# Male And Female Bettas Living Together



## turtle10

SOOO a while back I posted a thread about combining my sorority with my community tank. My community tank has a male betta, so I have to get a tank larger than would typically be required for that amount of fish. I have recently contacted someone on craiglist about a 77 gallon aquarium. It comes with tank, custom stand, filter, and lights for about $250 dollars. I really hope it is still available, to say the least. Either way, I am getting an aquarium 70-75 gallons at least. Once combined, in the tank there would be:

1 Male Betta
10 Female Bettas
8 Female Guppies
2 Male Guppies
7 Albino Cories
1 Tiger Pleco (NOT the big kind lol)

Plus the shrimp and snails, though I don't think they will make that much of a difference in such a large tank. Also, I expect the guppy population to increase, it is inevitable. They're guppies lol 

I would really like to hear experienced fish keepers' opinions and experiences when keeping male and female bettas together. Do they spawn in a community tank? If so, do the fry typically survive? Do female bettas get jealous of each other? Etc, etc….

One more question…. I have a dwarf pea puffer solo in a 5 gallon. I know that they are aggressive and do best in species-only tanks, but since the 77 is so big would it be okay to add the pea? If not, that is totally fine. It would just make less tanks to clean. 


I would really only like *experienced* fish keepers' opinions on the matter.

Thanks


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## DarkMoon17

That's sounds amazing. I'm sure everyone would love to see pics if you can get it.

I've kept a male with 5-8 females in a 55 gallon with mollies, cories, and some smaller tetras. I find that as long as the tank is well plants, everything works out. I also haven't really had trouble with keeping bettas and guppies together but I have heard that other people have had issues with them fighting. 

I've never had bettas breed in a community tank, there's just too much activity. Since the only other inhabitants are guppies (which don't completely devour fry) it is possible that there would be some survivors if they were able to find food... I'm not sure. In the wild male bettas do protect their fry for much longer than we allow them to in breeding set ups. They are a bit like cichlids. 

Pea Puffers are pretty vicious, if you value your male guppies and bettas, I'd keep him far away from their tank! They're fast little buggers too.
Happy Betta Keeping!
-DM17


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## turtle10

Yeah I thought the activity might deter them from mating. My guppies are always zooming all over the place.

LOL haha I will keep the pea away then, I love my betta and guppies


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## PewPewPew

I think OFL has done this, but it might be two males. Bughhh cant remember.

I wish Id kept the site's address, but I was reading a journal of a keeper who kept a male in a large (not unlike yours) community tank with a large group of females. I believe he noted they stayed together, and almost kept the male at bay when he approached them. He noted the same behavior in another species with an intensely weighted ratio of females to males.

If I can dig up that site, Ill give it to you. It ended up working well, without issue. (It was hilarious, Id check on it to make sure things were alright- like some saga or some weird kind of drama movie, haha.) No comments on fry, though. Id imagine many would die since you might not see them right off the bat or be able to tend to them, unless you removed them from the tank. But if they lived, you'd have a bunch of multiple spawns, which would be sort of interesting 

If/when you get this up, Im demanding pictures. (Of course.)


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## turtle10

Definitely will post pictures 

I wanted to also add in three other males so I would be interested to see how it went for OFL, but I don't know if I want to risk it. I would probably have to go larger any ways.


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## kathstew

Sorry for posting as I have no experience with any of this. I was just wondering how you were making in progress in this? It sounds really cool, I would never try this, but I am curious how this will turn out.


