r/Aquariums • u/DustyKiwiBirds7 • Apr 02 '24

My boyfriend very entertained with petting my bettas Betta

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2.6k Upvotes

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How are they not attacking each other? I thought you could only keep one at a time

72

u/DustyKiwiBirds7 Apr 02 '24

That's true for male bettas, but females are less territorial and when housed in the right conditions can be kept in groups

25

u/97Graham Apr 03 '24

Even males (ofc some will, every fish is different) won't fight if they are in a big enough tank and have some ladies to show off to, helps if there are dither fish to distract too, but I've kept multiple males in the same tank as long as there is dense plants I never had any issues. But this was during covid when I was WFH all the time and could watch the tank everyday right from my desk, I don't think I'd try it if I wasn't able to observe the tank all day most days to make sure things were peaceful, things can go south quick even if it seems perfect one day, I know that from cichilds.

5

u/[deleted] Apr 03 '24

May I ask what size tank were you using for the males? And how many did you house in there?

12

u/97Graham Apr 03 '24 edited Apr 03 '24

It was a 40 Breeder, with 3 Male Bettas and 4 Fenale bettas, along with some Sterba's Corydora, and rasboras as dither fish there was also a solo golden wonder killifish in the tank, who came from the adoption bin at my LFS, he was the only casualty leaping to his death through the hole in the mesh where the air pumps enter the tank. I grew Duckweed, Hornwort, Vallisneria, Java Fern and Anubias in the water and had terrestrial spider plants growing out the top.

The males would stay in their own portion of the tank for the most part barring feeding, and females would come and investigate each Male, i had many bubble nests built but only twice did I see eggs and I never saw fry. The most fighting I had in the tank would actually occur between ladies if they both entered the same.males territory looking for lovin. Nothing serious, but they'd Flare and charge eachother a bit.

I had it up and running for about 2.25 years and didn't have any issues, once the bettas got older though the size of the tank was alittle tough for them to get around and I moved them into their own 3-5 gallon retirement homes and shelved the project, doing Angelfish and Blue Eyed Lemon Plecos now, the same Corys live in that tank now, they lay eggs on the rocks that the angels eat right up.

An important thing to note is all 3 Male bettas were purchased as babies, growing up together helps reduce their aggression, 1 of the females was purchased as a baby but 2 of the other ones were Petco Bettas, and another came from Monster Fish in Philadelphia.

5

u/[deleted] Apr 03 '24

They will not fight if they are not separated from other bettas when young.

6

u/97Graham Apr 03 '24

Yes exactly, I got all 3 of the males as babies and raised them together, they had a pecking order established for a looooong time and thus didn't need to fight when they'd encounter eachother