Female Betta Behavior

[KeeperOfFish]

I recently adopted my friends fish because she is making a big move and didn't want to take the fish with her and I was shocked to find out that in her community tank she had a female betta. I've always thought that you couldn't keep bettas with any other kind of fish. Is that just for males? Is this just a special friendly betta?

 

[Mebbid]

Bettas are actually generally only aggressive towards other bettas or fish that have long flowing fins like a betta does (think guppy). Females can be kept with other females in a harem but this generally needs to be 5+ females in a 30g or larger tank with a lot of cover.

Of course this has exceptions because some bettas are just hyper aggressive but that's definitely not normal.

 

[KeeperOfFish]

She's in a community with guppies, a skirt tetra, and an angelfish, among other fish and is completely calm.


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[Mebbid]

She's in a community with guppies, a skirt tetra, and an angelfish, among other fish and is completely calm.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

Yep, that's not uncommon. Females will tend to beat on each other more than anything else.

 

[KeeperOfFish]

Ah, well thank you, I definitely learned something today


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