# Can male wild bettas kept together?



## SQUIRT1216 (Dec 16, 2012)

So I am interested in keeping wild bettas. I found their natural beauty is blunt and captivating that cannot be found the splenden bettas. So I am currently doing research about them before buying them since they are kinda different than splenden types. 

My questions are:
1) Can males live together? I found that male and female can coexist, but can males tolerate each other?
2) Can different types of wild live together? If yes, how many in a 10 gallons?
3) Can females live in a splenden sorority?

I love bettas and wouldn't mind buying a separate tank for each of them, but it would be great if someone has experience show me the way? Too bad that splenden bettas cannot live together, how epic a tank would be if they could.

Thanks. And happy new year :-D


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## Grv97 (Dec 30, 2012)

you should DEFINATLY not keep two wild male bettas in a tank!!!! theyll kill each other in like 5 minutes!! and alot of times a male and female will fight as well unless theyre both ready to mate.


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## SQUIRT1216 (Dec 16, 2012)

So I guess I can just treat them like Splendens?


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## xjenuhfur (Jan 30, 2012)

While I do not know of the wild kind, I do know OFL keeps the domesticated kinds together but she has been breeding out aggression. 
I would contact OldFishLady with questions about keeping (wild) males together. 

But to err on the side of caution: I wouldn't keep males together. 
And for the females, I would assume wild females could be housed together just as domesticated ones can. I'm not sure though.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Wild betta males will usually not kill each other. They will spar and display and you may need to separate them, but generally fights are pretty restrained and the worst you get is a torn fin or two. 

The title 'wild betta' covers dozens of species. Some are highly aggressive, some are not, so there's really no one answer. 

I keep and breed wild bettas and have owned over 12 or so species of various complexes so I do speak from experience here.

To better answer your questions, what wild species in particular were you interested in? Sounds like you are looking more at the splendens complex of bettas?


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## SQUIRT1216 (Dec 16, 2012)

LittleBettaFish said:


> Wild betta males will usually not kill each other. They will spar and display and you may need to separate them, but generally fights are pretty restrained and the worst you get is a torn fin or two.
> 
> The title 'wild betta' covers dozens of species. Some are highly aggressive, some are not, so there's really no one answer.
> 
> ...


Right now I am interested in the imbellis. I am not sure about the other types yet since I found they are hard to find. LFS and LPS definitely do not carry them so my only source is aquabid or maybe members from this forum who breed them and willing to ship them. Since they require shipping so it is expensive and I don't want to mess up and they die. Money is one thing which could be replace, but i dont want any betta to die because I didn't do enough research on them before getting


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## bettasareawesome (Jul 9, 2012)

xjenuhfur said:


> While I do not know of the wild kind, I do know OFL keeps the domesticated kinds together but she has been breeding out aggression.
> I would contact OldFishLady with questions about keeping (wild) males together.


Oh yeah, I Pm'd OldFishLady about that and it was so cool! She has been able to keep males together in the same tank successfully, and been able to take one out and put him back in without problems!


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## Mo (Mar 15, 2012)

Grv97 said:


> you should DEFINATLY not keep two wild male bettas in a tank!!!! theyll kill each other in like 5 minutes!! and alot of times a male and female will fight as well unless theyre both ready to mate.


Lol. Where did you gt this idea?? Also. I'd go with LTB's advice. She's the master of wild Bettas!


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

If you are going to keep any type of bettas together, make sure to have that tank crammed with plants... Live, silk, fabric, etc. That way they do not see each other all the time.

and I agree the "5 minutes" thing is not true :lol: I have also had males who never hurt the female, and get the eggs with no problem. I also have had females who submit fast. Or not. Cannot make a general rule about something that is so diverse ^_^


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

I would PM Setsuna. He keeps imbellis and would know more about their day-to-day care than me. 

However, I will say that I did house two imbellis (captive bred) females in with my sorority for a couple of months and they were fine. Since they are pretty closely related to domesticated splendens they were able to slot into sorority life fairly easily.

Sena, I keep small groups of wild bettas together and they are fine with just a couple of inches of leaf litter and nothing else. Just really depends on the species and individuals.


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## SQUIRT1216 (Dec 16, 2012)

Yea, thanks for the heads up. The Ibc betta websites say they (some types of wild, although most of the species seem to say the same thing) could be kept in a pair in a 10 gallons and group be kept in 30 gallons. I'm not sure what "group" imply here, is it group of bettas, or group as in a community tank?

And I will PM OFL about this. Actually, i was very interested in Setsuna's imbellis so I was hoping that he would breed and sell me some


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## Mo (Mar 15, 2012)

I don't really trust that website, lol. They say that Splendens live in 10 gallon tanks in pair and groups live in 30 gallon tanks


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## Mo (Mar 15, 2012)

"Betta splendens can be housed in pairs, species tanks, and community tanks. Pairs can be housed in a 10 gallon tank, groups should be housed in a 30 gallon tank or larger. Pairs should be given cover such as caves and plants. In a pair or species situation it is possible that fry could be discovered in the tanks. For best results remove a pair to a breeding tank with little to no filtration." Betta splendens


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## SQUIRT1216 (Dec 16, 2012)

Oh ok, thanks haha, i never actually looked up Splendens since i know for a fact they cannot coexist. I mean I can always keep the wild separate no problem if it is too much of a risk, given that they are ok being alone which i guess they are.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Each species is grouped together based on breeding habits, appearance etc. under something called a complex. For example I keep coccina complex bettas so that covers species such as burdigala, uberis and coccina. The splendens complex covers mahachai, splendens, smaragdina, imbellis and so on. 

Species within each complex generally have similar care requirements along with looking similar and exhibiting similar spawning behaviour.

Wild bettas can be quite different shapes and sizes. My persephone are only around 5cm while my ideii is at least 11cm. Therefore, one ideii lives in a 15 gallon tank while a whole group of persephone live in a 10 gallon one.

Mo they are talking about wild splendens. Not domesticated splendens. Wild splendens can live in pairs provided you give them plenty of cover and hiding spaces.


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

Yes you can keep imbellis males together if they're siblings and have spent their whole lives together. I keep 4 imbellis (2 males and 2 females) in a 20 long NPT tank.

I feed them .5mm NLS small fish food pellets and the occasional frozen bbs, bloodworm or daphnia. Their care and behavior are very similar to that of Betta splendens.

Feel free to PM me if you ever have questions. I keep wild smaragdina, albimarginata, ocellata, and patoti too. You can also PM Setsuna but I think he keeps his adult males separate. He does have fry now so he can probably send you a pack of juveniles before he separates them. 

I have found the IBC website gives acceptable guidelines, but the http://www.seriouslyfish.com website has far more information on each species. Another good resource is The Betta Handbook by Robert John. Goldstein, PhD. 

Good starter wild species are imbellis, albimarginata, and channoids. They're all small and tolerate a wide pH range.

It is possible to keep some different betta species together (preferably types that cannot interbreed) but a larger than average tank is recommended.


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## Mo (Mar 15, 2012)

Oh, okay, that makes much more sense now! Lol


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