# have i been wrong all this time?



## bekki_s (Jun 20, 2010)

I thought that female siamese fighter's are ok in a community tank?

I went to pets at home to buy a siamese fighter and an angel but was refused!
After the 15 minutes of questioning she told me that siamese fighter's cannot be kept with angel fish or any other fish in fact because they'll fight and kill any other fish. Also she said i can't get the angel fish because my platties would eat it?? 
She also said that angel fish grow to 12 inches! 
Is any of that right or am i wrong about them?


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## emihawk (Jul 16, 2010)

I don't know about the angel fish, but female betta's can only be kept with each other. Some sites say otherwise but I've never known anyone to have any luck keeping betta's with anything other then betta's.


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## hawksport (Dec 27, 2009)

Never seen angels for sale that are small enough for platies to eat but they do get to 12 inches in height


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## PoisonGirl (Oct 24, 2008)

think that bit was the other way round... my pet shop guy told me angel fish would eat my tetras,yep they can get quite big!

have never known a betta to be ok in a community tank... friend tried keeping a male (its tank broke) and he was ok for a while in a tank with a shark and some danios but then he died.


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## Guest (Aug 18, 2010)

I would pay £1000 to see a twelve-inch Angelfish! In 10 years of prowling around aquatic stores, trade shows, breeding shows and just peering in my own tank, I've never seen an Angel taller than eight inches.


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## hawksport (Dec 27, 2009)

Back around 1990 I saw a pair that were for sale in a shop. They were easily 10 inches. They had been taken in by someone desperate to get rid of them and were too big for the stock tanks. £6.00 for the pair


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## bekki_s (Jun 20, 2010)

the angel was at least 2 inches, but she said they would pick at it and kill it. According to her platties should be kept in a species tank only. 
I've had a few female siamese in my community tank before and they were fine.
But she still insisted they could not be kept with any other fish, even though the tank they were kept in at pets at home had loads of different fish in. So i'm not quite seeing her logic. :


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## Jess2308 (May 12, 2009)

Female bettas are perfect in a community tank with peaceful fish, mine were always kept in community tanks with no problems. I would never keep them with angels though as the angels will nip their fins.


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## bekki_s (Jun 20, 2010)

they wouldn't be together, i have 2 tanks.


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## EmzieAngel (Apr 22, 2009)

bekki_s said:


> the angel was at least 2 inches, but she said they would pick at it and kill it. According to her platties should be kept in a species tank only.
> I've had a few female siamese in my community tank before and they were fine.
> But she still insisted they could not be kept with any other fish, even though the tank they were kept in at pets at home had loads of different fish in. So i'm not quite seeing her logic. :


Platties in a species tank? I've never heard that one before.
I have all livebearers in my tank bar my Gouramis, including platties, they cause no trouble at all.

I have a friend that has a female siamese in a community tank and it's absolutely fine.

And just to say I would never buy fish from Pets at Home. I would suggest you go to an aquatics shop if you have one near, they're likely to know and give you the right information.


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## celicababe1986 (Jun 22, 2009)

Hi, I had a tank 2 yrs ago, I knew nothing about the up keep of fish and their enviroment other than what the aquarium told me....I had 1 male fighter, 6 female fighters, 5 danios, 5 tetra and two frogs and a few guppies (sorry if i have mis spelt any) and the tank went on forever.....until I went to pets at home and saw a ruby shark, told them my fish and they said it would be fine. (they then all went on to die one by one but thats a diff story )

The statement I am making is When I did have my fighters with the other calm fish they were fine! and they were happy for a year and a half (before the shark came along).


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## Maiisiku (Feb 20, 2009)

Generally Siamese fighters shouldn't really go in a community tank. Mine killed 2 of my cardinals and so I sperated them. It can work for some people though. I personally wouldn't, but sharks are pretty agressive and the staff at pets at home may not have known that. They shouldn't have sold you him.


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## bekki_s (Jun 20, 2010)

i think i will go to another shop. I did go to an aquatic shop, but was mainly cold water fish, but they did have a few tropical. The fish were in poor condition, 2 tanks had white spot, and 1 tank with angel's in 4 that i saw had really bad fin rot. That's why i thought pets at home wold be better, bt i think i will look for a tropical specialists


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## hawksport (Dec 27, 2009)

Just something for anyone buying fish to consider. Most fish retailers now run their tanks on a centralised system meaning all the tanks are plumbed into one filter. So white spot or anything else in one tank means it't in every tank in that system.


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## Maiisiku (Feb 20, 2009)

I go to Maidenhead aquatics, they have quite a few stores over the country. Also World of Water is meant to be very good. I personally got all my fish from MA but I have visited a World of water and their fish looked very healthy to me. They will genrally let you know if anything is wrong with them. You can watch fish carefully and genrally see if anything is wrong. Check for healthy fins, temprament and the way the fish acts and you userally don't even need to quarenteen if you know what your looking for. The only problems I've ever had is with my tetras but I knew this when I got them. One has a deformity that makes her curve more than she should. But apart from that my lot have been quite happy. I've only lost 4 fish, due to mistakes in tank mates (agression) I now don't trust chilids in my 168ltr or siamese fighters. 2 harlequins and 2 cardinals were lost to these attempts


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## celicababe1986 (Jun 22, 2009)

I know now I should never have got a ruby shark, once I saw an adult one I was shocked, the poor thing wouldnt have been able to move in my tank once it had grown that big! 
But my fish did not die because of agression, they all started dying so someone came to look at my tank ~ it was whitespot??~ 
It was very emotional, even though I treated it was ob too late and I lost the lot. Pets at home offered me £40 in vouchers too 'compensate me' and I did try to start again, but my tank never went right again. Im just unlucky. Needless to say its safer for fish if i dont own them!


