Siamese Fighters

[Dan-25]

My tank is still empty as i am still after the right fish, ive seen a red siamese fighter (male) that i would like but are they hard to keep

i know you cant mix males in the same tank but one male with lots of females is ok ... am i right ??

if so do the females look as fancy , because the ones i saw yesterday were only young.

any thoughts would e appreciated - good or bad

thanks

 

[OohFeeshy]

No, it's not OK. Male bettas should be kept on their own, ie. with no other fish regardless of species. Either a male or a female on it's won is fine, 2.5g tank or more. Females can be kept together, if it's a group of 4 or more in a large (10g+) tank with plenty of hiding places, however, this doesn't always work.

 

[mewhorse]

Just to add a bit - no the females don't look as fancy - fins are way more plain/short...although they do come in a very wide range of colors - have fun choosing if you go for them! Especially if the store does the usual thing and has them jammed into teeny plastic cups...feels nice if you rescue them though!

 

[Dan-25]

every male fighter was in a tank with a different species that i saw yesterday.

what is the point of having a male fighter if you cant keep any other fish with it sounds strange.

how do they breed if males and females cannot be together

 

[Miss Wiggle]

every male fighter was in a tank with a different species that i saw yesterday.

what is the point of having a male fighter if you cant keep any other fish with it sounds strange.

how do they breed if males and females cannot be together

just becuase an lfs does it doesn't mean it's right for the fish. one near me keeps betta's in tiny little glass bricks, they haven't even got room to turn, think it's about 0.5l of water each. It's just cruel. Keeping them with other fish is egnerally speaking a recepie for disaster. OK so some betta's may be a bit more docile and not harass the other fish, but the vast majority of them it will only take something little to trigger them to kill your other fish. Keeping them with anything bright coloured or fast moving is a definate no no. Also betta's have quite specific water requirements such as a very small flow of water in the tank, this won't be suitable for many other fish so you'd really struggle to find tankmates. The general consensus amongst betta keepers is just keep them on they're own. They're much happier.

As for breeding obviously you have to put them together, you put the female into the males tank let them spawn then take her out and leave the dad with the eggs. You can't keep them together 24/7 as he will harass her so much she just can't cope and will get stressed and die.

 

[Bloo]

My one lfs also put the males in seperate tanks with other community fish such as tetras etc. and that's better than having them in cups (as they do in many parts of the US) I think. But ultimately it's by far best if you keep a male betta (siamese fighter) on its own. There are exceptions, but it's often not worth the stress and nipped fins to try and find out.

 

[PaulEbs]

Hey dan,

How big is your tank?

If you are looking for a community of fish then betta isn't for you - have u considered any other species?

Paul.

 

[OohFeeshy]

how do they breed if males and females cannot be together

Same way other species with similar temperments breed- very gingerly. You also forget that any betta you buy is nothing like a wild betta- they are far more aggressive, find it harder to swim and evidently, the habitat is a million times different. If you want to keep a mixed sex group of bettas, look into wild types- betta imbellis are very pretty, as are brownorum, macrostoma... Even some of the plainer coloured ones have beatiful finnage, eg. bellica

EDIT-
Or go the normal way and get a splendens in his or her own tank.