# Do males kill females with constant sex?



## sweetie (May 23, 2014)

Is it true that female bettas are more affectionate and responsive to their humans than are the males, maybe because they're less preoccupied with mating and its associated rituals (flaring, building bubble nests etc)?
I also wonder about the relative life spans of males and females - anecdotally, it seems people's males live up to 10 times as long as females. Is this true? I have twice had to rescue a female from the tank with the male, as otherwise, I was certain the continual sexual activity would have killed the females. The male just NEVER left them alone. 
One morning, after she had spent a single night in the tank with a male betta, I came out to find my dear little Daphne lying exhausted in her plants on top of the water, barely moving and only gasping very occasionally. She has been very happy since I rescued her and gave her a tank of her own. 
Any thoughts or experiences on this?


----------



## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Ive noticed that females are a bit more greedy and therefore slightly more likely to hope for food when a person comes near. But its not really much difference, most healthy males will also pop up to the front of the tank for food when someone looks in.

I dont think males kill females with constant sex, they kill them because she is in his territory. Once a female has finished mating and run out of eggs, the male will get rid of her because she is now a threat to the eggs and babies. Which is why its not a good idea to house males and females together.

Mating takes more toll on a female than a male since she gets bashed, chased and squeezed so that may affect how long she lives compared to a male


----------



## Islandgaliam (Jan 27, 2014)

From what I have learned here, and someone please correct me if I am wrong, but the females can only be put in a tank with a male when breeding, then they are removed from the tank. Females can be in a sorority together under the right conditions, like if they were raised together. Males need to be in a tank by themselves. This is because they are territorial, and are called Siamese fighting fish because that is what they do, and they will fight to the end.


----------



## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

I keep wild bettas and so the male and female are constantly together. 

The males do not kill or harm the females by wanting to constantly mate. If the female is not receptive she will either ignore the male or attack him and chase him off. 

My pairs will in peak breeding times, sometimes spawn as much as two times a week. Yes, they do have smaller spawns than splendens, but they are also much smaller fish. 

This seems to have no negative effect on the health of either gender. However, I keep my water clean and feed a very good diet so my fish are basically always conditioned for breeding and ready to go. 

I think with splendens the issue is more aggression. My wilds are usually equally aggressive during courtship/spawning and it is extremely rare I would have one partner seriously harm or kill the other. However, with splendens this is not as uncommon and it could be why some breeding stock do not last as long.


----------

