# Can you make it where a female and a male can live in the same tank over time?



## WolfBabe (Jul 25, 2012)

i have two males and a female , one male s my little sisters in a vase . i have an amazing albino male that almost glowsin the dark, he is very calm but dose like to flare, but will not nip or bite. i also have a female whom i just got , she is a walmart rescue and a bit older almost a year , the male is the same age as well. the female is also relaxed and calm with little tonot flareing.

i have a five gallon tank with five great hiding plants, and some nice lite colord stones she likes to rest on. now i am hopeing they can become okay with one another. i have a small vase in side the tank that has the same amount of water as the tank.

i swich the male and female out , one day one is free roaming , the next reasting in the clear glass vase set in side the tank. i feed like normal,and after a week ofthis they are very calm and will drift next to one another through the glass like an old couple.


i am hopeing for them to coexist with out the barrior, but i need opinons from other people! 

P.s i dont mind if they breed i have a friend who rises the fry and sells them at diffrent events to good owners. i also have a huge pond out in my garden that is cleand all the time , i most of the timeresue fish and put them in there and they have always lived long happy lives.

please help!


----------



## PaintingPintos (Dec 27, 2011)

WolfBabe said:


> i have two males and a female , one male s my little sisters in a vase . i have an amazing albino male that almost glowsin the dark, he is very calm but dose like to flare, but will not nip or bite. i also have a female whom i just got , she is a walmart rescue and a bit older almost a year , the male is the same age as well. the female is also relaxed and calm with little tonot flareing.
> 
> i have a five gallon tank with five great hiding plants, and some nice lite colord stones she likes to rest on. now i am hopeing they can become okay with one another. i have a small vase in side the tank that has the same amount of water as the tank.
> 
> ...


NO.
*Please remember that no matter how docile a male fish may be, he will probably attack the female if he is not ready to breed. ALSO, breeding is very very complicated, and I am quite sure that in breeding, the female must be removed after the eggs have been collected by the male. 
They will not breed in this condition. Also your 5 gallon tank is too small to support 2 fish (in my opinion-- others will agree that it may be OK).
And another thing--
Females and males in the same tank, even with a divider, will end in illness. Females pick up a "scent" that all males give off and it will "agitate" her, eventually causing her abdomen to swell up painfully (from what I understand) and it can seriously harm the fish.
You can absolutely not let a male with any other betta live in the same tank UNLESS they are of a SPECIFIC species that lives peacefully in groups. Otherwise you WILL end up with either seriously maimed fish, or dead fish.
It is also not a good idea to keep swapping the fish out, because this is very stressful for them. Constantly being moved can even injure the fish. It may become disorientated at one point, very unexpectedly, and if any other fish that were in there are ill, you can infect all of your fish simply by giving them "what they want".

Your fish seem calm near each other "like an old couple" because you are (like any person may) trying to make them have human emotions and feelings. They may enjoy seeing each other for mental stimulation, but they are not like an old couple. They do not "miss" each other when you separate them. They are just used to seeing each other.

ALSO
IF BY ANY POSSIBLE TINY CHANCE the fish could even POSSIBLY breed, betta fish absolutely DO NOT BELONG IN PONDS. They are far too aggressive, they are far too needy, and in a pond with other fish they will either attack them or be eaten. There is aboslutely no way any of this would work.

I sound horribly mean here but this is the truth.
Do your research before you attempt any experiments.*


----------



## mjoy79 (Jul 13, 2011)

+1 PaintingPintos


----------



## LizzyP (Jun 21, 2012)

Male and female coexisting in a 5 gallon doesn't sound like a good idea to me. Females can be just as vicious as males and can often lead to a dead fish. OFL I think has a large (I'm talking HUGE) tank with males and females, you might want to ask her?


----------



## LebronTheBetta (Apr 23, 2012)

You can't do that. They will release hormones that will cause them to mate or something. It's really bad. And for breeding, you have to do the work. Not your friend. Yes, you can give them to your friend so he can sell but you need the supplies, the money, space, growout tank, etc.


----------



## WolfBabe (Jul 25, 2012)

thank you i will fix this imdinly


----------



## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Welcome to the forum and to the wonderful world of Betta keeping....

As already posted...Its not a good idea to keep male and female Betta together long term even when it appears that they are getting along now or with the partition between them...It almost always ends badly for one or the other-especially with a really docile male and if he is a true albino he may have vision problems on top of being docile and possibly why he is docile and he might be the one that gets destroyed or killed by the female...Not the male killing the female. The females can be just as aggressive if not more so than the males with the added benefit of the ability to move much faster and if she is ready to spawn and he isn't...she might kill him.....

Once you get a bit more experience and a bigger tank in the 20+gallon range-sometimes keeping males and females together long term can be done...But not very often....too many risk than benefits.....

The 5gal filtered tank can be divided so that you can keep two Betta in the tank and while in some cases keeping male/female in divided tanks can cause issues-a lot of times they will adjust and desensitize and all will be fine....And sometimes not.....it can vary greatly from Betta to Betta.....

