and they are much happier. I still have good flow from my filter, so just don't over pack it with moss. This should work in your tank too.

Here is a photo. You can see the Java Moss growing out a bit. I think it looks nice and works great to keep the peace!


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## Newtonbetta (Nov 5, 2010)

What's the best online source for java moss? I dont think my Petcos sell it, and I live near a bunch of them.


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## MMK (Nov 5, 2010)

Aquabid usually has it or you could try kijiji/Craigslist. I've seen people occasionally selling on there.


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## TaylorW (Sep 4, 2010)

Wow, that tank looks much better! Great job!   

I think you could do the same thing with a marimo ball if you can't find java moss. You can pick the balls apart and it should grow fine.

Live plants keep your water cleaner, so the more live plants the better!


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## Newtonbetta (Nov 5, 2010)

While the mesh has cut down on flaring, it has not cut it down completely. Can fish "smell" a nearby fish on the other side? i don't think he can see the other side.. and if he can, it's only shadows.

I dont know if maybe I should add another piece of mesh to make it even less transparent.. The fish on the left is very aggressive.


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## TaylorW (Sep 4, 2010)

Maybe you could try to give him some other form of entertainment, a lot of people provide ping pong balls, betta logs, and "mirror time" as entertainment! 

Try floating a ping pong ball on the water surface, some fish like to push it around the tank! Also try holding a mirror outside of his tank for a few minutes a day so that he can work out some aggression on his reflection. Floating betta logs also make great toys, a lot of fish like to swim through them or hide in them.

Live plants might help as well, my fish was bored all the time when I had plastic plants. Now that I have live plants he no longer stares at me vacantly out of boredom and now rubs against their leaves and builds bubble nests!

He doesn't really have much to do in a tank that size, and is probably bored and naturally aggressive. So even if he does just see a shadow on the other side, he'll probably keep going at it if he doesn't have anything else to do. I don't know if they can smell each other, but I haven't heard of anyone else having that problem.

I'd say that boredom and lack of swimming space is the issue here :/


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## Newtonbetta (Nov 5, 2010)

So heres my new setup.. I sucked it up and got a 10gal with aquaclear 20 filter. I made the divider per the tutorial... 

Two things:

1. The filter makes a lot of air bubbles from the "waterfall." The little bubbles rise to the surface and collect - they look a lot like a bubble nest. Any way to get rid of these?

2. There appears to be some gravel dust on the surface of the side without the filter.. Which makes me wonder how good the filtration is on the non-filter side.. I used plastic mesh so water definitely passes through.. See below.


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## scootshoot (Oct 11, 2010)

I am sure their little betta hearts go up several beats when alarmed and flaring at a potential intruder. To have your bettas under this constant threat 24/7 can't be healthy.


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## Newtonbetta (Nov 5, 2010)

Please read prior posts - the divider was made via the tutorial from a user here. The plastic mesh has two layers and cannot be seen through. They haven't flared once since I took them out of the 2.5


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## Colibri (Sep 29, 2010)

It looks great Newton! I'm glad you opted for a bigger tank! It will make things easier. The old one can be used for a single betta if you'd like to rescue one someday. Yes, I can see the water is a little cloudy. I'm sure it's because of the dust some gravel have. If you do 100% water changes sometime soon, try rinsing the stones inside a strainer (like the ones used for spaghetti) so the dust goes. Or, you con always siphon the bottom, that will also help you with the cloudy thing. What kind of filter are you using? I'm sure that has something to do with the dust on the surface of the other side.


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## Newtonbetta (Nov 5, 2010)

Its an AquaClear 20. Its made for 5-20 gallon tanks. I had rinsed out the gravel, I guess not enough... Do you think filtration can still get to the "weak side" of the tank?


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## Colibri (Sep 29, 2010)

I guess it should. The divider allows the water to pass through. Maybe if you put some kind of aeration, an air-stone could be a good idea to "break" the surface of the water, give it more movement and help the dust to pass to the other side and be filtered. My divided tank has an under-gravel filter and it works great on both sides. The side that doesn't have the filter column has an air-stone, so both sides have movement.


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## scootshoot (Oct 11, 2010)

Newtonbetta said:


> Please read prior posts - the divider was made via the tutorial from a user here. The plastic mesh has two layers and cannot be seen through. They haven't flared once since I took them out of the 2.5


Oh my bad. You ended up with a nice setup there. Good work!


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## Newtonbetta (Nov 5, 2010)

will an airstone be too much current for the betta? Also, the collection of bubbles i'm dealing with now in the tank - they'll go away eventually?


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## TaylorW (Sep 4, 2010)

Wow, I am so impressed with your new tank!!  It looks wonderful!!!    Your fish will love you FOREVER for such a huge tank!!


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## Colibri (Sep 29, 2010)

Oh no! Well, it depends entirely on the air-pump you get and the air-stone. I have a small air-pump and my air-stone is really small (http://www.tiendanimal.es/images_g//Difusor_Cilindrico_ELITE.jpg) so it doesn't affect my little girl. What you can do is divide the air-current to another thing. My air-current is divided in the filter and the air-stone. ! My bettas are in a 5 gallon divided tank. Yours live in 10 so the current wouldn't be very strong. You can play with air-stones to see which fits best for you and your bettas, but I believe the water movement will help with the filtration and the dust on the surface. 
Now, as for the bubbles. It's normal for a filter to produce bubbles. Mine does but they "plop" soon. I think that the dust particles that are still in the water of your tank make the bubbles stay for a longer time.

Edit: A small pump like this one that's for up to 5 gallon shouldn't make your fish feel stressed. http://vivapet.es/tiendaonline/images/elite compresor a799.jpg


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