I have a betta (a Siamese fighting fish) in a small tank in my office. He’s healthy, happy and content.
Today I was thinking about adding a second fish to my office menagerie. Of course, bettas have a… shall we say, a surly disposition towards other fish. They’re completely incompatible with other male bettas and I’ve had some that attacked other fish just for sort of RESEMBLING bettas.
I was wondering, how are male bettas with females? Obviously they must get along at some point, but will a male and a female live together indefinitely in domestic bliss until death do they part? Or do they get all pissed off at each other except at certain times?
If I do add a female, what is the minimum tank size I will need for both to live in health and harmony?
You could try putting goldfish with your betta - I’ve had success with some fancy fan-tails with bettas before - it was a 5 gallon tank and I had 5 fish. (4 fan-tails, and obviously 1 betta)
Usually I would put two females in with the male. They must have places to be able to get away from each other. A 5 gallon tank would be the minimum, a ten gallon would be better.
I had two males in a 55 gallon tank and each would stay in his side. When they met in the middle, one would dominate until the other would leave. I have never had them fight to the death. Either the males or the females.
Females do not get along either, they are just a little less agressive.
The males and females aren’t particularly fond of each other when not mating. But they rarely fought and I have never had them kill each other. YMMV.
If they don’t get along I think they tend to stress each other out unless they can have their own part of the tank.
There are books and websites all over the place on how to mate these beautiful fish.
If you are interested in breeding bettas, I would set up at least a 10 gallon tank. Lot’s of hiding places and plants is a good idea, too. Instead of getting one female, I recommend three. The male will want to breed right away, and if the female(s) aren’t receptive, he usually nips them until they die of stress/infection. With three females, there’s not as much of a chance for one non-receptive female to be singled out. There’s also a better chance of having a receptive female. A ten gallon tank can then be divided to allow care for the bubble nest without interference from the non-breeding fish.
If you are interested in having a tankmate for your betta, I’d go with something that stays similar in size, and is dissimilar in color and finnage. Believe it or not, the male betta is more likely to be killed by other fish in a community tank, than being the aggressor. If you watch them, they are actually fairly retiring fish and enjoy their solitude. Since your tank is probably fairly small, I’d go with something simple like a few White Clouds.
♫When I was just a little fish,
I asked my mother, “What will I be?
Will I be married?
Will I be rich?”
Here’s what she said to me :
“Hey betta, betta
Whoever he’ll be, he’ll be,
The future is ours to see
He’ll eat you, you see.”♫
Sorry, but some of you are misled. I have a tank with four females in it, and no one has fought yet. They’ve lived together for several months, and seem quite harmonious. When I put a male in with them, he was immediately cowed, and became the whipping boy. I took him out to salvage his dignity.
I agree with The Surb about males and females in community tanks. If you’re not breeding, keep 2 females with a male. It keeps him in line.
Wait a minute, what’s all this about fish “mating”? As I understand it, the female squirts out some eggs, the male squirts some sperm on them, and the two never even touch each other. Am I wrong?
As for bettas – alice_in_wonderland says a male will kill and eat a female right away if she won’t “mate” – and if she does, he’ll kill and eat her afterwards . . . well, I guess that would be possible, if by “mate” you mean, disgorge the eggs for fertilization. And then the male could kill the female afterwards without interrupting the reproductive cycle.
The male betta controls it all. He will build a bubble nest and take the eggs in his mouth and place them in the nest. He will take care of the nest. The female just produces the eggs. Then she is done with it.
I also have more than one female in a 20 gallon tank with other fish and they will get along unless the tank is overpopulated. one inch of fish per gallon of water is a good rule of thumb. Males are pretty, but are not upstanding members of a community.