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## shinybetta

turtle10 said:


> SOOO a while back I posted a thread about combining my sorority with my community tank. My community tank has a male betta, so I have to get a tank larger than would typically be required for that amount of fish. I have recently contacted someone on craiglist about a 77 gallon aquarium. It comes with tank, custom stand, filter, and lights for about $250 dollars. I really hope it is still available, to say the least. Either way, I am getting an aquarium 70-75 gallons at least. Once combined, in the tank there would be:
> 
> 1 Male Betta
> 10 Female Bettas
> 8 Female Guppies
> 2 Male Guppies
> 7 Albino Cories
> 1 Tiger Pleco (NOT the big kind lol)
> 
> Plus the shrimp and snails, though I don't think they will make that much of a difference in such a large tank. Also, I expect the guppy population to increase, it is inevitable. They're guppies lol
> 
> I would really like to hear experienced fish keepers' opinions and experiences when keeping male and female bettas together. Do they spawn in a community tank? If so, do the fry typically survive? Do female bettas get jealous of each other? Etc, etc….
> 
> One more question…. I have a dwarf pea puffer solo in a 5 gallon. I know that they are aggressive and do best in species-only tanks, but since the 77 is so big would it be okay to add the pea? If not, that is totally fine. It would just make less tanks to clean.
> 
> 
> I would really only like *experienced* fish keepers' opinions on the matter.
> 
> Thanks


They may spawn, but most of the time they don't. If they do spawn, you will have trouble because the male will attack every fish that gets near him to protect his nest. If they do spawn, I would remove the nest and dispose of it (or keep it in a smaller tank with the male betta, if you wan't babies).


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## Oldfishlady

You may or may not get spawning and if you do the odds of live fry would be slim due to the other fish and filtration

I would not recommend keeping adult unrelated multi males together even in a 100g heavy planted tank...this would not end well........adult males that have been kept isolated all their life and introduced together would result is fights......my multi male tanks are successful because they have always been kept this way and most are related with younger males added that are not related along with multi females and other species of fish and inverts in a large heavy planted tank.....they swim and feed together without fighting or fin nipping with an occasional flare in passing....I did introduce a spawn brother that had been kept isolated and used for breeding without incident....they ignore each other on the most part....rather interesting to watch......this was not successful in the beginning-this took two generation before I was able to do this...they are fighting fish...the biggest downfall I have seen with keeping Bettas like this....the fins don't grow out as fast....I think this may be due to all the hormones as well as a survival instinct......still a work in progress.......

I DO NOT recommend keeping multi males and females together......I have been keeping fish for a very long time and it has taken me 10 years to get them to this point.......


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## turtle10

Okay, so just one male. It ended up that I can only get a 55, so the multiple males probably wouldn't fit anyways lol.


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## dramaqueen

Oldfishlady said:


> You may or may not get spawning and if you do the odds of live fry would be slim due to the other fish and filtration
> 
> I would not recommend keeping adult unrelated multi males together even in a 100g heavy planted tank...this would not end well........adult males that have been kept isolated all their life and introduced together would result is fights......my multi male tanks are successful because they have always been kept this way and most are related with younger males added that are not related along with multi females and other species of fish and inverts in a large heavy planted tank.....they swim and feed together without fighting or fin nipping with an occasional flare in passing....I did introduce a spawn brother that had been kept isolated and used for breeding without incident....they ignore each other on the most part....rather interesting to watch......this was not successful in the beginning-this took two generation before I was able to do this...they are fighting fish...the biggest downfall I have seen with keeping Bettas like this....the fins don't grow out as fast....I think this may be due to all the hormones as well as a survival instinct......still a work in progress.......
> 
> I DO NOT recommend keeping multi males and females together......I have been keeping fish for a very long time and it has taken me 10 years to get them to this point.......


Do NOT try this at home. lol


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## turtle10

LOL. After reading up, I have decided against it. Yes, my males may be able to peacefully coexist, BUT I do believe the would be happiest on their own.

Not only that, but my tank is only 55, not 100, AND I don't want to worry all the time about the males beating each other up lol.

I would rather focus on aquascaping and arranging my tanks in the new place


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## dramaqueen

I really believe that bettas aren't meant to be community fish. Yes, some do quite well in a community tank but I think they are happiest by themselves. I think it would be very stressful for 2 males to try and coexist.


