Clown loaches eat BETTAS?!?!?!!!!!!!

[ensign_lee]

I reintroduced my betta to my community aquarium again earlier today to see how he'd fare in the community. Earlier, he'd been bullied by the red-tailed black shark, but I figured maybe the shark had forgotten about him and well, he was bigger this time around.

Well, I introduce him and he goes and hides behind one of my filters. No big deal; I figure I'll check on him in a few hours and see how he fares. If he's still hiding from everything, I'd take him out and put him back in his 5-gallon tank.

...

a few hours later, I can't find him, but oddly, my clowns are all gathered behind the plants somewhere. I go and see what the fuss is all about and there I find the skeleton of my betta. .......wah?!?!?!

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Now that I've written this, I guess part of this is just to vent, but I feel horribly guilty. What the heck?

My clowns were only 1" to 2", and my betta was easily 3/4's the size of my biggest clown. What happened? Was I negligent in introducing a betta to the aquarium? How are my other fish surviving in there unharmed if my betta got torn to shreds in a matter of hours?

:CRY: my poor betta. I didn't mean to get him murdered by introducing him into the big tank...

Any input from y'all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks...

I feel terrible.

[ensign_lee]

Also, in case y'all were wondering:

Tank is a 55-gallon tank. Inhabitants are:

10 1-2" clown loaches
4 angelfish - about 2" in diameter
8 kuhli loaches
1 Red Tailed Black Shark : 4"
7 leopard danios

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I will rehome either the kuhlis or the clown loaches later, depending on my next tank. If it's a bigger tank, the loaches; if smaller or of equal size, the kuhlis.

[sharksonaplane]

im sure something else killed it and the loaches were just being the vultures and scavenging for what was left of the dead betta...

[Felhad]

Isn't that tank a little crowded? o.o

[Martin Thoene]

10 1-2" Clowns ought to be in nothing less than a 36" tank very temporarily in my opinion.
Bettas are only suitable for community aquariums with very small and inoffensive fish, not with larger fish.
It's highly probable that the RTBS killed him and the Clowns were, as surmised by sharksonaplane, only scavenging.

Martin.

[Diana]

10 Clowns will ultimately grow up to require a MUCH bigger tank, perhaps 200 gallons. That is a LOT of fish! A 55 makes a reasonable grow-out tank for them, until they reach perhaps 4" long.

Another possibility: If the water chemistry was different enough the Betta might have died even without the help of the Shark. Still, I would not think of CL as killers, especially that small.

[ensign_lee]

Hey y'all:

Well, I was going to have them in a bigger tank within the year. I was thinking 125-150 gallons or so. Right now, they're in a standard 55-gallon, with a 48" length to swim around in.

And as for crowding issues, right now, I thought I was just about at capacity and with me adding at least one, if not two tanks within the next year, I was allright.

Also, I have a XP3 to add filtration and a current to play in, if that matters at all.

[ckk125]

is your betta a long finned one?if it is, i wouldnt be too suprised. My clowns would nip any fish with long fins.

[ensign_lee]

is your betta a long finned one?if it is, i wouldnt be too suprised. My clowns would nip any fish with long fins.

Yes, he was.

[bslindgren]

My clown (alone at the time but now with four others) had a great time pulling a Betta backwards when I did the same thing. I had to put the Betta in a safe enclosure to protect him. The clown was about 31/2 inches at the time.

[Marcos Mataratzis]

I had that experience once. I put my long tailled Betta within my 8 small clown loaches. They invested on him but not to harm. Curiosity guess but I prefered to take it out.
My loaches were all about 1 to 2" that time.