2 male Betta splendens

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HarleyK

HarleyK

Canister Man
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Aug 17, 2005
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Howdy,

as a common knowledge, you cannot keep two male bettas in the same tank.

But I assume this rule of thumb came from people who didn't have monster-sized tanks.... :naughty: Maybe some of you have tried it, maybe some of you can make a good educated guess. Your thoughts and ideas are greatly appreciated. I am considering the options of getting a couple of males for my 220 gal. It's heavily planted:

Anubia nana
Cryptocoryne beckettii, C. ciliata, C. wendtii
Echinodorus barthii
Lemna minor
Lilaeopsis mauritiana
Pistia stratiotes
Vallisneria spiralis

and offers a driftwood refuge. Other tankmates are:

2 Ancistrus dolichopterus (7 cm)
5 Corydors paleatus (4 cm)
5 Pantodon buchholzi (7 cm)
4 Trichogaster trichopterus (≥ 10 cm)
2+ Xiphophorus helleri (4 cm)

Bring it on :D

HarleyK

ps
I know, there's plenty of room in my tank for bigger monsters, but for now I'll stick with my butterfly fish - until my wife's sword tails bite the dust (naturally or mysteriously...)
 
I would assume that as soon as the Betta's saw each other they would fight to the death. Or close to it. Even in such a large tank I would guess that the fish would attempt to kill each other on sight. Just an educated guess though as I have never actually tried it myself.
 
Not likely. Male bettas are territorial. Anything that looks like a male Bettas is not allowed near it's domain. If your creat enough room then they will more then likely fight the first day over the KINGDOM then one will cower down like a little Pissant that he is :swear: and the other will build a nest. Or they will kill each other. I'm saying nay though.
 
I read somewhere about an experiment somebody performed with using a tropical lake and two male bettas. He said that they TRY to avoid conflict if given the opportunity soooooooo, he decided to drop two of them in the same section of an huge pond he owned. They could have easily swam to different sections of the pond and that would have been that, but instead, they fought until one of them died.
 
I would try it. I have a lot of "fish that can't be kept in the same tank" together but I have fairly large tanks.

I don't think it would work very well in a small or bare tank.

Worst that will happen is that you have to take one back or gat another tank but I think that you should do it so we have a reliable answer. :thumbsup:
 
I think they would fight to the death no matter the tank size. The bettas you buy at the store are A LOT different then their wild counterparts, they were bred to fight.
 
I have never seen 2 male Betta inhabit the same aquarium but I would assume that its possbile. Keep us updated on the results if you attempt to do this.
 
my dad used to breed bettas and he would introduce the males/females slowly i think that might work or since its a larg tank just release bolth and ether end of the tank as one on one side and other on other side maby they wont even notic each other
 
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