More than one male betta in the same tank

[elvispacman]

Ive always wondered if it was possible to keep more than one male betta in an aquarium.I remember seeing someone advertising a book online and saying that its possible by imitating their natural habitat,but i had to buy the book for that.So does anyone know how to keep more than one betta in the same tank,without a divider?

[suicune]

you will need a really big tank to keep 2 male betta in the same tank, as they are highly aggressive toward their own kinds, if you have a tank lets say about 50 gallon you can probably keep 2 of them in the same tank. Even then, the possibility still depends on the personality of each betta. If you somehow got lucky and end up with 2 really timid, docile bettas you can probably do this.

[elvispacman]

50 gallons seems like a little too much

[suicune]

yeah there's no other way though, although it's a stereotype, but there's still some truth to it. My betta is very docile, i got him 3 weeks ago and there's no problem at all when he's hanging around with my male delta HUGE tail guppies. However, as far as concern, betta to betta it'll be a completely different story, I do see my betta chasing my new neon tetra now and then but they are so fast that the betta just forget it.

[mnemenoi]

I think it would be difficult. Perhaps in a large tank with severely dense vegetation and foliage it might work, but once they find each other they will usually just fight and neither back down. The stronger would win in the end and the loser end up dead. With their aggression and finnage, they have been bred to be far more then what you'd find naturally. Perhaps if you had some pure line species it would be far more doable. I imagine wild caught would do better as well. If I were to try it I think I would stick with some Imellis or another wild caught type as opposed to the hybrids they sell in stores as 'bettas'.

[Fancyfish]

If you raise a spawn and keep the fish together you can keep more than one male in the same tank. I've done it in a 55 gal I setup outside to raise bettas in years ago. The key is to raise them from spawing, lots of room and lots of plants.

[mistahoo]

50 gallons seems like a little too much

It's actually not if you're trying to keep more than one male. Unless you don't care if they die or not, then yeah you could do smaller.

[Totenkampf]

i would think that no matter how big the tank is, they will eventually bump into each other and fight. If they were territorial like dwarf cichlids then maybe you could get away with sight barriers, but then mine dont ever seem to be tied to one area of a tank. I have one in a 75 gallon and he's all over the place. Raising them together might be different. Some fish like neolamps will form family groups that will not be too aggressive towards each other so i can see how fancyfish would have an interesting observation of her own groups

[allysangels]

just a thought... what about how if you put 2 males in separate containers they will try to fight, but if they stay within sight they seem to become accustomed to each other and stop trying? maybe if you started with a divider, then as they get used to each other remove it? might work.

[Fancyfish]

I've housed bettas that way. They never stop trying to fight.

[Fancyfish]

This spring i received 5 bettas from the same spawn they were not quite sexing out. I did not keep them together but jared them seperatly. 2 turned into males and they were jared next to each other and until I sold them in the Summer HAS auction they continued to flare and charge each other. Now they did not do this constantly but frequently. Inbetween working on their nests. :) They were jared next to each other for about 3 months.

[suicune]

This spring i received 5 bettas from the same spawn they were not quite sexing out. I did not keep them together but jared them seperatly. 2 turned into males and they were jared next to each other and until I sold them in the Summer HAS auction they continued to flare and charge each other. Now they did not do this constantly but frequently. Inbetween working on their nests. :) They were jared next to each other for about 3 months.

I've heard about someone trying that. I've also heard the method of choosing two timid, docile bettas at the store by putting boxes of betta next to each other so they can see each other. You have to test that out until you find 2 bettas that completely ignore each other. I dont know if that would work though as I haven't tested that myself

[allysangels]

all i got. mine are in separate containers along a shaded window shelf. whenever i move them they squabble, but after an hour or so they ignore each other again. i guess they know it's a waste.

[CrazyCatPeekin]

In their natural habitat, they have huge areas and a loser in a fight is able to back down and retreat.

Today bettas are bred primarily for color and finnage, but in the past they were bred for aggression. I imagine that this trait is likely still present to a large degree in commercially bred bettas.

For these reasons, I would guess that your best chance of success would be keeping wild caught bettas in a very large, heavily planted tank with lots of places to hide.

I don't think I would be inclined to try it, but if I were then I would probably use nothing smaller than a 48x12 inch tank...preferably even larger. 55 gallons may seem like a lot, but it isn't the volume that is important here; it is the footprint.