Keeping Male And Female Bettas Together?

[ninjacheesefish]

I've heard many different opinions but can you keep male and female bettas together?

I've got one male betta at the moment and was thinking of getting 2 females to keep in his tank with him.

Would this work? Or would they kill each other?

 

[BerryAttack]

it all depends on how big your tank is... also hiding spots etc. if you have a tank that is roughly 10 gallons then yea no problem. but when you get females he will most likely try to breed with them and sometimes when they breed he can accidently kill them in the process.
That is a good number 2 females 1 male... they should get along fine, but the male will ram them occasionally..

 

[phoenixgsd]

ive always been told that they should be kept separate and only put together for mating, ive also heard its not for the faint hearted as quite difficult to achieve without injury, however having said that its only what ive been led to beleive, im sure someone with more experience will be along to advise

 

[ninjacheesefish]

They can accidently kill their partners? That's brutal.

So if your only put the female bettas in to breed, then you keep them at other times elsewhere.

Could the female bettas live in my 80 litre with mollies, tetras, rasboras and gouramis until their ready to breed? Or do they like to live on their own? As some of the tetras and gouramis are a bit fin nippy, or are female bettas not long finned?

 

[HannahBear77]

you can put females together but a group 6+ to keep the aggression down i kept mine with glowlight tetras and von rios

 

[Cazgar]

Males & females should not be kept together as it almost always ends badly with ether injured or dead fish.
A few people have done it, but only in very large tanks & they were very experienced Betta keepers.
Females can be kept together in groups of 5+ smaller numbers often end up with them fighting
Gouramis & Bettas don't usually get along, again, it has been done, but I wouldn't recommend it

 

[brittani299]

I have a 60 gallon with 1 male betta. About 2 weeks ago I decided to buy a female to put in there with him to breed. All that happened was that he followed her around and nipped at her. He ended up nipping one of her fins off. Luckily, I have a 10 gallon with some extra room that I put her in. She is healed now, but I wouldn't advise putting them together. Even in my large tank it didn't work.

 

[jasonh_000]

betta dont like company. they are lone wolves.

 

[ninjacheesefish]

So maybe I won't be breeding Bettas then

I don't have enough tanks and I'd don't think that the female bettas would like their tank mates...

 

[j.marsland12]

I have a 3:1 ratio of females to males in a 160l tank and they get along just fine, they were previously in a 60l and got along fine in that too.

 

[ninjacheesefish]

Yeh I've only got a tiny 30 litre for my male betta

 

[Flute]

I have 1 m and 6 f in a 60 ltr. I never intended to keep both sexes together, as I was very much in the "males should never be kept with females" corner before this. They were all bought as juvenile females, but two turned out to be a short finned wild type males. I re-homed the more aggressive one, and I was originally going to separate the second male, but a betta breeder I know who specialises in short fin types suggested it could work out.

I think whether it works or not depends on many factors. The personality of the male you have is definitely a big factor in whether it can work. My guy is pretty laid back compared to the long finned males I've had in the past, and the females will happily stand up to him if he gets a bit too stroppy. The females do more damage to each other than he does. He'll occasionally flare and chase, but the females will actually nip each other. Secondly, they've all been together since they were tiny. I've heard from a few betta breeders now that if siblings are kept together there's a better chance that they can co-exist once mature.

Another reason I think it works because there are 6 girls, his aggression is spread out rather than it being focused on just one or two individuals. I have a spare 35ltr as an emergency back up if he decides to turn nasty, but they've been together for 7 months now without any trouble. I destroy every bubble nest he builds, just to be safe. And lastly, there's a big piece of redmoor root in there with a crazy load of java fern attached. There are loads of hiding places for the females to escape to, but even with keeping a group of females by themselves it's recommended that you have things in the tank that will break their line of sight.

Over all, I wouldn't recommend it if you haven't had a fair amount of experience with bettas in the past. If you do want to try it, I would try and get a large group of very small juveniles and raise them together, see how many turn out to be male and then keep the most placid whilst re-homing any others. I think a big key to it being successful is having enough females. Having just 1 or 2 with a male is asking for trouble, IMO And of course, make sure you have a back up tank just in case.

 

[babystarz]

Another problem that can arise from keeping both sexes together, or even in a shared but divided tank is that when they are in close proximity to each other, both the male and female release pheremones that stimulate each other into entering breeding mode. Consistently keeping fish in breeding mode is stressful for them, and in rare cases a female can become eggbound (stuffed with eggs and unable to release them) to the point of bursting.

An experienced keeper with excellent mechanical and natural (plant) filtration and a HUGE aquarium may be able to successfully keep a male and female in the same tank without this or major aggression happening, but that is the exception rather than the rule.

Also, when not breeding, males and females are as aggressive with each other as fish of the same sex. When a female has finished laying her eggs the male will chase her away from the nest and attack her if she gets too close.

I do have a sorority of females (started at 6 but had to remove one) and they get along fine, but they require a heavily planted tank 10 gallons or bigger.