it'll more closely resemble their wild habitat I believe.
The LFS Betta is not a wild fish they have never been wild fish. They have been created from wild fish yes, but in this breeding they have become more aggressive. Mainly because the wild Betta was taken and the most aggressive ones were selected to breed to produce fighting fish, used for betting, they were designed to not stop until the other fish was dead. It was soon discovered that people out there thought these fish were pretty so these hyped up aggressive fish were used to create what we know as the betta from out LFS. You stick a HM back in the paddy fields and it wouldn't last 5 seconds.
This bloke that had all these Bettas together. He was either just saying it to cover up the fact that he had made a mistake and not listened to the advice he had been give, he was trolling, or it worked for a little while but slowly one by one his fish started to vanish.
I am sorry but its just not going to work. I know you wont listen and you will do it any way but you are not going to get someone on here go "yea go for it, they'll be fine"
I know that. I know they're not wild. But 100 gallon heavily planted for 3 males is better than say 20g empty tank. It'll more closely resemble their wild habitat in the sense that it'll play to their instinct which is to gain more territory that they can safeguard but in a space big enough that they can run away and that they won't always encounter other males; which also applies to a lot of animals.
They do stop actually, because who would want their hard earned, difficultly produced champion to die in a fight? Traditional fights were stopped as soon as a clear loser was shown; there is a judge at each fight to determine the signs of defeat; the owner can even admit defeat as soon as he wants. Sometimes losers were released back into the wild and careful selection recycles the process of producing a champion. I can't recall off the top of my head, but there are a few Thai produced websites that detailed the traditional selection, breeding and fights of the betta, plus theories of the human guided evolution of the splendens.
His fish have been fine for months from his updates and again, he took great care in his selection and planning. I am trying to contact him and hopefully we can discuss how his success and my planning can produce another achievement. His is not the only one, but the only I've come across that had a plan for his scape, designed specifically for betta. I've read a few others who have had multiple bettas in tanks, although I don't know if they're from the same spawn.
I know it may not work, hence I'm looking for people who have done this and how it has worked for them. I'm looking for ideas and suggestions on how to make this work, not why this wouldn't work because that's easy. A guy on another forum, despite disagreeing with what I'm doing, helpfully pointed out the dude with the caves and many bettas, whose stringent fish selection criteria inspired me to do likewise. Again, I'm not looking for naysayers because there are a million of you.
sausagewinkle
"Your going for LFS fish, who are already separated and continuously flaring at each other through there individual sections/cups, how ever they are kept.
Then they are going to be realised together in a tank, to me wouldn't this cause them to fight anyway??
And why do you mention not having fish from the same spawn??"
I worked in a pet shop before maintaining the fish tanks, including a bunch of betta in small divided tanks. They don't flare continuously and when you watch them enough, you can tell who are the aggressive ones and who prefer to be left alone. Some flare only at other males while others ignore males but flare at the corydora in the same tank.
I'm going off on the guy with the caves whose idea coincidentally coincided with mine. He chose his fish based on who flared the least and ignored the other males. He spent hours in his LFS and watching his tank for flaring and fights. What I intend to do is, as best as I can, choose the most docile males and put them in the tank at the same time. If they live happily, awesome. However, should the dominant bully soon emerge, hopefully I can return him to my LFS in exchange for another. If not, then perhaps with some other hobbyist; worse comes to worst, I'll put each of them into a two footer and rescape my main tank for rams.
People have had much/more success with males from the same spawn living in the same tank from birth till adults. Occasionally, someone would point out another person who bred and kept a couple or more males in one tank, ranging from 20g to 100+g, and I've read posts that detailed similar. Adult males from different spawns living together seems to be a nightmarish concept to people
To me, the success is greatly worth it. I cannot stand betta living in small tanks and the sight of dividers. I'm willing to do a lot of research, pray for inspiration, and smartly do my best.