Hello, at the office i work at i inherited a betta fish in a tiny little bowl. There was also a jar in the cubicle next door to me with two mollies. I started looking up how to take care of these fish and realized that neither fish could be happy in such sad conditions, and so i got a four gallon round tank which i set up at my desk here. It was the largest tank i think i can get away with without bothering anyone at work. I put the mollies and betta together, and the mollies seemed much happier but my betta got even worse. (though he was never aggressive toward the mollies.) He passed away yesterday. It was very depressing. I was going to get another betta but i think i might just stick with the fish i still have. Also, I have three small glow danios and an albino pygmy placo that i bought when i got the new tank. I know that my tank is a little small, but it has an air bubbler and an under gravel filter on the bottom. I change about 1/8 of the water every few days, and i treat the water before putting it in the tank. The betta was in the tank with the other fish and when i came in yesterday I saw he was at the bottom, and was..dead. I had really grown to like him and it was upsetting. I was wondering though, why didn't he float to the top of the tank? does that mean anything? And also, he had a very grey color to him. I did an 80% water change and cleaned out the whole tank with warm water just to be safe. Today all the fish are doing good, but I am new to this, and would appreciate any advice anyone might have about my situation.

Well, to be honest, bettas (chinese fighting fish) are solitary fish. If you go to the pet store you'll see that they're all in seprate little bowls. I keep mine away from the other fish in his own 1 gallon tank and he actually really like to hide in the plants as well. The other fish should be fine seeing as mollies and glofish are schooling fish so the more the better.

I'd just give it some time for now. Me may just be adjusting to the presents of other fish.

I have some rather large fish in my tank from 5 to 10 inches long. When I added another (nearly dead after escaping the quarantine bucket) 3 inch fish the rest of the fish all huddled up together on the bottom of the other side of the tank and dared not move!

Fish are strange. As long as he seems healthy let it be.

(Next week you'll be posting about how the betta is attacking all the other fish!)