fighting fish

[kcaj_123]

I assume this has been said due to my previous comment? I'll assume it is so i can comment.

Males and males do kill each other. They are called fighting fish because of this. The fancy strains that we see today however have not been breed for fighting abilities. They have been breed for colour, fin lenth, breeding capabilities etc. An overly aggressive male has no place in a breeding facility as breeders do not want to risk the females being killed. So the aggressive gene cannot be passed on. You do get exceptions to this very broad idea but you also get alot of male fighters that follow this idea and don't really know they are meant to kill each other. Hence you can sometimes keep some males together.

The selective breeding has not undone millions of years of evolution, contrary to what you seem to believe.

Put a divider between two males so they cannot see eachother for a few days and then pull the divider out... VOILA extreme flaring and aggression. Put them in the same tank and they will rip eachother to pieces.

Selective breeders try to minimise of the male, but if he's good looking they will keep on trying to breed him and so can lose 3 or so females in the process. There are tricks employed to try and reduce aggression but they will not discard the idea or plan of breeding him just because he is aggro.

 

[Shonfield]

yeah so silver shark are going to get to big for my 80L as i discovered on another forum haha
so im thinking neons with the fighter, maybe glass catfish?
anyone got pics of their fighters with other fish? or on their own?
i love to look at pics of them haha

 

[Vixen]

My boy courting a female. Sadly hes no longer with us, he was so cool

 

[bk201]

to minimise the chances of either fish dying in breeding they condition both fish this involves feeding both of them lots of live and frozen foods and then they put the female in a tank with shallow water around 28 degrees c and around 10cm deep and they put the male in a jar or vase in the same tank until the female becomes full of eggs and her patern changes and the male begins to build a buble nest then they are put together this minimises first contact aggresion and once the eggs are layed the female is removed.
selective breeding cannot change a animals nature thats why so called pet dogs have a habbit of atacking there owners.

 

[bk201]

yeah so silver shark are going to get to big for my 80L as i discovered on another forum haha
so im thinking neons with the fighter, maybe glass catfish?

`yea i had a silver shark over 30cm long til it jumped out of the tank over night a few years ago
fighter fish might snack on small neons

 

[Vixen]

to minimise the chances of either fish dying in breeding they condition both fish this involves feeding both of them lots of live and frozen foods and then they put the female in a tank with shallow water around 28 degrees c and around 10cm deep and they put the male in a jar or vase in the same tank until the female becomes full of eggs and her patern changes and the male begins to build a buble nest then they are put together this minimises first contact aggresion and once the eggs are layed the female is removed.
selective breeding cannot change a animals nature thats why so called pet dogs have a habbit of atacking there owners.

Yep, I did the same except I had the female in a seperate jar. Also dont put anything on the bottom of the tank, leave it bare. When the eggs are layed the male will take them and place them in the nest, and some fall out, so its much easier for him to find and pick them up.

 

[Shonfield]

vixenbabe>thats a really good looking fighter! nice one.
bk201>i wouldnt buy neons that are obviously small enough for the fighter to eat. i have heard a lot of people here and on other forums say that neons are the best fish to have with a fighter.

 

[kakariki]

I have a fighter in with Angelfish, neons, black widows,barbs, glasscatfish, dwarf gourami, mollie,silver sharks & guppies. All is ok, they have plenty of hidey holes, weed & ornaments. Sorry the pic is a bit blurry. Fish won't stay when told! LOL

 

[Miss B]

The fancy strains that we see today however have not been breed for fighting abilities. They have been breed for colour, fin lenth, breeding capabilities etc. An overly aggressive male has no place in a breeding facility as breeders do not want to risk the females being killed. So the aggressive gene cannot be passed on. You do get exceptions to this very broad idea but you also get alot of male fighters that follow this idea and don't really know they are meant to kill each other. Hence you can sometimes keep some males together.

I have kept many fancy Bettas over the years (including quite a few imported from the States) and the males have always been aggressive towards one another. I even had one male leap from his tank into a neighbouring tank to kill the resident male within. They will constantly 'flare' up at the male in the tank next to theirs, and attack the glass.

I'm yet to come across these placid fighting fish!

 

[PeachSlices]

hi guys i've been keeping bettas for years
here's a picture of my male who is too lazy to build a bubble nest

Simon

 

[kakariki]

Wow :shock: That is one gorgeous fish!!!!!! Absolutely stunning!

