Pet Store had 2 male Bettas in 1 tank!!!

[Elisabeth83]

I went to a big pet store today and inside the plant tank they had 2 male bettas in with eachother. The tank was only like 15-20 gallons and they were swimming near eachother and not doing anything. I was scared that maybe it jumped over from the other plant tank so I asked the guy there there's 2 male Bettas in there and I said don't they fight and he's like no they don't some bettas are different and can live with eachother and I was thinking Yeah right!!

Then I was listening to what he was saying to a lady who was buying a male betta for a 5 gallon tank...and she wanted some other fish to go with him and he was all ready to sell her 3 female Bettas ahhh!! She ended up buying 2 tetras...

Then she was telling the guy how she bought a bunch of fish for the tank and they all died and all he said was....it could be from overfeeding...nothing in there about cycling the tank...argh!!

What was really funny though was there was a BIG full grown short finned male betta in a tank and I asked him what kind of betta is that and goes the same as the rest of them (veil tail ) and I said I don't think so his fins are short and he goes no that's just cause he's young his fins will grow out!!

I ended up buying a real pretty veil tail...he has a hot pink body and red fins...I've never seen a pink Betta so I just had to get him...funny thing is the same guy says to me so do you want to get him a friend..a female is nice and it will keep him company!! Can you believe that? I was just shaking my head inside

 

[BlueIce]

I have in the past kept 5 males in one tank...
quite easy if you put your mind to it and remember fish have territories...sometimes you just have to force them to establish a specific territory.

 

[David]

I have in the past kept 5 males in one tank...
quite easy if you put your mind to it and remember fish have territories...sometimes you just have to force them to establish a specific territory.

... No. Uh-uh. No way. Never under any circumstances keep them in one tank. That's crazy, the risk is far too great. They are called "fighting-fish" for a reason you know.

 

[BlueIce]

Do you think they don't live with each other naturally?
Let's be real here...To think that there is no way to house them in captivity with more then one to a tank is insane.The key is space and territory.
Given their own territory and enough space there are few ,if any problems...certainly no more then in any other semi-aggressive tank.

 

[Elisabeth83]

I would think even if they were getting along at the time that all of a sudden they could fight? I heard they were unpredictable?

I would love to be able to keep all my males together but I just couldn't take the risk. I guess if you had a HUGE tank maybe it would work...but I still think they would cross paths and fight...

These 2 guys were just in a 15-20 gallon tank with just short plants on the bottom. I don't think they could have territories in that small of a tank without hiding places etc.

Does anyone else on this forum keep males together??

 

[David]

In the wild they have the opportunity to avoid each other completely... males almost never cross paths and if they do one will usually back down. In an enclosed environment this is not possible. Honestly, ask anyone here who is an expert on bettas. Who thinks it is a good idea to keep male bettas together. If it were ideal I'm sure the LFS would do it. It would save space and the bettas would have more room than in those cups.

 

[BlueIce]

I have bred bettas in the past and kept them for yrs.I'm 38 yrs old,not some newb kid learning about fish.
I have personally kept numerous male bettas in the same tank for periods of up to one yr with NO major conflict or injury.
It's no dif then keeping aggressive or semi aggressive cichlids...it is all about the amount of space and established territories.Of course not every male betta can be kept with others,but I found that many if not most can...provided they are given the space needed.
To assume that in the wild they have the opp to avoid each other completely is just not plausible...they are hatched together and grow up together...they live in tight quarters such as puddles often...yes they fight...ALL fish fight...it's is the degree of aggression and the SPACE needed to create territories...it can be done...
I am NOT the only person to have done this with great success.


And before you ask...
I got out of bettas and that is the only reason they weren't together for an even longer period of time.

 

[David]

I have bred bettas in the past and kept them for yrs.I'm 38 yrs old,not some newb kid learning about fish.
I have personally kept numerous male bettas in the same tank for periods of up to one yr with NO major conflict or injury.
It's no dif then keeping aggressive or semi aggressive cichlids...it is all about the amount of space and established territories.Of course not every male betta can be kept with others,but I found that many if not most can...provided they are given the space needed.
To assume that in the wild they have the opp to avoid each other completely is just not plausible...they are hatched together and grow up together...they live in tight quarters such as puddles often...yes they fight...ALL fish fight...it's is the degree of aggression and the SPACE needed to create territories...it can be done...
I am NOT the only person to have done this with great success.


