# Siamese fighting fish



## Munkys Mummy (Feb 23, 2007)

Will they devour the neon tetras?


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## Andyman (May 16, 2005)

If there small enough yes, they will only eat what can fit in there mouth !


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## Munkys Mummy (Feb 23, 2007)

Thank you, only got the flamin tetras today, lol, and it has devoured 2


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## bret (Feb 18, 2007)

erm, they will still devour it no matter its side, because it will just keep having a go at them till they die. stiff old things these. (this knowledge came from a year of breeding them  )

bret


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## Munkys Mummy (Feb 23, 2007)

does that apply to any small fish Bret?


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## Munkys Mummy (Feb 23, 2007)

we also have 3 xray tetras, will they be ok?


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## bret (Feb 18, 2007)

Any small, colourful fish or even fish the same size as the betta will be attacked, even large gouramies have been known to fall to a betta so nothing is impossible


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## emilou (Jan 10, 2007)

i use to have siamese fighters there horrible fish


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## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

they are nowhere near as bad as that.

With fighters its hit and miss to what you can keep with them. Most are ok with tetras and things like platies. Then you get the pyscotic ones which won't live with anything.

But its a case of trying it and keeping an eye on them


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## DaveM (Oct 18, 2006)

the only problems I have ever had, is when mixing them with guppies, he attacked the fins, if I was setting up a tank for them now, I would have a heavily planted 60 litre tank, 1 male and 3 females and maybe a small shoal of harlequins and a couple of koolie loaches,


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## bret (Feb 18, 2007)

Please tell me you seriously arent advising keeping males and females together?


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## DaveM (Oct 18, 2006)

I am, I have done it before, no problems, there's a reason I advised multiple females and a heavily planted tank, so the females can escape if necassary, I personally have never had any problem with it, the main problem is line breeding can lead to some odd behavioural traits in fish, thats why with siamese fighters, you either get docile fish, or psychos


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## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

bret said:


> Please tell me you seriously arent advising keeping males and females together?


please tell me you aren't making you advice up. Males and females can be kept together, as long as you have enough females, to stop him bullying one.

I've got a fighter in with dwarf rasboras no problem, I had 18 whe i started and i still have 17, and the one I lost was attacked by the other rasboras.


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## DaveM (Oct 18, 2006)

yeah, I like to keep a ratio of 1 male to at least 3 females, and I have kept them with harlequins (Rasbora Heteromorpha) and kuhli loaches (one of my favourite set ups). The only real aggressiveness I've seen of the males is when a friend introduced on with his guppies, and the fin shape must have looked like a male to it (we got it out before any real damage was done)


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## bosshogg (Nov 19, 2006)

i kept a fighter with my guppies never picked or ate them think it depends on tank size and what you have int he tank plant wise.


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## sami (Oct 23, 2006)

WE've kept males and females together without issue too.


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## DaveM (Oct 18, 2006)

bosshogg said:


> i kept a fighter with my guppies never picked or ate them think it depends on tank size and what you have int he tank plant wise.


 


yeah, come to think of it, the tank was rather sparsely decorated, now they ask before they put anything new in :lol: they have a 75 litre tank and wanted to put a full grown plec in there:lol2:


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## bosshogg (Nov 19, 2006)

taking that a fully grown plec is 2ft!!!!! i have one at mo but he is only about a foot


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## DaveM (Oct 18, 2006)

bosshogg said:


> taking that a fully grown plec is 2ft!!!!! i have one at mo but he is only about a foot


 


yeah, exactly, they buy fish because they look nice, they were sold some thread fin rainbow fish and were told they were asian hatchet fish lol, they had done no research on them at all


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## corn flake (Jun 20, 2006)

I keep my fighter with neon tetras, zebra danio, x ray fish and some other ickle ones I cant remember the name of (soz not great with fish) and he has never touched any of them, hes a real babe! 
Tanya xxx


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## emski (Jan 13, 2007)

i have 7 female fighters in with guppies and sword tails the fighters do not pick on any of the other fish and i have never had a problem. I used to keep a male fighter in there and he was never aggressive in any way to the females or the guppies, unfortuantly he died and i have not seen a real pretty one to replace him as of yet. I think it just depends on the personality of the fish, as one of my sword tails is evil and i always thought that they were quite calm :lol2:


