Male And Female Sharing A Divided Tank?

[wodesorel]

We have a seven gallon divided tank that until last week had been the home of two wonderful boys for the past year. Unfortunately, the blue veil tail passed on (my guess is old age - he kind of whithered away slowly), and the pink veil tail (who has been completely healthy) really seemed depressed without the company. They had been next to each other at the store when we got and hadn't been apart since.

I had been wanting a female betta for a while now, and since my last attempt at getting a female ended up in getting a giant plakat male (oy!)..... I was determined this time!

Here she is!

She's barely an inch long from her nose to the tip of her tail! I have always wanted an itty bitty baby betta!!! (And those aren't stress stripes, I'm guessing that's juvenile coloring??)

So we put her in the tank and everything seems to be going great! She had no idea what things in a tank were (ie - gravel, moving water, snails!) and once she realized they weren't going to hurt her she's just been swimming all over and exploring. She also keeps trying to get through the divider, but it's in there solid!

The pink male isn't so...... thrilled.... with the new company and is keeping half a tank length between her and him at all times. He's pouting a bit.

Since she's still so young, I'm not worried about there being any problems yet. However, long term should I make arrangements to move her to another tank? I've read that sometimes they can get egg-bound, but I'm wondering since she's still so young, will she "grow-up" with the male and not have problems?

If it comes to it, I can shift the crew (we have two others) around, though I really didn't want to move them since they're doing so well where they are. I figured I could move the yellow crowntail (5 gallon tank):

In with the pink male (divided 7 gallon tank), and then move the plakat (2.5 gallon tank):

into the 5 gallon, leaving the 2.5 gallon free for the red girl. The 2.5 and 5 gallons are divided with Nigella cookbooks, and are on the opposide side of the kitchen from the 7 gallon, so she wouldn't be able to see the males that way. I just didn't want to have to do that becuase the yellow crowntail has been in that tank for a year and a half now, and the plakat has to be alone - he's way too shy.

Anyone have experience with this sort of thing? Should I just wait and see what happens? I'm not even sure when bettas reach sexual maturity, but I know she's not ready yet because the pink boy hasn't shown an ounce of interest, and he always builds the biggest nests and there isn't a bubble on his side.

Thanks!

(If anyone is wondering, I refuse to name bettas. It's been really bad luck in the past when I had. They get refered to by color and sex in this house!)

 

[metromyers]

Wow pretty fish. I am not sure whether you can keep a male and female in the same/divided tank. But I am hoping some one does.

 

[darklady]

when i started keeping fish which is some years ago i was told by the fish supplyer that i could keep as many females with a male as i liked but i couldn't keep 2 males together.

sadly i found that the male chose a female that he liked and stayed with her but killed the other 2. they both lived together in harmony then.

well it was a mistake that i learned from.

 

[Hawkins]

when i started keeping fish which is some years ago i was told by the fish supplyer that i could keep as many females with a male as i liked but i couldn't keep 2 males together.

sadly i found that the male chose a female that he liked and stayed with her but killed the other 2. they both lived together in harmony then.

well it was a mistake that i learned from.

thats odd, you have a male and female living happily together?

 

[ibbledibble]

That yellow boy doesn't look like a crowntail to me. looks more like a combtail. as i understand it, to qualify as a crowntail there has to be a 50 percent reduction in webbing. and his fins look much too solid(although that may just be the effect of this particular photo).

he's still stunning though, they all are

 

[azulfire24]

i dont think betas can get eg bound, they do get full looking bellys and get eggy but even without a male they release the eggs, and ususaly they or other females eat them. as long as they cant actually get to each other they should be ok.

