Male betta with female bettas

Hey so I have had 3 female bettas in a tank for about a month maybe a little over, at first when I had them, they were not super aggressive, but were definitely setting some ground/territory with each other, normal stuff for bettas, after that time, today, none of them even bother each other, which i think is really cool! I've really wanted to have a male betta in with my females, but everywhere and anything says its a horrible no-no. I disagree, I believe i can make it work, I currently added a male betta in there after quarantining it in a tank by itself for a while to see if it has anything wrong with it. It's been about an hour so far and it has been flaring its gills and basically scaring/asserting dominanceon the females, but it hasn't once attacked or even attempted to chase after them. This is a good sign I believe. Obviously I have a secondary tank if this doesn't work out, but I'm REALLY hoping it does, it would be so nice to see one male and 3 females together with each other, its not a huge tank, only a 10 gallon, but there are a bunch of hiding spots and plenty of open space for its size for them to not feel enclosed trapped. Any opinions or discussion id be glad to have a chat about it

 

Not to be dramatic but just NO. Just absolutely not. Males CANNOT be kept with females, especially betta splendens. They will either kill each other or stress each other to death. Please remove him. 10 gallons isn't even large enough for a sorority of females let alone what you are trying to do. This will end badly and I really hope you remove him before any of your fish are stressed to the point of becoming sick and/or get attacked. Please do more research on the species of fish you are attempting to keep.

Btw open space is the WORST thing you can have for a sorority of bettas. They are a naturally aggressive and territorial species of fish so it is crucial to have A LOT of tall plants to break the line of sight so they aren't always seeing other bettas. Again, you really need to do more research for the sake of your fish.

 

Its about lights off time, and I plan to work all night on a paper,

Not to be dramatic but just NO. Just absolutely not. Males CANNOT be kept with females, especially betta splendens. They will either kill each other or stress each other to death. Please remove him. 10 gallons isn't even large enough for a sorority of females let alone what you are trying to do. This will end badly and I really hope you remove him before any of your fish are stressed to the point of becoming sick and/or getting attacked. Please do more research on the species of fish you are attempting to keep.

I will remove him if things don't turn out well, which will most likely be obvious by tomorrow, I will keep an eye on them all night, to check if its stressing them out too much, i don't plan to do nothing if it doesn't work out, as I said I have another 10 gallon tank for the male if it turns out to be wrong. My females are very passive, and the male I got is seeming very passive for being a male with females, I seriously haven't even seen him go for a bite on any of them a singular time, and I've been keeping an eye on them for an hour straight. But trust me when I say I won't let any of these fish be in any danger.

 

I have heard of people keeping betta colonies. I think you need to start with sibblings from the same hatch for it to have a chance of not ending in disasters. And you need backup tanks.

 

I have heard of people keeping betta colonies. I think you need to start with sibblings from the same hatch for it to have a chance of not ending in disasters. And you need backup tanks.

I’ve only ever heard of this being attempted in tanks over a hundred gallons. This will not work in a ten gallon.

 

Not to be dramatic but just NO. Just absolutely not. Males CANNOT be kept with females, especially betta splendens. They will either kill each other or stress each other to death. Please remove him. 10 gallons isn't even large enough for a sorority of females let alone what you are trying to do. This will end badly and I really hope you remove him before any of your fish are stressed to the point of becoming sick and/or get attacked. Please do more research on the species of fish you are attempting to keep.

Btw open space is the WORST thing you can have for a sorority of bettas. They are a naturally aggressive and territorial species of fish so it is crucial to have A LOT of tall plants to break the line of sight so they aren't always seeing other bettas. Again, you really need to do more research for the sake of your fish.

As I said with my females, they are not aggressive in the SLIGHTEST, they literally gather and bunch together when I feed them, they all swim around each other perfectly fine, they NEVER fight each other, they even play together, I'm hoping with the peacefulness they'll be fine with a male, especially since the male doesn't seem too interested in aggression.

 

As I said with my females, they are not aggressive in the SLIGHTEST, they literally gather and bunch together when I feed them, they all swim around each other perfectly fine, they NEVER fight each other, ****, they even play together, I'm hoping with the peacefulness they'll be fine with a male, especially since the male doesn't seem too interested in aggression.

Housing them in this manner even if they have not yet shown aggression is still an extremely bad idea. Stress in bettas can be near impossible to perceive at times, which is why its so common for people keeping them in cups and jars to have seemingly happy fish. It is virtually impossible that all these fish are 100% happy and chill about the situation. I'm willing to bet what seems like playing is actually them picking on each other while trying to keep themselves from being a target. Them bunching together and eating all in a swarm is almost certainly them trying to compete for food. Stress lowers the immune system and makes fish sick. If one fish gets sick in this tank they will all be affected within hours. Additionally, if one fish gets sick then it will be obvious to the others that it is weaker and will become a target.

