A Question about Bettas

[misterted]

I bought my daughter (7 year old) a nice looking male Betta and a 2.5G tank for it. This was about a year ago. She no longer cares for this fish and I have adopted it.

I have heard what happens if i add another male in there....duel to the death.
What happens if I add a female in there?


Also, if males always fight to the death, how do they coexist in the wild?
Where is the wild? Where are they from?



Ted

[joe_jaskot]

Given a large enough tank, multiple male bettas can co-exist. In a 2 1/2 gallon tank, the males will fight and tear each others fins. If you add a female to the tank, there are 3 possibilities. They may spawn if the female is properly conditioned. The male may kill the female. Or they may co-exist if there are enough hiding places (plants) in the tank. Sometimes a male will show no interest in the female. It is best to keep the male and female apart until ready to spawn. Females can be kept together in a tank with no problems. Most of your betta splendens (siamese fighting fish) originally came from Thailand. In nature males would display at each other, possibly fight but the loser would flee rather than be killed. It's natures way of survival of the fittest, where the strongest fish gets to reproduce.

[YoungAquaticPhotos]

I have bred them before in a 10 gallon tank. I had the male in the tank and then the female in a one gallon pickle jar also in the tank. When she got nice and plump and looked to the male that she was ready and he had a bubble next built then I would release the female. I had success with this twice breeding them. I just had a hard time with raising the fry but did not care to mess with so I got rid of them.
Breeding them is really neat. To watch the male wrap his body around the female and then only a few eggs drop to the bottom of the tank and the male picks them up and spits them into the bubblenest. It goes on for a while.

[cwnaturescapes]

bettas are found in thailand, and live among flooded areas and have been collected living in small mud pools , males are brightly colored so females can distinguish them in the muddy water in witch they inhabit

[Anubias Design]

Ted,
I would not suggest adding a female or another male to this tank. Even in a very large tank, male Betta splendens should be kept alone or with other species but not with conspecifics. These fish have been selectively bred to enhance their aggression. Males will fight on sight and within the confines of an aquarium, the less dominant fish will not be able to get away from the dominant fish and will live in a state of constant stress, ultimately resulting in its death due to disease if the dominant male doesn't kill it outright. The relationship between males and females is not that different. They should only be kept together when both fish are in spawning condition and they need to be monitored carefully while together to ensure that one doesn't damage the other, and the female is quite capable of killing the male so the aggression doesn't always go in one direction.

Wild fish are not nearly as aggressive as their tankraised brethren. In addition, when territorial encounters do occur, the less dominant fish can physically leave the dominant male's territory and seek to establish its own territory somewhere else. Females will visit a male's territory when they want to spawn but will otherwise avoid their territorys.

If you want to keep Bettas together, try one of the other species. There are over 60 species in the genus Betta and the real exception behaviorally is the domesticated form of B. splendens. Every other species can be maintained in pairs or groups, and wild splendens can be as well. Behaviorally, they are fascinating fish to observe. There are two primary breeding methods, the bubble nesters like splendens and mouthbrooders, which actually outnumber the bubble nesters. I find this group more interesting than cichlids. In fact, when I do talks on anabantoids, I like to tell cichlid hobbyists that they are anabantoid keepers in training. Once you start keeping anabantoids, you will find that their behaviors are more interesting than cichlids. That is not to say that cichlids aren't interesting; these are my two favorite groups of fish.
Mark

[YoungAquaticPhotos]

Ted if you want wild betta's Mark is the one that can get them!

[misterted]

Thanks Mark.
I had no idea that the Bettas in all the pet stores in those little bowls are enhanced fighters. Go figure!
Unfortunately I don't have the space for them at the moment as I only have the 2.5G tank available. I will keep it in mind for the future though.


Ted

[Anubias Design]

Ted,
Once you no longer have your lfs Betta in the 2.5, you'll find that it is quite large enough for a pr or small group of many of the bubblenesters. Species like coccina, brownorum, uberis, rutilans, etc. will do quite well in tanks of that size.
Mark