Bettas in a community tank

[dozer]

Like most things I chose to do, I jump into it and then research it later . I have always liked bettas so I decided to rescue a male from one of those little fish store cup prisons. Then I noticed that on the display it said they were good as community fish (At least I know better than to put 2 males together). Well I walked past the female bettas and they were all together in 1 tank and seemed quite happy. So now I have a 10 gallon tank with 1 male betta and 2 female bettas....The females have some chunks of their tails missing and they seem to even flare their gills at eachother too.....I've found conflicting information in some websites, so I'm asking here: Has anyone ever successfully had a peaceful mixed betta aquarium...Or do I need buy a tank divider and are the females ok to keep together?

 

[RogerMcAllen]

I took the liberty of splitting this off of the betta thread and gave you your own topic.

It seems that the most common answer to your question is that it depends. Males cannot usually be kept with females for the long term because soon after breeding(and sometimes before) the male sees the female as competition and attacks. Females can often be kept together, though they often do best in odd group of 3-5 so that agression is spread. Some females can be kind and gentle, whereas others can be more agressive than males. Be careful if you put in a divider as bettas are excellent jumpers, and may be able to make it over.

 

[bunebop]

I think you're best off separating the male from the females. I have always had bettas in community tanks... but I've only had 1 male OR numerous females, not both at one. It's not always the males you have to the worry about as well, the females can sometimes be just as if not meaner than the males. I have a little tiny red betta about half the size of my blue one's in my one tank and she runs the other 2. Go figure. If I were you I would definately separate em though. Goood luck!

 

[PK Tester]

You really should seperate the male and the female...I have always read never to keep a male and a female together.

Females need large schools to go together too...visit:

www.bettatalk.com

Good luck!