In the wild bettas have literal miles to spread out as they please and we have found that a single betta can be reasonably healthy in a 5 gallon tank at minimum. You currently have 4 bettas in 10 gallons of water, or in other words 1 betta per 2.5 gallons. Additionally, males are known to be more territorial than females. Logically if you would want each fish to have the minimum amount of water you'd opt for a 20 gallon, preferably a long. But even this is far too small for an attempt like this to be made.

There is no reason to put fish that are known to be aggressive and territorial together like this. When aggression pops up it very rarely is just a few fin nips or flares, it is all out attacks. I see absolutely no benefit to this set up. These fish do not enjoy the company of others. These fish gain no enrichment from being kept in a small tank with other fish and "plenty of open space". The risks of keeping this tank with this stocking significantly outweigh the non-existent rewards. Simply keeping this tank as it is is putting your fish in danger. The only creature benefiting from this is yourself.

You very clearly love and care for these fish, that much is very clear. I honestly do not mean to sound rude or anything of the sort but please reconsider your stocking.

 

Housing them in this manner even if they have not yet shown aggression is still an extremely bad idea. Stress in bettas can be near impossible to perceive at times, which is why its so common for people keeping them in cups and jars to have seemingly happy fish. It is virtually impossible that all these fish are 100% happy and chill about the situation. I'm willing to bet what seems like playing is actually them picking on each other while trying to keep themselves from being a target. Them bunching together and eating all in a swarm is almost certainly them trying to compete for food. Stress lowers the immune system and makes fish sick. If one fish gets sick in this tank they will all be affected within hours. Additionally, if one fish gets sick then it will be obvious to the others that it is weaker and will become a target.

In the wild bettas have literal miles to spread out as they please and we have found that a single betta can be reasonably healthy in a 5 gallon tank at minimum. You currently have 4 bettas in 10 gallons of water, or in other words 1 betta per 2.5 gallons. Additionally, males are known to be more territorial than females. Logically if you would want each fish to have the minimum amount of water you'd opt for a 20 gallon, preferably a long. But even this is far too small for an attempt like this to be made.
There is no reason to put fish that are known to be aggressive and territorial together like this. When aggression pops up it very rarely is just a few fin nips or flares, it is all out attacks. I see absolutely no benefit to this set up. These fish do not enjoy the company of others. These fish gain no enrichment from being kept in a small tank with other fish and "plenty of open space". The risks of keeping this tank with this stocking significantly outweigh the non-existent rewards. Simply keeping this tank as it is is putting your fish in danger. The only creature benefiting from this is yourself.

You very clearly love and care for these fish, that much is very clear. I honestly do not mean to sound rude or anything of the sort but please reconsider your stocking.

You do make a good argument, i really wish i could upgrade them to a larger tank, but until I change house which will happen in a few months, i dont plan to get any more tanks larger than 10 gallons, besides my main 55 gallon. I don't get what you mean by "near impossible to perceive betta stress" I can very easily tell if my bettas are stressed, their colors change and they begin to swim at a slower pace, its very obvious, I will take your guys's tips and implement them tomorrow if I see any aggression whatsoever.
Will update tomorrow on that.

 

Update on tank, the three females dont really seem to care about the male much, they just school together around one of my larger plants, the male sits around in the middle open area, and flares his gills at the girls if they come to close. Looked for any fin rips, bites, injuries of any kind, none found whatsoever. Male also doesn't seem interested in dealing with the females, except for the obvious asserting dominance hierarchy part, idk how to refer to it lol.
I wouldn't say there's much aggression, my angelfish in my main tank are more aggressive than these bettas . Will *probably* keep updated if i remember

 

What Salem means by hard to perceive stress is that animals (especially little ones) are very good at pretending everything is fine, and by the time they start showing symptoms (slowing down, color fading, hunger strikes) they are usually very, very ill.
Bettas are known for just waking up and choosing violence; I wish you the best but I very much doubt this will work out, and it definitely won’t long term. These animals are in your care, and it’s your job to keep them safe and happy.

 

What Salem means by hard to perceive stress is that animals (especially little ones) are very good at pretending everything is fine, and by the time they start showing symptoms (slowing down, color fading, hunger strikes) they are usually very, very ill.
Bettas are known for just waking up and choosing violence; I wish you the best but I very much doubt this will work out, and it definitely won’t long term. These animals are in your care, and it’s your job to keep them safe and happy.

Yeah, didn't work out in the end, about 30 minutes ago i removed the male and put him in the separate tank, he wasn't quite attacking the females, but he did start chasing them to the point where they got way too tired to even swim off the bottom. It was nice to look at for the time, but its time to resume back to normal, don't want my fish to be stressed out for my enjoyment

 

Yeah, didn't work out in the end, about 30 minutes ago i removed the male and put him in the separate tank, he wasn't quite attacking the females, but he did start chasing them to the point where they got way too tired to even swim off the bottom. It was nice to look at for the time, but its time to resume back to normal, don't want my fish to be stressed out for my enjoyment

Glad you are observing and doing what is best for your fish!

 

You made a good call. It takes a mature person to put animals needs over a humans wants