Well... we hand made custom partitions for our 20 gallon tanks some time ago... that way we can have multiple bettas in each as showcase tanks.
Its worked very well in the past.. very safe for the fishes and lets water filter a bit. See, each partition is made of acrylic and has very small holes drilled in at intervals in a line at the bottom, so the water can flow through and exchange.
All of our fish have done well with these.. so I dont know what happened.
But while I was out for a bit... I came back to find Glitter had tried to get into Tinkerbells (previous female) compartment... through the very small hole! She *somehow* managed to get her head through... and got stuck
Instead of going back.. she kept shoving herself further into it
When I got there... her body was wedged into this hole up to where her fins start... and her gills were clamped down by the sides so she couldnt breathe that way, and the surface was a long way up.
I desperately threw the hood off the tank and tried to gently shove her through... only every time I pressed on her nose with my finger, her body bent away. She started wriggling and fighting me and only managed to get her body shoved in deeper. Her scaples were starting to get sloughed off by the inner edge of the drilled hole (the outsides had all been smoothed).
I tried and tried but I couldnt get her out... and I thought she was going to die on me
Then I saw this long thin strip of foam I had used for something previously... and I looped that to form a little noose... and stuck that over her head. At forst it didnt work because she was wedged in so tight... then out of desperation I took the whole partition out of there (leaving 2 other fish loose together) and held it so her body was just in the water.. trying to snap the acrylic. It wouldnt snap.. so once again, I made a noose out of the foam.. but this time I pinched it tight so I felt like I was squishing her.. and held her very firmly around the belly with it while I shoved her backwards while I was holding the partition in place. I had to be very rough.. and I could feel her scales being roughed and see them peeling off.. and she was wriggling.. but I pushed her 3 times, and then it was just her head.
I really hurt her getting her out of there.. but it was that or she would have suffocated or died from stress. Se has a gouge in her back that looked pink for a while and is missing a whle patch of scales in her back... for a while I thought she wasnt going to make it.. she was panting pretty hard.
But later she calmed down and swam around more and stuff. She ate some dinner and seems to be relaxed. She is swimming pretty normaly now, and has done a little flaring at the others.. so I'm sure shes going to make it... its just really yucky to have to hurt your brand new baby like that. And she is missing those scales