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## Jess2308 (May 12, 2009)

I only buy my bettas online, imported. The ones sold in shops are terrible quality!!


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## Maiisiku (Feb 20, 2009)

celicababe1986 said:


> I know now I should never have got a ruby shark, once I saw an adult one I was shocked, the poor thing wouldnt have been able to move in my tank once it had grown that big!
> But my fish did not die because of agression, they all started dying so someone came to look at my tank ~ it was whitespot??~
> It was very emotional, even though I treated it was ob too late and I lost the lot. Pets at home offered me £40 in vouchers too 'compensate me' and I did try to start again, but my tank never went right again. Im just unlucky. Needless to say its safer for fish if i dont own them!


Once you have a disease in your tank it is really hard to get it to leave. I believe that whitespot is parasettic. Don't quote me because I'm still new at this. But you could try a UV stereliser I think you can get a smaller tank version for £40 on ebay. It's worth looking at. I don't personally have one, but I know a lot of fishkeepers sing UV steriliations (sp?) praises.


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## Maiisiku (Feb 20, 2009)

Jess2308 said:


> I only buy my bettas online, imported. The ones sold in shops are terrible quality!!


Mine was a store brought one and he is really beautiful. But I chose him out of 200, some who did not look good at all! I'm not sure I'd want to breed him though, never know what genetic defects he could have >.>


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## EmzieAngel (Apr 22, 2009)

celicababe1986 said:


> I know now I should never have got a ruby shark, once I saw an adult one I was shocked, the poor thing wouldnt have been able to move in my tank once it had grown that big!
> But my fish did not die because of agression, they all started dying so someone came to look at my tank ~ it was whitespot??~
> It was very emotional, even though I treated it was ob too late and I lost the lot. Pets at home offered me £40 in vouchers too 'compensate me' and I did try to start again, but my tank never went right again. Im just unlucky. Needless to say its safer for fish if i dont own them!


Aww that's a shame.
I've had whitespot in my tank twice now.
Each time I put whitespot treatment in every day and did daily water changes, it soon got rid.


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## Guest (Aug 21, 2010)

bekki_s said:


> I thought that female siamese fighter's are ok in a community tank?
> 
> I went to pets at home to buy a siamese fighter and an angel but was refused!
> After the 15 minutes of questioning she told me that siamese fighter's cannot be kept with angel fish or any other fish in fact because they'll fight and kill any other fish. Also she said i can't get the angel fish because my platties would eat it??
> ...


Siamese fighter fish are very aggressive fish. If you were to keep a siamese fighter fish I would suggest only get a siamese fighter fish as they will attack another fish and what ever you do please please please don't put two siamese fighters together they will fight to the death.


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## Guest (Aug 21, 2010)

Jess2308 said:


> I only buy my bettas online, imported. The ones sold in shops are terrible quality!!


I agree. A lot of my fish now come as imports (courtesy of a friend), from specialist dealers (i.e from Mark Evenden at Devotedly Discus) and private breeders. With imports I quarantine the fish myself for three weeks.

I do have to handle some of the paperwork when importing fish and dead fish do turn up, however the quality of the fish coming through these channels is outstanding.



danielled said:


> *Siamese fighter fish are very aggressive fish*. If you were to keep a siamese fighter fish I would suggest only get a siamese fighter fish as they will attack another fish and what ever you do please please please don't put two siamese fighters together they will fight to the death.


With all due respect, you couldn't be further from the truth. Siamese fighters are incredibly misunderstood. While a few specimens can be stark-raving mad, most are usually good community subjects provided tankmates are chosen well (no fin-nippers or large cichlids).

Ideally, Siamese fighters should be kept in well-planted aquaria with gentle flow and other small fish such as rasboras and certain barbs. Pencilfish (_Nannostomus_ sp.) mix quite well and aren't known fin-nippers.


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## Guest (Aug 21, 2010)

Chillinator said:


> I agree. A lot of my fish now come as imports (courtesy of a friend), from specialist dealers (i.e from Mark Evenden at Devotedly Discus) and private breeders. With imports I quarantine the fish myself for three weeks.
> 
> I do have to handle some of the paperwork when importing fish and dead fish do turn up, however the quality of the fish coming through these channels is outstanding.
> 
> ...


I learn something new every day on here I always thought they were aggressive.


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## Fishyfins (Feb 28, 2009)

siamese fighters are actually a very shy little fish usually. they should indeed not be kept with other fish, but thats because they will likely hide away and starve to death, rather than beng ggressive to the other fish.
even when put in with small unagressive fish such as tetras and danios, they often feel threatened, and hide away in the corners and dark places of the tank. they often feal too scared to even come out to feed, and end up starving to death


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