One of the most common questions about Betta Fish I used to get while working at the pet store was if you could keep male and female Bettas together, which would make complete sense. If Bettas want to reproduce, they must be able to live with other Bettas, right?
Short Answer
It is possible, but you will probably only want to do this temporarily for breeding purposes.
So when can I have multiple Bettas in a tank?
Well, many experienced Betta keepers like to keep “sororities.” This is a group of female Bettas that live in harmony with each other. It’s a myth that female Bettas aren’t aggressive, however, they are a lot less aggressive than male Betta fish. I would highly recommend trying out your skills with one Betta at a time, and doing lots of research before getting a sorority as they do need a close and lots of space (about 10 gallons for the first Betta and 5 gallons more per each Betta fish.) Even though they are female, they will need plenty of space to swim around and avoid each other!
Can one male Betta live in a sorority?
Absolutely, but you’re going to want to make sure there is a lot of space and plenty of places to hide. Sororities need to be well established before male Bettas can and should be introduced. This being said, Bettas can also be introduced to other fish, as long as they are fast moving and don’t have long flowy fins (as those tend to be their ideal prey.)
Okay, I don’t want a sorority, but I do want to know how to breed my Bettas, how do I tell they are ready?
I’m not going to go in a whole lot of detail on this topic since I’m not a Betta breeder, but a key way to tell that your Betta is ready to breed is if he builds a bubble nest. Male Bettas will blow bubbles at the top of their tanks, and you will have to leave your female Betta in long enough for her to fertilize these bubbles. Female Bettas will have spots on them when they are ready to mate.
Has anyone been able to successfully have two male Bettas in a tank?
Yup! It’s possible, but again you will need plenty of space. Ideally 10 gallons for each Betta and loads, and loads of places to hide.
Are there any tanks that can support having two Bettas?
Yes, there are! Minibow actually has one with a divider that you may be interested in buying. The only thing is, because of the divider your fish won’t have a whole lot of space to move around, but there are plenty of ways to create dividers for your tanks, or ways to get custom dividers.
Very interesting. I always see them alone and never thought about how they would breed.
Right? It’s pretty interesting… It was actually one of the first questions I had when I got a betta… how do they breed without killing each other? Especially in the wild.
What an interesting post. I’ve learned a lot from your site.
Ahh! I’m so glad you have! 💜
Fishy, fishy, fishy!
Haha! 😀
That’s very interesting ! We didn’t know Bettas were so organized ! Purrs
Bettas are pretty interesting creatures! I’ve definitely learned a lot from Blub 😀