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## DarkMoon17

Agreed, males shouldn't be housed together as it will be stressful for them in their attempt to protect their own territories. However, females are naturally social. The only reason they show aggressiveness is because of the way they are raised. It is very easy to acclimate them to a community set up. At this moment I have one male and 3 imported females housed together in a 20 gallon. The water flow prevents them from breeding and after the first day when they established their hierarchy, they have not had any major scuffles. They just do the occasional stand off. 

There are college/veterinary school studies showing that both males and females prefer to live in groups (males prefer to live with females over a solo life and females prefer living in groups) but I can't seem to find them. I'm not sure what key words I used last time... I'll see if I can't dig 'em up.


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## turtle10

DarkMoon17 said:


> Agreed, males shouldn't be housed together as it will be stressful for them in their attempt to protect their own territories. However, females are naturally social. The only reason they show aggressiveness is because of the way they are raised. It is very easy to acclimate them to a community set up. At this moment I have one male and 3 imported females housed together in a 20 gallon. The water flow prevents them from breeding and after the first day when they established their hierarchy, they have not had any major scuffles. They just do the occasional stand off.
> 
> There are college/veterinary school studies showing that both males and females prefer to live in groups (males prefer to live with females over a solo life and females prefer living in groups) but I can't seem to find them. I'm not sure what key words I used last time... I'll see if I can't dig 'em up.


I would love to read those studies, they sound really interesting. If you find them you should definitely post a link or something.


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## DarkMoon17

I will definitely send the link if I can find them again


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## dramaqueen

Those studies sound very interesting.


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## MrVampire181

I have 2 males and 13 females (siblings) in a 30 gallon. I have had spawning in the tank but other than that they live together quite peacefully.


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## Here Fishy Fishy Fishy

turtle10,

I love your avatar pix of the two snails...

I had guppies in my sorority, but after the unfortunate death of my preganant female (and the feasting thereon by some of the bettas in the sorority), I moved her mate out. The bettas had gained a taste for guppy... and he was alone.

Until that moment, the guppies had been accepted by the bettas, and they had never been harassed. The male never even got a nip in his spectacular tail.

Once the bettas (who are carnivores) eat another species or there are major changes in the tank, the dynamics of the community shift. 

I don't think I'll add anymore guppies to this community. As for the lone male guppy, he's in a split 5 gal with my monster betta girl on the other side. He's doing fine.

Congrats on the 55 gal! 
That will be some tank, can't wait to see your set-up!


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## turtle10

Hmm, then do you think when the bettas start to eat guppy fry (because they WILL have more babies, ugh, not my choice lol) they will try to eat/attack the adult guppies? Because so far the male, who has been with the guppies for like 3 months now, has been fine around them. I even managed to rescue three fry and I raised them and put them back with the male and the guppies when they where only about half an inch long, but the guppies and male treated them like part of the "community" lol. 

Two of those fry ended up being male guppies so the male betta I guess was slowly acclimated to the male presence as they grew and that is why they don't fight, but I may be wrong. Their tails started showing the male flowy-ness about two-three weeks ago and for about a week now have been developing iridescence. They will probably look like full blown males in about two weeks, so we will see then.

So far everyone is getting along. The male will occasionally chase the females and flare at them, but they never lose color or develop stress stripes, it is almost like they are flirting. It has been less than a week though so I am still keeping a very sharp eye on them, I know everything can change in an instance. 

The females are having fun schooling with the guppies though, and the male looks like he is patrolling the tank. The cories just swim around goofily, and I never see my tiger pleco. Snails are fine, as are the few shrimp. The shrimp have gotten so big, a full two inches and bright, bright red. 

Will post pics soon, hopefully today.


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## smellsfishie

I was about to start a thread similar to this after visiting my local fish store today where I was shocked to see this ~30 gallon tank with lots of male guppies, 2 female bettas, and a gorgeous peach male betta! I never knew this could happen successfully... The male was completely ignoring the females... and the guppies!



I've never mixed males and females but in my personal experience with male bettas, i find my guys are happier in a community tank that is not TOO busy but has some movement. When I keep my males solo they tend to get a little bored I think. Even adding a snail to the tank perks their interest.


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