Thinking About Getting Bettas

[kristynkarma]

I've currently got a 10g tank and I've been thinking about getting a couple bettas once the fish I have now pass on. I want two males because they tend to be more showy and because I'm not looking to breed bettas (which would inevitably happen if I had both males and females). Obviously I'd need a divider for my tank to keep two males seperated but would the divider have to be a solid color, or could it be transparent? I assume a transparent one would work, but would it stress out the bettas? Would they be happier if they couldn't see one another? And would five gallons for each betta be enough? Also, what should the water temperature be? Thanks!

 

[Tuxyu3]

Five gallons is about right for Betta's, the divider must absolutely be solid. Make sure it covers all of the tank, not just the water as Betta's are well known for jumping to get at each other.

 

[kristynkarma]

Thanks so much! And as for the temperature, my tank is currently in the upper 70's. Is that an okay temp for bettas or do I need to lower it a bit?

 

[Tuxyu3]

I would say around 26 degrees celsius, i think this is around 78 fahrenheit

 

[Meggie :)]

78 to about 82 degrees is optimum temp...IME, my bettas tend to like it more around 80-82 degrees...so if you have an adjustable heater, there's no harm in upping it to 80-82

Solid divider...otherwise they will stress each other out. Or you could get a semi transparent divider and just block it completely with plants or decor...I always thought it would be neat to make a moss divider

Like tuxyu3 said, make sure the dividers go all the way to the top, even past the waterline! I have learned the hard way that bettas DO jump, and they can find the smallest gaps to make it out of the tank (or over a divider).

Good luck if you get bettas! They really are amazing fish! To me, they're like underwater dogs...they have the silliest personalities! And their personalities are all different!

 

[Flute]

I would go for a solid divider too; I used to have two males sharing a 60 ltr tank, separated by a semi transparent divider. One was a monster (would attack and flare at anything), and the other was the biggest wuss going. Because they could see each other, Tyr, the aggressive one, stressed the other one out so badly that he chomped his tail to bits until I moved Tyr to a separate 5 gallon. So I'd try and go with as laid back males as possible and a solid divider.
Or, as Meggie mentioned, moss dividers look fantastic, and aren't that hard to make. If you were worried about flow, then you could run a small sponge filter on each side.

I know some people make little ledges for the tops of their dividers too, so it makes it even harder for the betta to jump into different areas of their tank.