I Have A Female Bully In My Sorority...

Hi. I have a female bully in my sorority, I first noticed quite alot of my girls with missing bits of fin about a week back, then these last few days most girls having stress stripes all the time, i have one girl who i've never seen without stress stripes but she is the smallest. I've narrowed the bully down to Angel, i've never seen her with stress stripes and I have seen her chasing round some of the girls non stop quite alot. The tanks heavily planted and has alot of gear in it, and enough hiding places. Ive altered the tank around over 3 times and the girls still continue to be stressed and get fin damage. On another forum, I was told sometimes you have to get rid of the bully, but i could NEVER part with Angel shes my favourite girl! What can i do?
I'll be buying morep lants for the tank this monday but its already quite heavily planted!
What can i do? I'm not allowed anymore tanks. Angel doesnt like living alone, i tryed it when i first bought her and she was really lonely, then when she was part of a sorority again she perked up.

every time you see her nip a fish put her in the breeding trap for 1 hour i had to do it with my female abisto coz zhe was bullying the male i did it for about a week and she has never touched him since :D

wow good idea! :D but i dont see her nip them, just chasing them?
Will it not stress her out?

i dont know what you can do then
i didnt stress out my apisto she didnt like being in there but it didnt lose its colour or start going mental.

ill try it out later on then, cheers

let use know how it gose :D

Is angel the dominent one in that tank?, i suppose there always is going to be a little squabble for dominenance, so why dont you pop an almond leaf in the tank. It works! :D Spikey is well active now, just like he was before the tiff with Oscar.

I dont have an alomd leaf Just checked on them and quite a few of them have white spots on them, could it be the stress of Angel chasing them? I added a little salt. Yes angel is most dominant, she always has been on thse last few weeks hast here been all this fin nipping and chasing though, lateley the girls have all looked sad.

i would defos reccomend IAL then, inspect bettas closer for white spot.

There's always going to be some degree of bullying when ever there is a change around. It can take a couple of weeks for it to settle down properly.
Whats the set-up? -
Tank size
How many fish & what fish.

Can't remember size of her tank but it is just female bettas (about 11?) and think 80 litre..(though await confirmation )

Thanks for the replies, yep amys right 80L and 11 females, the set up is slik and live plants, caves, bogwood, yeah just alot of plants and caves really lol! Im going betta shopping tomorrow and buying a few shrimp for the tank to see if that helps :D Girls have been really down today, dont know why they just seem like they aint happy.

Have the water stats checked when you go to the lfs tomorrow. Make sure they show you the results though i.e. see the tube against the colour chart. Have them write the results down too. If you take around 20ml of water that would be enough for Ammonia, nitrIte & nitrAte.
If the water stats are a bit out, this could be why they are stressing.

Woudl the lfs do a test for free? If so i'll take down some water with me. Because the rest of the money is towards shrimp and plants.

Never got it done from LFS go my own little test kit, but i think they charge around 20p per stick. Dont qoute me on it though.

I'm sure the water stats are ok as i add dechlorinator every time i water change, the filter is cycled. But ill ask them anyway. I dont know if its the number of girls in the tank? I know i have enough room for 11 bettas but maybe the girls arent keen on so many girls lol? They just dont seem happy anymore, its so odd as i give them everything and all i spend my money on is them.

Hi
Is this the tank that was started last month? If so, the filter may not be cycled? Even fully established tanks need the water checking to make sure everything is ok as you cant see toxins.

Hey, Yes this is the tank started last month. The filter media thats in the filter was out of my goldfish tank which is fully cycled so filters definetley cycled. I'll still get a test on the water tomorrow though and post all results.

Hi
Sorry, but if the water hasn't been tested you cant be certain its cycled. Also, things can change and filters can crash.

Ill be sure to get the water to tested tomorrow, thanks for your help [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]