Since you have 2 males-I would divide the 5gal and use it for them and keep the female in a totally different tank/water.

Water changes on the 5gal filtered either divided or with a single Betta....50% with vacuum weekly to maintain water quality
Filter media needs a swish/rinse in the bucket of old tank water a couple of times a month to maintain good water flow.
Without a filter or live rooted plants-add a 100% monthly along with the 50% weekly to maintain water quality....

Love to see pic of all your Bettas and tanks....


----------



## SnowySurface (Apr 25, 2011)

Nope. Males and females can not be kept together for long periods of time. In the case of OFL, she is an exception to the rule and not proof that it is possible if you really, really try. You can't buy one male and one female and make them friends. I also dislike dividing a tank for one male and on female because the divider only prevents physical contact. Both fish are still able to release hormones into the water which can trigger mating habits. 

For example, when you notice, "They drift together like an old couple through the glass", that is what I mean by mating habits. Even if they aren't directly sharing the same water, they can see each other and there are left over hormones in the tank and vase. If they do successfully mate you will notice them become an old divorced couple very quickly. While I do not think they will go nuclear on each other, you will be tending to wounds if they stay together indefinitely.  

As a final opinion, even if your friend would raise the fry and sell them for you, you still shouldn't let fish breed simply because you don't mind. I'm being blunt because it annoys me when people see surprise puppies, kittens, bunnies, rats, fish, etc. as something that can be tossed or passed on as someone else's problem. I know dumping a litter of puppies in a river is not as bad as dropping off the same litter at a no-kill shelter, but both are equally irresponsible. It's a big pet peeve of mine (so I may sound a bit more harsh than intended ^_^, but breeding of any animal should only be done responsibly. 

So, my advice is to get a second tank, keep both fish completely separate, and don't let them mate. If a 5 gallon seems to big for one fish, then divide it (properly*) for two males and get a 1-3 gallon for the female. 

*I'm not going to get into DIY dividers because there are tons of threads that give great examples and directions. I personally like 1 male per 5 gallon tank, but to each his own. I do know that one fish in a vase in a 5 gallon tank occupied by the other fish does not count as dividing.


----------



## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

no they cannot. You need a separate tank. Please, please, please read the stickies on general betta care. No one on this site will agree that keeping a male and female in the same tank, without a divider is a good idea. If you want to do a divided tnak for them talk to Mo. They have successfully kept them in divided tanks but it requires a ton of live plants.


----------



## WolfBabe (Jul 25, 2012)

thank you i will fix this , and i will truely start to be a better owner thank you both for the opinions , and stateing facts to help me understand


----------



## WolfBabe (Jul 25, 2012)

i also a few hours ago bough a 100 gallon tank im going to by some more. i will put multiple resuce females , no more males in the tank. but i will only be resqueing from pet shops with fish that are in bad and unhelthy condisions and returning them back to a helthy fish! thanks fish lovers


----------



## Pilot00 (Jul 24, 2012)

Just make sure you keep the new rescues in a separate tank before bringing in them with the healthy fish. Keep the rescues in the separate tank, heal them up from any decease and once healthy then transfer them.


----------



## PaintingPintos (Dec 27, 2011)

The answer is still the same. Remember the first post you made about the same exact thing? Well it won't change my mind now that you posted it again.

Male and female bettas can not live in the same tank. Period.



PaintingPintos-please refer to the OP's post number 6 and 7.....


----------



## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

No no no nope no nope no no. 

No, nao, non, nein. 

It cannot work.

This is what will happen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF2E74w318s


----------



## Pilot00 (Jul 24, 2012)

MrVampire181 said:


> No no no nope no nope no no. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF2E74w318s


That one is quite 'civil' i might add.


----------



## Aus (Feb 3, 2012)

Uh ---- is the giant font _really really_ necessary there, Pintos? 

Also, the OP has made seven posts so far on the forum. There's no other thread by her on this topic. So why is she being shouted at?


----------



## PaintingPintos (Dec 27, 2011)

Aus said:


> Uh ---- is the giant font _really really_ necessary there, Pintos?
> 
> Also, the OP has made seven posts so far on the forum. There's no other thread by her on this topic. So why is she being shouted at?


http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=108649

And sorry, I didn't realize how big the letters _actually_ were O____O


----------



## Aus (Feb 3, 2012)

Ah, I see! The identical post had me bamboozled.

And yes, it really is a very big, very bold font. Kind of overbearing..


----------



## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Well it totally depends  everyone here is telling words of wisdom. But there are always those who will try it regardless  when I accidentally put my juvenile female betta in the juvenile male's tank, ( they have the exact same tanks) she ended up quite tattered before I could get her out.


----------



## KevinPham123 (Jul 24, 2012)

Overall, recommended not to try it


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I believe the large font was intended to emphasize
what they were saying and not meant to yell at anyone.


----------

