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
While it is possible for male and female bettas to live together in harmony, you will probably only want to do this temporarily for breeding purposes. If you are not interested in breeding bettas and want to make sure that your little one has friends, you may want to wait until you have a good amount of experience keeping bettas or you may want to look into having other types of fish/water creatures with your betta instead.
IT’S EASIER TO KEEP MULTIPLE FEMALE BETTAS TOGETHER, RATHER THAN MALE & FEMALE
Many experienced Betta keepers like to keep “sororities.” A sorority is a group of female Bettas that live in harmony with each other. It is easier for female bettas to live with each other due to the fact that they are less aggressive than male Betta fish. That being the case, female bettas tend to need a bit less space than male bettas and pet stores will commonly sell female bettas in premade sororities, making it a lot easier for you to start.
If you want to start a sorority on your own, I would highly recommend trying out your skills with one Betta at a time. Do some extra research to make sure that a sorority is a right fit for you as they take a lot of work and need lots of space.
It is usually recommended that you have 10 gallons of water for the first Betta and 5 gallons more per each extra Betta fish. Multiple betta fish are able to thrive in smaller spaces than 15 gallons, however, the smaller space the more of an eye you need to keep on your Bettas. Your Bettas will really appreciate extra space to make sure they don’t bump into each other while swimming!
CAN ONE MALE BETTA LIVE IN A SORORITY?
Absolutely, but you’re still going to want to make sure there is a lot of space and plenty of places to hide. Sororities will need to be well established before a male Bettas can and should be introduced.
That being said, male bettas can also be introduced to other fish.
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 male 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, on the other hand, 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, you will want 10 gallons for each male 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.
I’ve compiled a list of my favourite tanks for multiple betta fish, check them out here!
CONCLUSION
While it is completely possible to house both male and female betta fish together, it’s definitely a job for a more experienced betta fish owner.
As mentioned before, you’re going to want to make sure you have a bunch of display objects for your bettas to hide behind or inside of as well as lots of space. If you’re looking for some great decor, one of my favourite aquarium decor companies is Penn Plax. They are affordable and quite stylish and I’m sure you’ll find something both you and your Betta love!
So I’m curious, after reading this article how many of you are going to try keeping multiple bettas for the first time? Let me know in the comments below!
Carmen Villagra says
June 18, 2019 at 7:46 amHello,
I have a question,
Why is it needed to keep a close eye on the bettas if they are together, in the case make + females…?
What can happen..?
Johnny Salib says
June 18, 2019 at 9:32 amHey Carmen, because bettas are fairly territorial they will fight other bettas who are in their tank. Although female bettas are less aggressive (usually) than males, they will still usually fight if they are not introduced properly.
Carmen Villagra says
June 18, 2019 at 10:46 amOw I see..
I have a 70 liter tank, with 3 female Bettas. They get along well. Only in the beginning, they were only 2 and the red one was always chasing the koi one away. I introduced a third one, and she gets along very well with the previously aggressive one. The koi is still very shy but lately she roams around more and more.
I would like to put a male betta with them.. Would it work..?
Johnny Salib says
June 18, 2019 at 12:39 pmHey Carmen, given how big your tank is there’s a good chance your future male betta fish will fit in with your other fish. I would still talk to one of the fish experts at the store you are hoping to purchase him from to see if you can get any extra information about his behaviour. Also, make sure that your tank has enough places for all of the fish to hide!
Carmen Villagra says
June 19, 2019 at 11:53 amThank you very much for the advice Johnny,
I just brought home a male Betta, and another female. I acclimatized them for some time before putting them in the tank, and now they are all together.
Unfortunately the shop didn’t know much about his behaviour.
What I see is, he has flared at almost anything! Every girl and almost every plant..
Besides this they all seem to do fine…
What may I expect further..?
Johnny Salib says
June 20, 2019 at 11:56 amTry to make pictures of your bettas daily to see if they begin developing black lines on them (stress lines), and watch out for them nipping each other. Here’s a longer piece about aggressive betta fish and what to be aware of!
Joel says
May 6, 2019 at 2:44 amEven with a sufficient size tank, what are the cons of having both male and female bettas living together long term?
Johnny Salib says
May 6, 2019 at 11:17 amIt depends on what you consider cons. No matter what you’re going to have to keep a very close eye on your Bettas to make sure they aren’t fighting or getting stressed out. The other con is how many eggs bettas lay since they average on 30-40 eggs, but can actually lay hundreds at a time.
Zach says
March 25, 2019 at 9:15 amI have a male Betta that’s currently housed alone due to him getting bullied by another fish in his previous placement and a female that’s housed with a group of guppies. They’re both doing fine l, but the male is in a smaller tank than I’d like for him to be in and I have a spare 10 gallon sitting around so I decided I’m going to make that my project when this semester is over. Planning on setting up a tank with plenty of live plants for the dude, figured I’d try to get him and the famale living together so they both have some more space and possibly try breeding in the future.
Johnny Salib says
March 25, 2019 at 9:44 amLet me know how it goes Zach 😀
Rannah says
February 25, 2019 at 6:28 amWe have 2 male bettas and 4 females housed together in one tank. They’re all active and swim around freely. They get along pretty well with minimal chasing and surprisingly no nipping or fighting. They’ll flare at each other sometimes and then carry on. I spend a great amount of time sitting here just watching them.
Johnny Salib says
February 25, 2019 at 9:07 amThat’s awesome! I’m really glad you found a way to get them all to get along. I’m curious, how big is your tank? 🙂
Rannah says
February 26, 2019 at 2:00 amUh..yeahhhh… That’s the odd part… I believe it’s only a 10 gallon tank 😶😐😏
I only knew about sorority betta living and of course about how most people say putting males together is a big no no. (this was before I did some researching.)
At this time I had 2 females together and a male in a separate tank… Long story short a trip to get betta food turned into a saving 3 more Bettas mission… (1 male 2 females)… Soooo a 2 female sorority turned into 4 female sorority tank and then the 2 males were added by my husband and his curiosity…
We Had plans to get a bigger tank for just the girls, but this works for them. I even took the boys out and they just hung out on the bottom of their tanks, very inactive, no appetites… Put them all back together and they perked up…
Wish I could show the tank
Johnny Salib says
February 26, 2019 at 9:18 amThat’s really interesting! At the end of the day, sometimes fish can get along in small spaces dependant on their age, breed and personality.
I’m really glad they are all getting along for you, that’s shocking to hear! You definitely got lucky!
Meezer's Mews & Terrieristical Woofs says
May 21, 2018 at 10:09 pmI learned new things here today:)
Johnny Salib says
May 21, 2018 at 10:41 pmSo glad! Xo
Ellen Pilch says
May 16, 2018 at 6:53 pmVery interesting. I always see them alone and never thought about how they would breed.
Johnny Salib says
May 16, 2018 at 9:53 pmRight? 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.
Crystal and Daisy Mae says
May 16, 2018 at 6:44 pmWhat an interesting post. I’ve learned a lot from your site.
Johnny Salib says
May 16, 2018 at 6:46 pmAhh! I’m so glad you have! 💜
Eastside Cats says
May 16, 2018 at 2:23 pmFishy, fishy, fishy!
Johnny Salib says
May 16, 2018 at 3:11 pmHaha! 😀
The Swiss Cats says
May 16, 2018 at 2:19 pmThat’s very interesting ! We didn’t know Bettas were so organized ! Purrs
Johnny Salib says
May 16, 2018 at 3:10 pmBettas are pretty interesting creatures! I’ve definitely learned a lot from Blub 😀