 

[darklady]

when i started keeping fish which is some years ago i was told by the fish supplyer that i could keep as many females with a male as i liked but i couldn't keep 2 males together.

sadly i found that the male chose a female that he liked and stayed with her but killed the other 2. they both lived together in harmony then.

well it was a mistake that i learned from.

thats odd, you have a male and female living happily together?

yes they lived happily for almost 4 years untill i dropped a pump on my female by accident. a week later my male died also. i was told he prob pinned but i'm sceptical about that

 

[wodesorel]

Okay, that's good then. I wasn't sure if the "look but no touch" thing with the divider would give her problems. (There will be NO baby fishes, we have enough little ones around here of the four-footed variety.) She is quite interested on getting through the divider to get to him, but he's still not very happy with her - though he is builing another bubble nest. (He's the only nest builder in the family - he usually always has one at the ready!) She's just so tiny - and so curious about everything. It's a delight to have her, since the only thing the males are interested in is food!

ibbledibble - you're right, sorry! He was a petshop "crowntail". I had him at my workplace for the first few months before he came to live at our new home. I got so used to telling people "His tail is supposed to look like that, he's a crowntail" that it just kinda stuck. I did learn that quite a few people knew that if their bettas tails look ragged that it's time to change water and get them some medication, because everyone thought he was sick. He is a combtail, and a rather long-finnned one at that. I still think his tail is much more beautiful than any of the crowns I've seen around here - his is just so flowy!

Thanks for the compliments on the fishies! I will say they make it a joy to be cooking or even washing dishes - it's hard to get frustrated when there's four sets of eyes on you going - "when is the food ready ma!" And knowing they'll eat what I give them, becuase I didn't have to make it!

 

[Bubblenester]

They should be fine but just keep an eye out for her becoming egg bound. Also, females are notorious jumpers so make sure the divider goes at least a couple inches above the water line. I had a male and female in a tank together with what I thought was a tall divider, and she jumped right over and left him with stubs for fins.

 

[Suzy9mm]

My boyfriend and I have housed a male/female pair together in the same tank - granted it was a 65 hexagon so there is a lot more space, and it was planted so there was area and room for the female to hide if her counterpart became aggressive or something along those lines. Pardon my probably unconvincing "was" and past tense feelings - it was a community tank, and a tetra brought a nasty virus into the tank that demolished ten of the thirteen tetra's we had bought, two cories, one otto and both my bettas - however, everything is back to normal and healthy again but that is far beside the point. The two survived and thrived well together, often hanging close and always very near to one another, and there was never a moment of quarrel between the two.

One person can not say for sure what YOUR male/female pair (or pairs I suppose), is going to do. It's dependent on your fish. Just keep an eye out for signs of stress, you know, just make sure they're acting healthy and happy and if there isn't a dangerous amount of aggression (because like someone said, females are jumpers, and also you don't want them hurting themselves somehow, because they are so spectacular at finding a way) then it's usually okay. Also, they might act alright for a day or two, or even for a good amount of time and then suddenly decide it's time to end this neutrality. Constant surveillance is always a good thing!

 

[wodesorel]

I know a lot of people are sharing stories of males and females being loose together in the same tank - I do want to stress that mine have a plastic divider between and can't touch each other. I'm not brave enough to ever try housing more than one betta together - I tried a female tank once and they all killed each other within a few days - they tore each other up and a bacterial infection wiped them out even after I separated them. I've lost a lot of bettas in the past for very stupid reasons and I won't ever knowingly put them at risk again.

I don't think she can jump the divider - we actually customized the divider to the tank exactly with a Dremmel and a lot of patience (even the filter has been modified to fit over the divider). The lid sits right on top of it, so the only gap is where the little plastic feeder flap is, and while I will never say "not possible" when it comes to jumping bettas (again, personal experience - had one jump right through the gap between lid and filter and I didn't find him in time) I really really don't think she can.

My main concern was stress from not being able to mate - ie. being egg bound or whatever other health problems could arise.

 

[Netty]

And at the end of the day.....I would rather enjoy watching my Bettas separately than be sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the fight to start by putting them together. Is it really worth the risk and constantly having to watch for signs that there will be a problem???