# Breeding out aggression?



## LizbethDawn (May 22, 2013)

Does anyone else think this might be possible? I've heard about the Thai breeders who keep a spawn all together in a grow out tank until they ship off and there are wilds that you can keep them together. 

So I see the potential and who doesn't think it would be really cool to be able to keep males in a community tank and be able to have more than one?


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## fawx (Aug 21, 2013)

It would be really cool. I wish that'd get accomplished.


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Personally I dont think its a good idea. Many breeders cull non aggressive, passive fish. Their entire mating ritual is hugely aggressive, get rid of that and youll get fish that dont even want to breed. 
If it wont flare you cant judge its form and quality, so over time youll get a decrease in quality fish. Plus the fact that thousands of years of evolution shaped these fish to be solitary and aggressive towards other members of its own species. 
Its kinda like breeding the herding out of border collies or the retrieving out of labs. 

If you want colourful fish but dont like the aggressive behaviour of bettas, get guppies


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## Ilikebutterflies (May 19, 2012)

+1 Trilobite

Nobody wants a non-aggressive male betta. Not to mention the females rarely breed with passive wimpy males. Mine sure won't. He doesn't have to beat her up but he'd better stick up for himself when she nips him or she will rip him to shreds.


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## darkangel (Jun 11, 2013)

personally, I think a betta's aggression is what makes it a good and unique fish. there isn't really any other species of fish that thrive in isolation from their own species and because they often kept alone, owners tend to develop special bonds with them.

If they become community fish, they will become no different than guppies, platies and other already existing colorful fish.


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## Dwarden3 (Apr 1, 2013)

The way to do it would be to take your spawn. But them in a grow out. Take them out as they get aggressive. Then the ones left are your F1. Start again. In theory you would eventually get a non-aggressive betta line.


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## Blue Fish (Jun 11, 2012)

I believe there are some people on here who have done this...I know that Old Fish Lady has...and I believe there was someone else as well. Dwarden is right though in how you'd go about it.  

I've found that my boys who live divided, if they get together, will sometimes NOT fight. They have worked out their aggresion towards one another and stay in their own "territories". Now, this is not something I do on purpose! Quite the opposite...it happens by accidents when my snails decide to move my dividers...or when someone jumps, or when someone is just SUPER determined to get to the other side. They never stay that way, but I have found them the next morning co-existing on the same side of a divided 20g and everyone is alive and sometimes not beaten up. 

But, typically, one male has run of the tank and the other is cowering in a corner and generally staying *away* from the dominant male. I don't know that I'd want them to live that way permanently, and I don't know that I'd trust them for any long period of time.  

I know what you're suggesting is an entire breeding program that would cull the aggressive *out* of them, so it's a different scenario, but it thought it might be interesting to mention just as a side note.


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## LizbethDawn (May 22, 2013)

I'm not saying make them like guppies. More like Dwarf Gouramis. They are semi aggressive but mostly towards their own kind and I can keep three males in my 50 gallon and they all stake out their territories and live peacefully as long as no one tries to get to pushy but then they just sort things out again. And if it was bred out of the females too they wouldn't really notice that the male I gave them was "whimpier" than other males as long as he can hold his ground against her.

Dwarden that's what I was thinking. Do that and go from there and see if it can even be bred out at all. They can breed aggression out of dogs, that's what got me thinking about it, but I know there's a HUGE difference between the behaviors of domestic dogs and fish.


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

1. leave an adult in with them. Usually daddy is left in there til they're adults. But any docile adult will do.
2. Do not disturb them. Do not let them become stressed. - never take them out during tank cleaning. Do not move to other tanks.
3. Do not isolate

More docile specimens will not fight until adult. But often they will fight after they are moved to breeding tank. Though not severe enough, but fight none the less. Sometimes I let them float for a few days before releasing them back in the sorority. The slightest aggression from any betta will induce aggression to the whole batch. I usually never return the ones I take out - unless they show rather docile behavior.

Some breeders believe dense plants helps reduce aggression. IMO, it doesn't really make much difference. I keep my tanks bare but use water pumps in full thrust.


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