And before you ask...
I got out of bettas and that is the only reason they weren't together for an even longer period of time.

Alright say what you want. But there's a reason noone else does it...

 

[BlueIce]

I have bred bettas in the past and kept them for yrs.I'm 38 yrs old,not some newb kid learning about fish.
I have personally kept numerous male bettas in the same tank for periods of up to one yr with NO major conflict or injury.
It's no dif then keeping aggressive or semi aggressive cichlids...it is all about the amount of space and established territories.Of course not every male betta can be kept with others,but I found that many if not most can...provided they are given the space needed.
To assume that in the wild they have the opp to avoid each other completely is just not plausible...they are hatched together and grow up together...they live in tight quarters such as puddles often...yes they fight...ALL fish fight...it's is the degree of aggression and the SPACE needed to create territories...it can be done...
I am NOT the only person to have done this with great success.


And before you ask...
I got out of bettas and that is the only reason they weren't together for an even longer period of time.

Alright say what you want. But there's a reason noone else does it...

As I already said...I am NOT the only one to do this with success.

 

[GuppyDude]

arg! ignorance, a fishes worst nighmare

 

[BlueIce]

arg! ignorance, a fishes worst nighmare

Are you implying ignorance on my part? Or the lfs employees part? Or the people who would believe that bettas seldom come in contact with each other in the wild?

 

[cutecotton]

argh guys can we please not hijack threads

but i just wantd to ask blueice how big her tank was

----

elizabeth: Was that store a big chain store? sadly most of hte ppl that work in petstores really dotn' have a clue waht they're doing

 

[BlueIce]

my tank was a 29 gallon...very heavily planted and lots of rock/wood....


The trick was forcing the bettas to establish a territory...
This was accomplished by using the hang on breeders...
It takes several weeks to a few months for each betta to be introduced to the tank.

My question about the bettas in the store...

How did they look?

Did you ask how long they had been together?


Did you ask if this was a regular practice for them to keep more then one betta together?

 

[Elisabeth83]

It wasn't a chain store it's a pretty good store...I just think that only a few of the employees really know what they are doing. Like I called the other day about vitamins and the lady who I was talking to said sure we have those and said how to prepare it etc. But today 2 guys were working upstairs and neither knew nothing about vitamins and they asked if I talked to the fish expert and I said I don't know it was just a lady. I guess it just depends on which day you go in lol

Well the guy who was working there today seemed really new..I've never seen him there before.

I didn't ask how long he had the bettas in the tank I just said like you know you have 2 male bettas in that tank and he's like yeah some seem to get along with eachother and I just kinda thought ok I didn't want to argue with him because I myself wasn't sure if that was true or not. I've only heard that male Bettas can never be kept in with eachother because they will kill eachother.

I don't think it's a common thing that they do because he said next week they were getting in more and I asked how many will you be getting and he said it depends on how many free tanks we have..so I assume he meant a tank for each betta.

To me it seemed like they must of been in their together for awhile because one of the bettas seemed to have free range of the whole tank whereas the other betta seemed to stay near the bottom by the plants. They passed by eachother a couple of times only about 7-10 inches away from eachother and neither flared or even seemed to take notice.

Both Bettas appeared to be active and healthy. The one who lived at the top though seemed to be the dominant one. His fins were bigger and a lot prettier.

Who else here has kept Bettas like BlueIce? At first BlueIce I thought you just put 5 males together but from the sounds of it your idea of creating territories using breeding nets really works.

 

[xXMrBonesXx]

In the wild they have the opportunity to avoid each other completely... males almost never cross paths and if they do one will usually back down. In an enclosed environment this is not possible. Honestly, ask anyone here who is an expert on Betta's.

IMO in order to be considered an 'expert' on any animal you must spend at least 1 year viewing and studying them in the wild and i don't know to many people here that have... sure theres people here that know a whole lot but i don't know about experts but thats just my opinion.

as for the housing Betta's together, I've seen 1 male and 2 females in a 15 gallon tank with no problems and i currently have a female Betta community with no problems (yes females can be just as nasty as males), it all depends on the fish