# the male betta wouldnt stop bullying the female betta



## abbieolivia94 (Oct 14, 2015)

the male betta in my friends 18 liter tank is bullying their female ... BADLY ... is there anything they can do to prevent this or do the pair have to be separated into different tanks, i know aggression is bad in bettas but this male is extremely bad


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## RNHime (Mar 12, 2015)

Males and females should never be housed together. (It is an extremely rare case that it works out.) They will definitely have to be separated! Some females won't even tolerate another female. Female sorority tanks need A LOT of space and plenty of females for it to hopefully work out.

So yes, tell your friend to put one of the fish in another tank ASAP!


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

As RNHiem said *you need to serrate them IMMEDIATELY.* Betta splendens (the commonly old bettas at pet stores-veiltail, crown tail, halfmoon, plakat, elephant ear, etc etc) are too aggressive to be kept together in a tank. If you intend to breed them they must be conditioned first (lot of meaty meals, male should build a bubble nest and female should get very eggy before considering putting in teh same tank, when together they must be monitored closely CONSTANTLY and seperated quickly to avoid one killing or severely damaging the other.


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## abbieolivia94 (Oct 14, 2015)

they have separated them with a nursery box thingy until they can get a new tank thank you for your advice xx


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## abbieolivia94 (Oct 14, 2015)

thanks they intially bought the pair to breed but the male hasnt been making bubble nests and basically just abusing the female thank you xx


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## NickAu (Sep 28, 2015)

I am sorry to have to say this.

But if somebody has to ask questions like this they are not ready to breed fish especially aggressive fish like bettas. What were they going to do with the fry? How were the male and female going to be housed after she dropped her eggs, How were the fry going to be housed while they were growing?



> but the male hasnt been making bubble nests and basically


Some make bubble nests all the time some never make any.

Maybe he is not mature enough.


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## RNHime (Mar 12, 2015)

NickAu said:


> I am sorry to have to say this.
> 
> But if somebody has to ask questions like this they are not ready to breed fish especially aggressive fish like bettas. What were they going to do with the fry? How were the male and female going to be housed after she dropped her eggs, How were the fry going to be housed while they were growing?
> 
> ...


Betta fish are pretty much some of the WORST fish to pick up on a whim and try to breed, especially pet store fish. If your friend was expecting the fish to live together and do their thing they obviously don't have the first clue about breeding bettas.

NOT trying to be mean, but you'll save your friend a lot of time and heartache if you tell them kindly to put this idea out of their head. If they are serious about breeding have them join this forum and do research - there are lots of helpful members. But they'll probably be put off by how much money and work is involved, anyway... Breeding bettas is a huge undertaking!


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## BettaStarter24 (Mar 24, 2014)

Good to hear the fish are being separated. +1 to many people here. Males and Females should never be housed together and if your friend wants to breed I'd recommend doing more research and having proper set ups and getting breeding quality fish vs pet store fish.


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## aselvarial (Feb 21, 2014)

Btw, the male betta wasn't being BAD per se. Fighting and aggression is precisely what they've been bred for for 700 years. If anything, he was being true to his genetics. His genetics are just not conducive to communal living with others of his species.


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## Sadist (Jan 1, 2015)

If they really want to breed fish, they should try guppies. Guppies can live peacefully with each other. They still need several tanks with heaters and filters and plants, but guppies are way easier to breed. Bettas, on the other hand, may still die from courtship injuries and stress even during a successful breeding attempt.


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