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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)
Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
fighter fish
- darren77 (darren butler)
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25 Jul 2009 23:14 #1
by darren77 (darren butler)
fighter fish was created by darren77 (darren butler)
i recnently set up a tropical tank in it i have tetra neons blackskirt tetras,swordtail fish male guppies and red nose danios.i recently spotted fighter fish in a local pet store and was told its fine to keep the fighters with the rest so i did,(i thought i was doin what the experts said)i have a male and female fighter but will they fight?the guppies or swordtail fish dont go near the fighters,but they killed the blackskirts,what is the best thing to do with my tank.should i take out the fighters?
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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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25 Jul 2009 23:44 #2
by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
Replied by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner) on topic Re:fighter fish
Either take out the fighters and return them to the shop,alternative is to section off a part of your tank that they are isolated on their own. Finally you could set up separate tanks.
Both should only be put in a tank for breeding purposes,they need to be managed closely as the male fighter can attack the female fish and vice versa. Also the fighters are likely to get picked on also by the tetras, fin nippers will always have a go off fighters tails.
There are exceptions as always,however generally speaking its not a good idea I would say personally. Size of the tank etc may help, you should get an idea relatively quickly of how the 2 fish get along. However I wouldnt put them in the same tank.
The guppies wont bother them by the way.
Gavin
Both should only be put in a tank for breeding purposes,they need to be managed closely as the male fighter can attack the female fish and vice versa. Also the fighters are likely to get picked on also by the tetras, fin nippers will always have a go off fighters tails.
There are exceptions as always,however generally speaking its not a good idea I would say personally. Size of the tank etc may help, you should get an idea relatively quickly of how the 2 fish get along. However I wouldnt put them in the same tank.
The guppies wont bother them by the way.
Gavin
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- Blake123 (Blake O Leary)
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26 Jul 2009 15:40 #3
by Blake123 (Blake O Leary)
Replied by Blake123 (Blake O Leary) on topic Re:fighter fish
Gavins pretty much explained everything,
Although a few years back when I had fighters my guppies killed him, after a few days he had no fins left:(
Blake
Although a few years back when I had fighters my guppies killed him, after a few days he had no fins left:(
Blake
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- jacob (Eoin)
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19 Sep 2009 22:14 #4
by jacob (Eoin)
Replied by jacob (Eoin) on topic Re:fighter fish
Lads don't know about this I have 2 female fighters and a male along with a male and most off the fish mentioned by Darren for the last month and everything is gonig well
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- SpookyMuffin (Debbie Behan)
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20 Sep 2009 10:38 #5
by SpookyMuffin (Debbie Behan)
Replied by SpookyMuffin (Debbie Behan) on topic Re:fighter fish
Are you saying that you have two females and two males together or two females and one male?
It's true that in very rare cases that males and females can live together but it can turn sour very easilly. Younger bettas are more likely to get along than older ones as aggression seems to increase with age and size, so they might get along now but that might not be the case in the future.
I really wouldn't take the risk myself as there are so many things that can go wrong. The male might become overly aggressive with the females and kill them, if he's not aggressive enough then they could gang up on him and kill him or the females might fight to the death for breeding rights to the male.
I know that some poeple have done it but I would say that 90% of the time that mixing males and females (unless they are in a huge tank that will allow them to have seperate territories) is going to end up in a blood bath at some point.
I breed them and I have to say that it's insane how much damage they can do to each other in the few days I have to put them together for a spawn. I would never put any of my fish into such a dangerous situation for a prolonged period of time.
It's true that in very rare cases that males and females can live together but it can turn sour very easilly. Younger bettas are more likely to get along than older ones as aggression seems to increase with age and size, so they might get along now but that might not be the case in the future.
I really wouldn't take the risk myself as there are so many things that can go wrong. The male might become overly aggressive with the females and kill them, if he's not aggressive enough then they could gang up on him and kill him or the females might fight to the death for breeding rights to the male.
I know that some poeple have done it but I would say that 90% of the time that mixing males and females (unless they are in a huge tank that will allow them to have seperate territories) is going to end up in a blood bath at some point.