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## bret (Feb 18, 2007)

I highly doubt im making this up, i bred fighters for a year, and kept them about 4 with extensive study. YOu will end up with deaduns at one point, please don't question my knowledge on these fish. I will answer ANY question you throw at me, just try me


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## Andyman (May 16, 2005)

Never really had a problem with fighters and relativly small fish, as i said in my first post ive only ever seen a fighter eat small enough fish to fit in there mouth but never attack another fish to its death, only fish i see fighters square up to are Dwarf gourami's but personally i think thats because there relativly the same colours. As for male and females ive always said 1male to 3females is ok.

A question of my own is ive always thought that even if you were to keep 3females to 1male, when breeding the male chooses 1 and kills the rest so that it can breed with the 1 piked out, is this true ???


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## bret (Feb 18, 2007)

this is not true, dont even think about breeding bettas unless you have worthy fish, suitable tanks and atleast a 45 gallon tank to house the fry in until they have grown, plus 3 times daily live foods of brine shrimp & microworms. dont even attempt a spawn with a vt, dont want to add to the betta in a cup syndrome do you, and please, anyone wants to contradict any theories i say, please come forward and say it, i always back up my theories


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## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

i'm just saying that there is no reason that fighters can't be kept with neons etc.

I've been keeping and breeding fighters over the last 10 years, and have always kept them in a community setup. True you get the odd one which will kill everything, but thats the same with most fish.

I wasn't questioning your knowledge im just saying that on that point you aren't correct. You may have found with your experience that they kill neons etc but you were obviously unlucky. I've had them with smaller stuff that tetras with no roblem what so ever


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## bret (Feb 18, 2007)

ive never kept bettas with other fish, apart from breeding. and of course growing up. Im intrigued to know how you breed your bettas?


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## sami (Oct 23, 2006)

We also have only ever kept bettas in community tanks with no problems.


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## bosshogg (Nov 19, 2006)

i would like to know your knoweldge i have a friend that bred betta spledids int here hundreds i would like to see how your setup compares to him, also what types of Bettas do you keep my favorites are crowns and halfmoons.

Clare


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## bret (Feb 18, 2007)

i prefer the wild type bettas such as Betta. Smaragdina or Betta. Simplex they are beautiful or if it had to be splenden i would pick Plakats as they are the most natural, it doesnt do much for me all those big fins etc i prefer lean mean fish. I kept all of mine in 2litre coke bottles in a barracks system with fresh water being pumped round straight from a tap of dechlorinated almond leaf laden water and a bit of IAL in every bottle. all male bottles had nests in the top and i always kept them all conditioned with Atisons Betta Pro Pellets, Live bloodworm and frozen daphnia and peas every sunday. my biggest ones got crickets some times when i found escapees and they enjoyed them. If youd like to know some more just PM me or post here


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## bosshogg (Nov 19, 2006)

mmm intresting setup when i was looking into breeding bettas i was going to get the 1lt tanks that are in sets of four with a small filter that feeds water into each tank, hard to explain wish i had a picture


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## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

2x1x1 foot tanks, 1male 3 females. Heavily planted

I would remove the fry and raise them seperately


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## bret (Feb 18, 2007)

Not my idea of breeding, thats my idea of 'lets kill my fish'. I would condition a male and female for AT LEAST 2 weeks with bi-daily feedings of livefoods and daily water changes. Then i would put them into a half filled 10 gallon tank (BARE with only heater and small air powered sponge filter) and an indian almond leaf in one corner. Id then cut the top and bottom off a coke bottle and place that in the tank. Then place the female inside the coke bottle and the male in the tank. Leave them like this over night and then if there is a nest in the tank, i will release the female. I will then cover and leave for 24 hours. If i see no spawn has taken place i will re-condition or use another female that i have conditioned  thanks

bret


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## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

Never lost a fighter due to the male bullying her.

Obviously if the male doesn't back off, I would remove him


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