# Betta Males With Sticky Fins



## SterlingAce (Jun 19, 2013)

Hi Everybody

I have a community setup mainly focused on bettas. It is a 340l tank and had been cycled for a month before adding fish and has been running about a month and a half with fish. I use a bio-filter,one of those that are built into the tank. My water levels are very good, but the gh is a bit high. ph is 6.2,Temp is 26-27c . I have a few live plants, lots of fake plants(planted and floating) and driftwood. The betta males are kept in betta containers that look like barracks. There are 2 in a container. I keep them like this so that they may benefit from the larger water volume.

My stock list is as follows:
5X Betta males
11x Betta Females
1x Rosy barb
10x Rosy tetras
4x Black phantom tetras
5x Angelfish (they are being rehomed this week)
4x Bushynose plecos
3x Golden Apple snails
1x Leopard Gourami

An I plan on getting 2 blue rams in the future.

Last thursday I noticed my one male's fins were torn,the next day he was clamping his fins. I moved him to an ICU tank and added a broad spectrum antibiotics. He seems a bit better but not much. Then yesterday I noticed my other males are also clamping their fins. Tested the water and it was 100%. The male that first showed signs was the one that was doing the best in the tank,his fins and colours had improved greatly. The rest of the fish are looking great and happy.

Any advice please?
Thanks

*Just realized I put this in the wrong section. Very sorry


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## Steve (Mar 27, 2013)

I don't know too much about bettas but isn't it not a good idea to put 2 into a container?


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## Livyding (Feb 6, 2013)

I'm not sure what you mean by sticky fins. Can you post the results of your water test, PH, GH, and KH as well as ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte? 

Just off the top of my head I'd say fin clamping is a result of stress... For a Betta community tank, I wouldn't put in more than one male of a species, either alone, or with a group of 6+ females, or just a group of 6+ females by themselves. 

So the stress may be a result of the males being together, but also I think the angels must be stressing them, since they're cichlids after all (albeit one of the more "friendly" genera) 

It's a common misconception that "fighting fish" will kill anything else in their tank... I actually find them to be more peaceful than any of the so-called peaceful cichlids in a community tank setting. But yeah, males of the same species don't do well together. I do have a male Betta simplex in a community tank with a common male fancy Betta, and they pretty much ignore each other.


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

I agree that males should not be kept together in the same container unless it's like a 15 gal or more area. Do you test your KH? if so what is the result of that? Might not hurt to list all the water parameters as previously requested.


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## Durogity (Jun 10, 2013)

First off, i know exactly what you mean by sticky fins. In my experience most of the time this is caused by stress, the angels being predatory fish, could be freaking them out, but I find it hard to believe that all the males would be stressed by this....but not impossible. Seems more likely to be an infection of or bug of some kind with that many affected males. To start I would do a large water change and add some salt to the water to help with healing, sometimes the salt alone helps release the fins so them can begin healing. I would spend some more time trying to eliminate ailments that it could be, as its probably something like that. Clamped fin isn't really a symptom of any parasite or disease for bettas but more a symptom of stress caused by disease, so when looking for symptoms of something look for other tell tale signs and completely dismiss the clamped fins when searching the Internet.


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## SterlingAce (Jun 19, 2013)

Ok the tank is visible from both sides but in a low traffic area of the house. You can also see the betta containers I mentioned. I took out the males and put each male in his own 1ft tank. With some salt and general antibiotic.

Water test results
NO3 - 0
NO2 - 0
GH - >10
KH - 8
pH - 7


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## Livyding (Feb 6, 2013)

Hey, nice work on the tank setup... Looks great. 

Generally, since all our water in the lower mainland comes from water towers, we all have to use some kind of buffering agent to bring up the kH so that the PH doesn't swing... I'd say bring your KH to 10-15 (which is still moderately soft, but a safer range to keep your water buffered), GH is less important, but it's nice to have a little bit of salts and other minerals in the water, even if they don't do anything for buffering. 

Did the clamped fins issue resolve itself after they were all put in their own homes?


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## SterlingAce (Jun 19, 2013)

Yes 3 of the boys are looking better, I think all the flirting with the many girls stressed them. So I'm going to keep them in their 1ft tanks.  .It's best for them. Will make the tanks prettier for them,the tanks only have a heater and sponge filter in them. Thanks for all the help.


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## Livyding (Feb 6, 2013)

Oh, I don't think that a single male in a group of females should have any trouble in a large enough tank. I have a bunch of females along with one male in one of my tanks, and they all get along splendidly. I guess they do sort of have their own personalities though, so maybe your male might not be comfortable in a harem setup. 

Don't feel bad about keeping your guys in 1G, as long as there are some floating plants, and terracotta pot on its side or something as a hiding place I see no reason why they wouldn't be very happy in 1G.


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