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Why aggression hasn't been bred out of bettas?

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BettaMan2000

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I'm surprised there doesnt seem to be much attempt to breed out aggression in bettas?

They'd make a great community fish if you could have a few in a tank!
 
Male wild Betta splendens (the ancestors of our tank bettas) are territorial fish. They will not tolerate another male in their territory. In the wild, the other fish can swim away, but not if they are confined to a tank. Trying to breed something out of a species that in embedded in its DNA is just about impossible. Even if you breed the less aggressive individuals over generations, that territorial behaviour is still there.

In their country of origin, men (and it's usually men) have used Betta splendens to fight for sport over many human generations, in the way that some humans in the west fight dogs for sport. They increased the aggressiveness of their male bettas by selective breeding, like the dog owners bred their fighting dogs. Our tank bettas were bred from these more aggressive bettas and they still have a more aggressive nature than wild Betta splendens.
 
Interesting although as you've stated the aggression's been incrementally increased by breeding it in, so it can equally be bred out, similarly like wolves or lions and even the humble cat or dog.

I don't know much about fish, but breeding out aggression has been done successfully in many other species that are now domesticated.
 
The instinct is still there in animals like dogs and cats though. Your cat may look like a cute fur ball, but outside your house it is a ruthless killer. Dogs have been with humans for longer; in your house, you are the leader of the dog's pack so it respects you but put a group of them together and they become a pack that I wouldn't trust an inch.
 
My point exactly, if I brought a wolf home from the forest it would rip me to shreds, it’s the same with dogs, they’ve had it bred out.

Even outside a dog or wolf is effectively a social animal it wouldn’t attack unnecessarily, although a hungry wolf would attack, a dog most likely won’t, but it’s this conditioning that’s causal to the effect.
 
They'd make a great community fish if you could have a few in a tank!
They do, Well the females do.

These girls are in a 6 foot 100 gallon tank now with some shrimp

see image bellow.
 
Nice!

Are they all female and plakats?!

They look pretty large and brightly coloured esp the blue one, didn’t think they got that big or bright unless they were male?!
 
Female Bettas are bigger than males.
Females look just as nice as males but dont have large fins.

Heres a sorority I lost when we had major flooding here.
 
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I think it probably could be breed out, but it would take a long time to see any results. We've been breeding aggression out of (some) dog breeds for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

And, as essjay points out, most of our bettas come from bloodlines that have been breed for aggression, so we're not even starting from a neutral point; it would be a big undertaking even for someone with the willingness to try it.

I think we'd have to wait for the Far East to catch up with us in the West, with regards to animal welfare, for there to be the incentive for it too, sadly.
 

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