Betta fish, two in one gallon bowl??

[baron1282]

Well, I was at a LFS a few days ago. This lady came in with her daughter and wanted to buy a Betta. She had a one gallon Betta bowl, no filtration or heater.

Her daughter wanted another one, and this is what I heard from another customer.

"It should be fine, as long as each of them got enough space to call their own". "Oh a One Gallon? that is plenty of space for each to have their own space" . "If one is starting to go near the top and flash out it's gills that's sign of aggression and you will want to remove it than, but it shouldn't be a problem".

Ok to be fair that list bit of advice seems good. But the girl (Teenager) that was selling the Betta said it was a good Idea to have two, and they should be fine together. When I chimed in, she told me "that guy has a degree and I think he would know more than you". So I guess me keeping a Betta for three years alive means I know nothing. :-/

Needless to say they got another Betta for their one gallon bowl. Is their a time where two Betta's can live together? Am I wrong? I know a female and a male can live together, but I know there is even limits for that..

 

[Scott F]

Wow ! That person has a degree so they know more. I'm sure they know a lot about fish if they have a degree in social work. That would have been a good time for the "Correlation doesn't imply Causation" line.

 

[LS240]

It's likely to end in tears, but it can work out occasionally. The last time I was at a LFS the lady was trying to find a place to put a male Betta that just came in and stuck him in a tank, but when we walked by there a few minutes later we noticed there were 2 in the tank along with a bunch of adolescent Mollies. Right away she snagged him and put him in a new tank and was embarrassed I'm sure, but no harm came in those few minutes at least. Strangely one of the males was submissive and showed no aggression at all while the other was indeed flaring, but at the Mollies, not his fellow Betta. That's hardly proof of Bettas getting along but it's an interesting anecdote nonetheless.

Perhaps if the person in your story just happened to get 2 submissive Bettas it could work, so there's some hope, but not much.