I have a 15g tank with lots of plants. 1 Betta who lived with 2 peppered Cory with no problems.
I recently got 6 harlequin on suggestion from my local fish store who said they will live peacefully with the Betta.
The first 3 days they would swim around in a school, but noticed they would steal the Betta food or zoom around him and annoy him.
Today I woke up to only 3 harlequin in the tank and a fin / tail floating around the tank so assumed my Betta has killed half of them.
The remaining 3 harlequin now just float near the top of the tank like they are waiting for food (even when they been fed) and not swimming much.
What can I do about the 3 harlequin should I leave them or get some more ?
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1fyx1cr
Posted by PerkySausage
3 Comments
I don’t think you should get more because most likely you will have the same results. I tried the same with my betta and he is just a jerk. Mine can only be kept with loaches. Anything else he will bully or kill.
I ended up returning my harlequins to the store because they were pissing my Betta off too much. They were not a good match for his temperament. If your guy got along well with Cory’s maybe get more of those instead.
It looks to me like they might be gasping for air, rather than waiting for food. This is not normal behaviour. Definitely don’t get any more.
Seeing as there’s a betta in the tank and the still surfaces, I’m assuming there’s not much current or surface agitation going on? That’s ok for a betta who breathes air anyway, but other fish rely on oxygen in the water. If you can’t adjust your filter outflow to create some safe current or surface agitation, look into an airstone to help with the gas exchange.