I breed them and I have to say that it's insane how much damage they can do to each other in the few days I have to put them together for a spawn. I would never put any of my fish into such a dangerous situation for a prolonged period of time.
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- jacob (Eoin)
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20 Sep 2009 22:19 #6
by jacob (Eoin)
Replied by jacob (Eoin) on topic Re:fighter fish
I just have one male and 2 females I was in the shop where I bought em that I could keep the the male as long as I had the 2 females
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- SpookyMuffin (Debbie Behan)
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21 Sep 2009 07:26 #7
by SpookyMuffin (Debbie Behan)
Replied by SpookyMuffin (Debbie Behan) on topic Re:fighter fish
No offense intended, but you can't always trust what the people in pet shops tell you. I mean, most pet shops tell you that it's perfectly fine to keep a gold fish in a bowl when that couldn't be further from the truth.
Not just about fish either. They usually keep rabbits and guinea pigs in together, which can lead to the painful death of the guinea pig. They sell people pairs of young Syrian hamsters that will kill each other when they reach sexual maturity. And when they sell you a degu they usually recommend food that will give the animal diabetes and kill it in a year.
So, no, petshops are not the most reliable source of information. I am not surprised that they told you that you could keep a male betta with females since that's how they usually (incorrectly) keep theirs.
There's a site called UltimateBettas that can give you all of the info you need about looking after your bettas in a way that doesn't put their lives at risk.
Not just about fish either. They usually keep rabbits and guinea pigs in together, which can lead to the painful death of the guinea pig. They sell people pairs of young Syrian hamsters that will kill each other when they reach sexual maturity. And when they sell you a degu they usually recommend food that will give the animal diabetes and kill it in a year.
So, no, petshops are not the most reliable source of information. I am not surprised that they told you that you could keep a male betta with females since that's how they usually (incorrectly) keep theirs.
There's a site called UltimateBettas that can give you all of the info you need about looking after your bettas in a way that doesn't put their lives at risk.
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- Jaffacakehead (John McPartland)
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27 Sep 2009 21:42 #8
by Jaffacakehead (John McPartland)
Replied by Jaffacakehead (John McPartland) on topic Re:fighter fish
I have two female and one male fighter in my four foot community tank with no problems at all. The male is quite shy because of the other fish but the two females swim around together and are absolutely fine. Whenever the male encounters the females he just flares a bit and circles round them but doesn't attack them. The females sometimes go up to him in the head down fins clamped way they do under a nest but he doesn't even nip at them. I find the community tank a great enviroment for conditioning fish. The female fighters are absolutely full of eggs and I was considering breeding them again soon. Maybe its the sword tails that are the problem and not the fighters at all or maybe I'm just lucky to have a gentle male betta. (He's a lover not a fighter.)
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- SpookyMuffin (Debbie Behan)
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28 Sep 2009 07:33 #9
by SpookyMuffin (Debbie Behan)
Replied by SpookyMuffin (Debbie Behan) on topic Re:fighter fish
I actually had a similar set-up a few years ago. I had an 80 litre tank set up with a gorgeous male white platinum HM and two of his spawn sisters, they were the only bettas that I had kept after deciding to stop breeding bettas until after I had finished my leaving cert.
Now my male betta was a real sweetheart, he would interact with me through the glass and take food from my hand. He didn't have an aggressive bone in his body, which was why I thought that he would be a good choice to try in with females (even though I knew that experts in the betta hobby frown upon this)
They were first put in together in September and lived together peacefully until March of the next year when I came home and found my lovely HM male looking like someone had decided to give him a buzz-cut. He had almost no fins left and several open bites on his sides, I seperated him from the females immediately but he died later that evening.
I will never take that risk again.
Now my male betta was a real sweetheart, he would interact with me through the glass and take food from my hand. He didn't have an aggressive bone in his body, which was why I thought that he would be a good choice to try in with females (even though I knew that experts in the betta hobby frown upon this)
They were first put in together in September and lived together peacefully until March of the next year when I came home and found my lovely HM male looking like someone had decided to give him a buzz-cut. He had almost no fins left and several open bites on his sides, I seperated him from the females immediately but he died later that evening.
I will never take that risk again.
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