 

[Shonfield]

simon> wowowowowowowowow i want it! thats a really nice fish!
kakariki> i was thinking about angel fish with them as the guy i bought the tank off on the weekend had some in with one of his fighters (along with many other fish like guppies, neons, glass catfish etc.).

are angel fish hard to look after? and do they cost a lot?

thanks,
sam

 

[Shonfield]

another thing kakariki
i just noticed the thermometer strip thing on the side of your tank.
mine came with one of these but it doesnt change or tell me anything that i can notice.
how do they work?
thanks again,
sam

 

[kakariki]

The small ones are $7 here and they are easy to look after. But they do get big.The one in the 2nd pic is approx 6 inches topfin-bottomfin. One thing we have found though is they can be aggressive to other fish. We have 1 [1st pic ] & he is a real terror. The other 2 BIG ones are fine! Glass Catfish [3rd pic ] are easy too. I really like them. We have 3 atm but I would like more. In certain lights they look like heads only floating in the water! Kinda creepy in a cool kind of way, hahaha. With the strip thingy, the temp is displayed as a different colour Eg mine shows up as light purple [looking at it now cos it is just to the right of my computer ] 26 degrees. Maybe you need to replace yours or press it onto the glass a bit harder?

 

[Shonfield]

thanks kakariki
those angelfish and glass catfish look awesome!
i think i might wait a little while to get angelfish and just get some glass catfish or neons with a fighter for now
as for my thermometer i think it just need replacing.
thanks heaps for your help
ill post pics when i get everything in order,
sam

 

[arbok]

ive always wondered why when ever i go to shops etc fighter fish are kept in tiny little square tanks... this couldnt be good for them could it?
can anyone explain?

 

[PremierPythons]

You could argue that it's not necessarily bad for them but not that good for them at the same time. The reasoning behind them being in small tanks is that they live in small pockets (puddles more like) of water in the wild. Often in asian rice fields. People have theorized that this has given them they're signature fighting characteristic as the habitats they survive in are only small enough for one fish at a time. I've always found when I've given them more space that they tend to utilize it. I hope this helps!

 

[anguskennedy]

Personally, I think that keeping fighting fish in those glass jars/beer glasses/cups etc should be banned. Sure, they dont need a big space, but those glasses are often the width of the animal and all they can do is turn around, thats not cool!

It is not exactly true that they live in puddles, or that they only occupy and defend a tiny portion of a pond they are living in. For starters, their primary habitat is streams and ponds, where they are active like most other fish. They then migrate (move a reasonable distance) during the breeding season to shallow, quiet and slow habitats such as rice paddy fields and shallow ponds. They then make a nest, breed then head back to where they came from.

So they do move around in the wild, and although they can live in very small spaces (with their very interesting ability to take oxygen from air), it doesnt necessarily make it good for them.

Sorry to rain on the parade!

So IMO, go for it, fighting fish are awesome! But give them a bit of space to move, at least a small tank.

Arbok - I had a little rant before about those small tanks (above). Their justification of them (puddles) is largely a myth - they would never be in a 'puddle' (not like a puddle on the side of the footpath, more like very shallow flodded lowland areas, which have largely been replaced by rice paddy's throughout their natural ranges) the size of those small tanks, and although they do breed in 'puddles' that is only for a very small part of the year. They spend the rest of their time in rivers and streams.

For the most part they will stay alive in them, but I still dont think that makes it OK.

 

[Ristof]

I have 4 Angels at home in a 215lt with lots of other types
There are easy to look after but can get quite big and aggressive if they isn't enough room for another fish of there size or tries to take over the territory.

I have keep many bettas in community tanks with angels, glass cats (these guys are cool and don't swim around much but like to be in the firing line of the filter)
I had problems though with red tale sharks and male bettas, they would chase each other, one day the shark would chase the betta, the next the betta would puff out his gills and chased the shark. They both died of stress.
I have also keeped female bettas in with males and they have been fine - no one killed anyone there.

Fish do require air bubbles to break the water surface and supply oxygen. to set these up you will need an airpump (about $10), some hoseing and then your choice of bubble maker. It could been a bubble wall tude that goes along the back of the take and gives you a wall of bubbles, it could be a blue rock that when turned on has bubbles come out of it or you could go with just a long stone that sits just under the gravel so you can't see it

Good luck and let me know if you need anymore info

 

[Shonfield]

firstly thanks for such a great thread so far everyone

secondly i went to my local pet shop today and bought some live plants (purple wattle) and a big ornament of a guy sitting down reading a book.

i looked at the fish they had there and really liked the glass catfish and the tiger barb. can tiger barb live with fighters? if they can i think iv made up my mind of whats going in with a fighter hehe.

thanks heaps everyone,
sam