Male And Female Betta Together?

[heavenly_d3vi1]

I bought a girlfriend for carynthian my male betta yesterday, in the hope that I'll be able to breed them... I've not looked into how to breed them yet in detail, but I thought they had to live seperately before/after but my LFS said they will be fine living together all the time... is this true?

 

[MaddieJ]

Nope not true. Keep them apart until you've conditioned them and both you and them are ready to breed

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

Ah, as I thought.. thank you! I think I'll start telling the fish shop how to look after fish soon!

Is it ok to keep more than 1 female together?

 

[MaddieJ]

Yep, it is doable, there are some steps to take to keep them happy and as aggression free as possible. Ideally, you want each girl to have about 2-4 gallons of water to call her own. So if you are wanting 5 girls (the lowest recommended number, otherwise they way get too aggro) your wanting a tank that is at least 12 gallons - in my opinion. That is a little hypocritical, I don't mind openly saying I have that number in a smaller tank, however I've got empty tanks and jars that I can use to separate off any badly injured or any that are too aggressive. I am also in the house 90% of the day (only away for two nights of the week, around in the days) and so they get watched VERY closely - one of the joys of working from home. Make sure the tank has a fair amount of decoration, they need hiding spots and their own territories, so live/fake plants and coconut caves are ideal.

There is nothing better than seeing a 20 gallon, planted and well decorated tank that holds 7 or 8 females in my opinion.

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

I'm a stay at home mum... so apart from the odd trip to the supermarket I'm pretty much at home all the time too, luckily... I love just sitting and watching the fish!!! lol So, anyway, I have a 60 litre tank, I think thats about 15-16 gallons, so that should be plenty of room for 5? I dont mind having to go and buy a few small tanks if they need separating, my house already looks like a fish shop anyway! heh heh

 

[Netty]

Hi and welcome to the forum......we now have 3 from Cornwall

I'd be interested to know which lfs gave you such bad advice At least you're in the right place now to get the correct information on how to look after your Bettas and Maddie is spot on with her advice.

If you're interested in breeding then there is info on our website below on how to go about it

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

Thanks Netty! Where abouts in Cornwall are you? It was Trimar in tuckingmill near Camborne that said I could keep my male and female together, it was also the same shop that last week sold me very aggressive brackish/marine puffer, and said it would be fine in my FW community! Stragnely enough, it was also this shop that I went to when I fisrtst decided to get fish, and was handed this little bottle of 'bacteria' and was told to go put it in my tank, and come back in a day or 2 when it will be completely ready for fish! Needless to say, most of them died!

As for breeding bettas, I'm deffo interested in learning about it, even if I never get around to giving it a try myself.. which I hope I will do at some point! Only problem being is that I'll probably get attached to all the fry and end up keeping them all, dotted in tanks all over the house!!! lol

 

[wilsonnw8]

My LFS keeps male and female bettas together in display tanks.....really good example they're setting...needless to say they are always torn to shreds!

 

[MaddieJ]

Don't think I should publicly say anything about THAT shop but did think I'd add that you aren't far from Netty and I! I'm between Truro and Perran. Just in the process of doing my first spawn, we have fry and Dad is tending to them and his nest. Netty has been a huge help to me, even popping over to check on everyone and get pictures while I'm not in the house. Netty has some stunning babies growing on at the moment, but you'll have to fight me for them

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

I will say 1 good thing about THAT shop.... I'm yet to see dead fish in their tanks, unlike a certain shop in Truro, that always has atleast 1 floating fish every time I go their to get equiptment!

Just had a look at nettys site, you have some beatiful bettas... really looking forward to seeing the fry they produce. I may well be fighting you for them Maddie lol!
After reading through the site, which is really well written and easy to follow btw! I have a question which I hadn't thought of before... How do you keep all the males jars up to temperature once you've separated them all?

 

[Sarette]

There's nothing else for it, I'm moving to Cornwall!!

 

[Syphoniera]

Ah, as I thought.. thank you! I think I'll start telling the fish shop how to look after fish soon!

Is it ok to keep more than 1 female together?

Hi, heavenly_d3vi1,
Lucky you, being near Netty, Bronzecat and MaddieJ - the veritable centre of the betta universe.
Although I hope you do start telling that fish shop how to look after fish - sounds like they need it rather badly...
You'll be able to practice your fighting there for upcoming fry wars, lol.

 

[Netty]

I will say 1 good thing about THAT shop.... I'm yet to see dead fish in their tanks, unlike a certain shop in Truro, that always has atleast 1 floating fish every time I go their to get equiptment!

Just had a look at nettys site, you have some beatiful bettas... really looking forward to seeing the fry they produce. I may well be fighting you for them Maddie lol!
After reading through the site, which is really well written and easy to follow btw! I have a question which I hadn't thought of before... How do you keep all the males jars up to temperature once you've separated them all?

Thanks Heavenly.........you're welcome to pop round any time. We're only in Truro When we first started we had all the jarred up babies on a large reptile heat mat which worked really well. We've since changed things and have a fish pantry which is heated with a small gas filled radiator. Some of the babies are jarred up and some are in divided tanks.

Funnily that was the first lfs that came to mind

There's nothing else for it, I'm moving to Cornwall!!

Lol.....you're welcome too anytime Sarette

But no scrapping around the babies guys....it upsets them

 

[pooloflight]

I will say 1 good thing about THAT shop.... I'm yet to see dead fish in their tanks, unlike a certain shop in Truro, that always has atleast 1 floating fish every time I go their to get equiptment!

Just had a look at nettys site, you have some beatiful bettas... really looking forward to seeing the fry they produce. I may well be fighting you for them Maddie lol!
After reading through the site, which is really well written and easy to follow btw! I have a question which I hadn't thought of before... How do you keep all the males jars up to temperature once you've separated them all?

Thanks Heavenly.........you're welcome to pop round any time. We're only in Truro When we first started we had all the jarred up babies on a large reptile heat mat which worked really well. We've since changed things and have a fish pantry which is heated with a small gas filled radiator. Some of the babies are jarred up and some are in divided tanks.

Funnily that was the first lfs that came to mind

There's nothing else for it, I'm moving to Cornwall!!

Lol.....you're welcome too anytime Sarette

But no scrapping around the babies guys....it upsets them

 

[pooloflight]

I will say 1 good thing about THAT shop.... I'm yet to see dead fish in their tanks, unlike a certain shop in Truro, that always has atleast 1 floating fish every time I go their to get equiptment!

Just had a look at nettys site, you have some beatiful bettas... really looking forward to seeing the fry they produce. I may well be fighting you for them Maddie lol!
After reading through the site, which is really well written and easy to follow btw! I have a question which I hadn't thought of before... How do you keep all the males jars up to temperature once you've separated them all?

Thanks Heavenly.........you're welcome to pop round any time. We're only in Truro When we first started we had all the jarred up babies on a large reptile heat mat which worked really well. We've since changed things and have a fish pantry which is heated with a small gas filled radiator. Some of the babies are jarred up and some are in divided tanks.

Funnily that was the first lfs that came to mind

There's nothing else for it, I'm moving to Cornwall!!

Lol.....you're welcome too anytime Sarette
hi
i have 16 females in 120 litre tank, very nice brightly coloured ones too.. and theyre all happy, the only problem is when i clean the jewel filter they all make for the hole the pipe fits in, its a pain in the ......trying to get them out and fit motor at same time, got them all out last time, but i thought on friday some were missing, and there they were in the filter, dont know how they got in this time, cos i havent cleaned filter for two weeks, any ideas please
But no scrapping around the babies guys....it upsets them