# Betta experts listen up.



## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

Is it possible to keep more than one adult male betta in a home aquarium and thrive?
No matter where I go, my lfs, books, websites, people always say that bettas will fight to the death if kept together. Having accepted this as a general rule and having seen bettas kept seperate in aquatic shops I always believed this. But having kept some of the most aggressive fish in the world, over the years I have managed to keep certain male cichlids together that people say should never be kept as they will kill each other.
When I was young, I bought a melanochromis auratus male that used to chase everything in the tank from other cichlids to bubbles. I introduced another male auratus and as expected fought until the latter gave up and was condinuously chased around the tank, fins ripped and loss of colour. But now, I have broken the rules, and I have three male auratus in the same tank in full breeding colour that never enter each others territory. They all have caves of their own and they only let females in their territories even when not breeding. I bet you're thinking that I keep them in a 200g tank with loads of hiding spaces and that they never even come across each other, but I keep them in a 20g tank!
So, do you think the same thing can be done with bettas? Obviously if you give them a big enough tank say like the one down at the Oceanarium, then their enviroment will be similar to the wild and they will probably hardly ever see each other. But what I want to know is can it be done in the avarage home aquarium?


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## maxpayne_lhp (Jan 19, 2005)

I've heard from a friend of mine that he kept 3 male bettas in a 50 liters tank and they live for one year! Though unsure, he insisted that all the bettas were male! That's the first story I've ever heard about keeping bettas more than one in a tank.


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

Were they juvinille? Juvinille bettas apparently don't mind each other. Also, some long finned females can look like males.


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## maxpayne_lhp (Jan 19, 2005)

No they weren't. And he told that the local fishstore had informed him that they were male. However, we may doubt that.


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

Keeping male Bettas together CAN work for awhile, but it almost always turns bad at some point and one or more fish gets beat up or gets killed.It's never a good idea.



RC


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## aaa (Jan 19, 2005)

if the males is in good condition, i don't think they will not fight no matter how big the tank is.


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

I know a store that had 2 males in a 100G tank. The tank was 6ft long. The males left each other alone for awhile and the store owner loved to tell me you could keep males together. Then one morning he came in and one male was dead and the other was fin less and died later. It always happens.


RC


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## Mr Aquarium (Jan 18, 2005)

it's in the blood for them to fight, I wouldn't try it, did that in my 75g with 2 males, soon as they seen each other the fight was on, one had a nice junk of fin hanging out of his mouth when I got them pulled out, and this wa all inside about 5 mins.


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## thatsfishy (Jan 18, 2005)

Being lazy, I always try to keep my home-bred juvies together as long as possible. However, once they get to the 3 month mark, I HAVE to separate them if I don't want all their fins gone, or worse, casualties of war. And that's siblings ... definately wouldn't recommend keeping males together that been jarred and separated. So if you try it, don't become attached to them.


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

But just think though, if male bettas can't live together no matter how big the tank is, then how do they survive in the wild without fighting nearly to the death everytime they catch sight of each other? Just curious that's all.


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

Because they can run away in the wild. If you had a 1000G tank full of plants you could keep male Bettas together. I have a 300+ G outdoors pond with 3 pairs of imbellis/splenden hybrids in it, but the pond has plants and very green water so the Bettas can run and hide. If the water was clear I'm sure I would have dead fish by now. They may still end up beating or kelling each other.


RC


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## Vivid-Dawn (Jan 18, 2005)

*can't we all just get along?*

I've heard that if you have LOTS (as in, so dense you wouldn't be able to see past a few inches) of plants, and a decently big tank (probly no less than 50 gallons), it's possible to keep more than one male Betta together.
As Cichlid Man said, he's got two aggressive males. As long as they have their own territory and can keep to themselves, I suppose it would work out alright. I haven't tried it (dunno if I would risk it, myself, either).
All the fish I want to get are supposed to be docile, but I'm still going to have enough caves and shelter-type decorations that each fish can have their own if they want. At the very least, they'll feel secure!


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