# Betta's Stress when housed close?



## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

Hey there, I have 2 betta's that I keep on a decorative table next to each other. Will they get stressed when in constant view of each other? I understand that it is good for them to occasionally be in eye shot and have a flare at each other. but will this effect them long term?


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## Christine (Nov 4, 2005)

I think it really depends on the fish. Most of mine that are kept in sight of each other, get used to each other and become less likely to flare. Because of this, I usually have to isolate them for a while if I plan to photo them or something. There are some males that may stay constantly flared and worried about the other. That could lead to problems. Depending on the container types you have them, you could possibly slide a divider between the tanks... a piece of paper, index card etc. If the divider is a good fit between the two, you wont really even be able to see it from the front. You could also get a small piece of the double sided aquarium background to separate them if you are worried about the view from the side.


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## Guest (May 27, 2006)

I'm not sure why but everyone else's post got deleted so I'll rewrite what I said. 
They should be fine, I keep my betta's in divided tanks and they are fine, when I first got them they flared alot at each other but they eventually calmed down. But if you notice that thier fins start to spilt I would move them away from each other so that they can rest and heal.


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## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

Thanks for all your replies, unfortunitly this is no longer a problem as one of my males , named Anubis, died last night. He hadn't been well for days. I think i need to change suppliers, this is the 4th betta i've purchased from then that has died within a week. 



Regards


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## Christine (Nov 4, 2005)

Oh I'm very sorry to hear this


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## Alin10123 (May 22, 2005)

anasfire23 said:


> Thanks for all your replies, unfortunitly this is no longer a problem as one of my males , named Anubis, died last night. He hadn't been well for days. I think i need to change suppliers, this is the 4th betta i've purchased from then that has died within a week.
> 
> 
> 
> Regards


Dang... within a week? Something must not be right. I'm not a betta expert, but i dont think that's very normal. Can you describe your setup? filters? temperature? etc...


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## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

Ah, don't have filter or heater. I live in a temperate climate so the water temp never really drops dangerously for the betta's and I do 50% water changes every 2nd day ( they are kept in 2lt tanks) I've never had any problems with this set up with any of my other betta's, most in fact lived for a good year and a half in this set up so I know it can't be anything i've done. They appear to get fin rot first, so I do a gentle water change with treated water and add a little salt to try and stave that off as well as a little betta fix. They then lose their appertite and seem to have difficulty swimming to the surface to breath and eventually drown cos they don't seem to have enough energy to swim to the surface any more. With this last one i tried to help him out by placing him in some treated water in a shallow container where it was barely a struggle to reach the surface, but sadly he seemed to give up all together. Another thing I've noticed about them is that thier colour seems to fade and then disappear as they die i've had one go from bright purple to almost completely white over night and was dead in the morning. It has to be some sort of disease. I can't think of any other explaination. Has anyone else got any thoughts?


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## Alin10123 (May 22, 2005)

anasfire23 said:


> Ah, don't have filter or heater. I live in a temperate climate so the water temp never really drops dangerously for the betta's and I do 50% water changes every 2nd day ( they are kept in 2lt tanks) I've never had any problems with this set up with any of my other betta's, most in fact lived for a good year and a half in this set up so I know it can't be anything i've done. They appear to get fin rot first, so I do a gentle water change with treated water and add a little salt to try and stave that off as well as a little betta fix. They then lose their appertite and seem to have difficulty swimming to the surface to breath and eventually drown cos they don't seem to have enough energy to swim to the surface any more. With this last one i tried to help him out by placing him in some treated water in a shallow container where it was barely a struggle to reach the surface, but sadly he seemed to give up all together. Another thing I've noticed about them is that thier colour seems to fade and then disappear as they die i've had one go from bright purple to almost completely white over night and was dead in the morning. It has to be some sort of disease. I can't think of any other explaination. Has anyone else got any thoughts?


I know yuo said you change 50% of the water every 2 days. But did you be sure to cycle whatever you are keeping your bettas in? Most tanks under 5 gallons have trouble cycling and stablizing. So doing 50% water changes every 2 days is still going to allow ammonia to build up. I'm suspecting part of the problem is ammonia burn. 

I'm not a betta expert, but my advice is to either get at least a 5-10 gallon tank and let it cycle and then do water changes once every 2 weeks. Or, if you want to continue to use something that's not 5-10 gallons but something a little smaller that's hard to cycle, you might have to end up changing 100% of the water out once a week. Just make sure the new water is the same water as the old, and that it's decholorinated. I dont recommend anything smaller than 5 gallons however but anything around that should be ok for a single fish.


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

You will not be able to cycle a bettas water if he is in an unfiltered tank or a tank smaller than 5 gallons. You do too many waterchanges to allow the cycle to properly work. The temps are crucial to keeping bettas healthy. You have to keep them up and stable.

As for you original question, older bettas (who have less desire to spawn), can usually be kept next to each other. Siblings as well. Younger bettas can becom accustomed to it but may get worked up for a month or so. This added stress along with improper water conditions can lead to a quick death, especially if the betta is new to you and not from a reputable breeder. LFS bettas aren't in the best conditions to begin with no matter how healthy they look.


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