Betta Aggression

[DirtyPaws949]

Hi folks, I have some questions regarding betta aggression.

What age/size do they typically become “bloodthirsty”?

I obtained a mix of 2-3 batches of betta juveniles, which are now 5-7 month old. The guy was a breeder, and stated at one point in conversation that he had over 1,000 of them! I was told that if they continue to stay together as a group, they won’t become overly aggressive towards each other, even once matured. I tried to look up information on this being done, and found a few supporting sites/posts/etc. of course, I also found a bunch of info stating no. I know this is probably a pipe-dream, having many betta coexist peacefully, and Im prepared to separate them if needed.

so far, they are EXTREMELY chill compared to their reputation. If one flares up at another, it will typically just swim 3” away and carry about his business.Occasionally I will see a nipped fin, but nothing severe and nothing on their bodies. This may also be attributed to the Buenos Aires tetras (observed on females also).

Even so, if it is from minor scuffs, I’m assuming they just yield like they do in the wild, without major damage to either fish. Since they’ve lived together their whole lives, I’m sure they’d already been establishing a pecking order before I got them 2 months ago.
I don’t want my tank to turn into fight club, but I’m okay with the behaviors they’re exhibiting currently. If an occasional nipped fin was enough to isolate fish, I don’t think many of us could keep cichlids together ?
They are in a 180gal 6ft x 2 ft x 2ft tank with some community fish, snails, etc.
It’s heavily with floating hyacinth and water lettuce at the surface, and some of their root systems are 1+ft long, providing coverage/enrichment for the fish below. There is some driftwood and rocks, and anchored guppy grass & anacharis and a small lily on the bottom.

 

[Raka]

Usually you see this attempted on much smaller setups leading to most the fails in my opinion. My Fiancee tried for years for even a sorority to no avail, I always felt that the 29 was way too small for this but was the common recommendation.

I would say you actually have the square footage and density to pull it off for a change. Only time will tell some betta's become just ruthless, had one that would peck at mts till they died...

 

[DirtyPaws949]

There’s probably around 50-60 in there, all-or-none deal ? it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up when stocking the tank, it’s galvanized steel and the inside is coated with black pond armor epoxy. That along with all the floating plants makes it difficult to see fish, but it’s hard to miss the colors of bettas.
Some of the larger males are ~2”. Very curious to see how this pans out. I can always remove/rehome problem males, but would worry doing that might throw off their established hierarchy and lead to more aggression as they duke it out for the “top” (fish psychology!)

There was a YouTube video where this lady had 4-5 males in a 30gal, suggesting it’s their environment/resources that play the biggest role in aggression (or lack of).
Another video I saw suggested that serotonin plays a major role in aggression, and when dosed with Prozac they became very placid. I didn’t fact check this, but depression does make humans irritable ?

 

[FiremouthGem]

Going to follow this, always been curious with bettas since i was a kid. Wish you the best luck!

 

[twentyleagues]

So I've posted this before but I'm guessing it will be an inspiration again. This is at my lfs, also this is not my video.

This was about a year after initial set up. They breed bettas at this store so it was easy for them to put a hundred or so females into this tank. A few undeveloped males made it into the tank also. It's changed now and i think over all it can be done but there were losses and fights and males unfortunately do not help in the ability of keeping that many bettas together.

As you see he did an update video and we are missing alot of bettas. A lot of other fish have been added and it's more of a small fish community now.
That's a marineland 300dd btw. From what I've seen and been told the accidentally added immature males could have been one of the main reasons its less betta-y right now, but they accounted for less then 10% of the betta population. Also I saw the females fight all the time. So total time as a predominantly betta tank was about two years probably a little bit less.
Again not my videos but it is my lfs.

 

[DirtyPaws949]

Oh wow what a gorgeous tank. Thanks for the post! Time will tell, I suppose. I put off making this post because I was worried I’d catch a lot of gruff for putting so many together. I’ll try to get some pics/videos of the tank/bettas. It’s certainly interesting to observe all the non-verbal communication going on between them.

maybe in a few months I’ll do Betta Census 2021 and count how many there are remaining, and maybe even the genders? I’d need to get a divider and transfer fish to the other side of It I’m guessing. Granted this may be stressful for the fish, but if seldom done, probably not too harmful (more painstaking for me though!)

 

[DirtyPaws949]

Here’s a video from the other week.