Male And Female Together

[Madhousedavy]

Right today after a few months of having them i was told that males should not be kept in the same tank as females!!!!!!!!1

But ive had them for around 3 months together there are 2 females and 1 male in a community tank and have found the bettas to be the most peaceful of all the fish in my tank (no point taking notice of my profile tank as LOADS has changed since i wrote it). the tank is a 125l.

can someone please ket me know if this is ok as i dont want to get rid of them. initially i got them so they could breed but there was no 'action' and realised with all the activity going on its probably not best to have a male betta protecting eggs in a busy(ish) tank.

 

[LauraFrog]

There is no way you are going to breed bettas in a community tank, it's simply impossible. The real problem comes if they try. I strongly advise removing either the male or the females. If you can't do this and you have a lot of plants or hiding places in your tank you could try to leave things as they are, but you have to keep a very close eye on the tank. This has succeeded before and you may get away with it - but there is still the chance that one morning you're going to wake up and find some serious shredded fins.

An updated stocking list would help us work out just how risky this is.

 

[Netty]

You should really take your male out. They may have been fine up till now but eventually all hell will break loose and you'll end up with badly injured or dead fish. It might be that he is young and not matured yet and if he is quite submissive the girls may end up ganging up and attacking him!!!

 

[Madhousedavy]

ok thanks for the replies,

at the moment they havent taken any notice of eachother so hoping they dont fight. (why dont the shops tell you these things when you buy fish?)
recemtly i bought a tank for fry it only house livebearer fry at the moment but i am already dreading getting rid of them as there are loads. this tank is a 40l tank so it could house some of the smaller fish including the male/2 females betta when i get bored with raising fry.

the tank has got a few plants in which i bought a few weeks back but a few did die but i got some liquid ferilisers so will get a few more plants anyway also planning on getting some fake ones.

at the moment im not planning on raising anymore fry so i could set the breeding trap/net up and place the male in there until the current fry are ready to be given away

thanks for the help

 

[LauraFrog]

That would probably work... I would recommend removing the male as placing the females in a smaller tank may cause them to become territorial and fight with each other. It's best to leave them where they are, they are more suitable than the male to live in a general community anyway.