Sabi

Is there any betta species where a pair can be kept together in a tank?

COBettaCouple

Betta sp. Mahachai can be kept together. Also Betta sp. Imbellis.

http://smp.ibcbettas.org/species/index.html - The list of Betta species.

Chief_waterchanger

With Mahachai make sure the tank is covered, they are jumping little buggers.

COBettaCouple

Very true. For any wild species I recommend covering every escape possible. We use the soft shelf liner with tiny holes in it to cover holes in the tank hood.

Sabi

Thanks! I'm going to do some reading on them asap. What i had in mind was a pair of bettas in an 8gal. So if i find its possible, i'll see if i can find a breeder locally or if any fish store stock them.

Barbrella

B.Imbellis are more commonly available, but you have to think that if you have a pair, you're going to have fry and will need more equipment/tanks accordingly.

Zukuda

Actually, I've trained my Betta Splendens to live together. I have a male and 3 females living together and I'm soon getting a 4th female. I've done well with this will no problems. As sad as it is, if you get a male from petco or petsmart a lot of the times there spirit is broken and makes them easy to put them with females. After a while there spirit returns but by this time they've accepted the females and actually look after them! I've been very proud of this and have done it twice.

What's neat is that if the females start getting test-e with one another, the male tends to break up the fight without any damage done. =3 It's been very neat and they all really like eachother and don't like to be seperated at all! =p message me for tips on training!

COBettaCouple

I'd be very interested to see the tank and bettas.

Betta are territorial and it's a deep-instinct that has not been bred out of them. Splendens in the same tank ends in disaster, without fail. Even sorority tanks eventually collapse when an event triggers the territorial instinct. Only a few species of wild Betta are recommended to be housed in the same tank by the IBC.

Sabi

Ditto

Barbrella

Right. The bettas in petstores don't have broken spirits. They are usually ill from ammonia poisoning, finrot, fungus and/or parasites. When they recover their health, they get back their interest in fighting.

This desire to fight has been bred into them for so long it is genetic and cannot be trained out of them. A tank with several bettas might be fine for awhile, but it will end in disaster.

So many people set up sororities and think all is well, until they come home to find their females ripped up or dead. In this case, the male might very well end up gutted.

Chief_waterchanger

Zukuda, could you post pictures and detailed lists of your methods step by step?

If you wouldn't mind post everything from day 1 of cycling the tank all the way until now, explaining what steps you took adding substrate, which kind of substrate, what size tank, when you added each fish, how many of what kinds and what sizes of live or fake plants, any and all decorations, sizes, shapes, types, temperature setting, kind of filter on the tank, kind of lighting, size of each female and the male, amount you feed them, and any other information you can think of...

There are very few things I would call impossible, but if you truely do have a tank like that would you mind letting us know how long you've sustained those conditions? It would be interesting if you have had the tank in that situation for very long (with all those betta splendens in there), and have had no issues with death and or major injury..

(I am as skeptical as the others, but I will atleast ask this information in the very off chance that it is able to be done.)

Barbrella

To me, bettas are like pit bulls. The dogs might get along, play and love each other just fine, until the day one decides to kill the other over something like two frozen peas that rolled under the counter. The owner always says, "But they never acted like this before."

COBettaCouple

True. We're trying to change the natural behavior of these fish when putting them together. They're not mean or vicious fish, they just have instincts that can't be denied and many other fish have similiar issues with 'not playing well with others'. Everything we do as fish keepers should be the best effort that we can to give them 'natural' conditions and in nature, betta splendens have their territory and other splendens keep their distance.

Sabi

I agree 100% with the above.
But always there is a chance 100 to 1 can pull out. I'm interested too.

janoue

Is this a joke?
I have petstore betta's, and they are fiesty!!! Exspecially W who flares at his own shadow, one day, and I dont think i was seeing things, but I left some fishfood with a picture of a betta on it in front of his tank, and that made him flare. He's got a lot of fight left in him and there is no possible way you have them cohabitating! What is it muddy water and they cant see each other, or do you have your tank divided into fourths? Prove me wrong please. This I gotta see.