Betta Breeding In A Communal Tank

[crackers]

I have recently set up a basic community tank with a varied number of placid tankmates; including a male and two female siamese fighters. Recently I noticed one of the females getting larger (presumably filled with eggs) and attacking the other female, so yesterday I rearranged the plants and rocks to reallign territorial lines and provide more hiding spaces suitable for my fish. Today my male has begun constructing a bubble nest, and my weaker female is still being harrassed. If they decide to breed in the tank will the bettas become aggressive towards other species, and how am I best to deal with the fry as I cannot set up another tank?

(my other tank mates are: 3 corys, 1 bristlenose catfish, 6 harlequins, and 2 Bolivian rams)

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

You should never keep males and females together.

Either get rid/move the two females and have the male; or invest in another couple of females add them to the tank and invest in a smaller tank for the male (he'll be perfectly happy alone).

Also what tank size?

 

[crackers]

The tank is 24inchx18x18, which works out at 127 litres. The fish have not had any previous problems with aggression towards each other, only for the last 10 days. For the other few months they have been happy enough; the females have interacted well, and the male has kept to his own territory.

I know the situation is not ideal, but I have rehomed the females as a friends tank broke and they cannot afford another tank.

As it stands the nest has been disrupted, and the male has gone back to his favourite corner. The female is still full of roe though.

 

[theshadowinc]

The tank is 24inchx18x18, which works out at 127 litres. The fish have not had any previous problems with aggression towards each other, only for the last 10 days. For the other few months they have been happy enough;

For now, wait until they decide to spawn and then see if you have the same view

 

[chilli-spice]

i wouldn't even let them spawn!
if you have nowhere to put the 1 male, then you certainly can't look after the babies.
the male babies ALL need to be separated when they are a few weeks old because otherwise they can and WILL fight to the death.
do you have 50 or more containers for 50 or more male bettas?
do you have a way to heat all of these containers?
do you have homes for bettas to go to? contrary to popular belief it's difficult to sell them

seriously, trust me, you dont want to let them breed.
if they make a nest again, do something to destroy it or hope for the other fish to do that for you.
people should never allow bettas to breed unless they have the resources to do it properly


and i agree, males and females shouldn't be kept together either. at some point it will all go wrong and you will regret it.

edit: i've just read that back and it seems like a really rude reply. i didnt intend to be, so my apologies.

 

[bassbonediva]

+1 on what theshadowinc and chilli-spice have said. IMHO it is EXTREMELY irresponsible to place male and female bettas together in a community tank, regardless of the reasoning. That being said, even if your male and one of the females did spawn, the rams and rasbora would make a quick meal of the fry, regardless of what the male tried to do. Not trying to be rude, but just look at the fish's NAME, for heaven sake...Siamese FIGHTING fish...that right there should tell you they don't make good community fish and that putting two (or more) together, regardless of the sex is a BAD IDEA.

 

[Tolak]

While 127 liters is probably too small for a pair of splendens, I'll pose this question again; what size aquarium, and what sort of setup would be needed to keep a pair? These fish originate from the wild, and obviously reproduce in the wild without hunting each other down & killing each other.

 

[chilli-spice]

dont keep a pair together.
period.
they NEED their own tanks

 

[bassbonediva]

You'd need a VERY large (read "LONG") tank to accommodate a pair of splendens, with tons of live plants and caves for hiding places, territories and to break up the line of sight between territories. If you remember where bettas come from in the wild, they come from huge ponds/lakes/streams where each has a substantial territory, so they do not see each other that often, except when it is breeding season (right before the monsoons come and the water levels are lower/habitats are smaller). However, you also have to consider that they wouldn't do well in a deep tank, either (where most of your tanks that would be long enough are pretty deep). The swim bladder in a splendens is not designed to cope with high water pressure, so they do not do well in tanks with a water depth of more than 18". I'd say you'd have to have a VERY long tank custom-built in order to house one pair of splendens.

 

[Bettawhisperer]

Ditto on everything everyone else has said. That is a terrible situation. Also you would never have any eggs hatch because the females or the male or the other fish in the tank will eat the eggs. The male will be frantic trying to keep everyone away from the nest full of eggs. But this is the least of your problems. You're just asking for trouble. If you want to breed them you have to set up a special breeding tank. And as chilli said you have to be prepared to house hundreds of fry that is if you have a breeding tank to breed them in.

 

[Tolak]

You'd need a VERY large (read "LONG") tank to accommodate a pair of splendens, with tons of live plants and caves for hiding places, territories and to break up the line of sight between territories. If you remember where bettas come from in the wild, they come from huge ponds/lakes/streams where each has a substantial territory, so they do not see each other that often, except when it is breeding season (right before the monsoons come and the water levels are lower/habitats are smaller). However, you also have to consider that they wouldn't do well in a deep tank, either (where most of your tanks that would be long enough are pretty deep). The swim bladder in a splendens is not designed to cope with high water pressure, so they do not do well in tanks with a water depth of more than 18". I'd say you'd have to have a VERY long tank custom-built in order to house one pair of splendens.

So something in the range of 72"x18", 13" of water depth, set up with driftwood on the bottom & spawning mops on the top in an alternating fashion might work? Not that I'm doing this, but you would have a sort of zig zag natural divider in that setup, with the right depth and perhaps the right length. I'm just really surprised that with all the folks here, over all the years nobody has bothered to take a larger tank & give this a try.

 

[bassbonediva]

The problem with having a set up like you're describing (which, in THEORY, could work), is that you would only be able to have maybe some cories or otos in there with two bettas. I wouldn't try any more than two in a set up like that, even though sororities can work, because of the potential for the weaker females to be targeted if the strongest female and the male decide to breed. The tank dimensions you described would make for an 84.2 gallon tank. Heck of a lot of tank for two relatively small fish and *maybe* some cories or otos (I would remove the cories/otos if the male and female decide to breed because of the potential for the cories to eat any eggs or fry which fall to the substrate).

 

[Tolak]

This is only theory ATM, that tank lists as a 75 long on Glasscages, capacity is usually a ballpark figure though. I wouldn't think of anything more than the pair. A more common tank would be a 55 gallon, 48"x13" footprint, it does have about 21" of water depth, is a very common tank, one that is usually a cheap find used around here. Dropping the water depth would be no problem with air driven filtration, though the 48" length might be a bit short.

Just some brainstorming here, it would be nice to try this project, with plenty of close observation.

 

[bassbonediva]

I have a 55gal, actually. It *MIGHT* be okay for a pair of your female and male weren't overly aggressive (veiltails aren't nearly as aggressive as crowntails, plakats, or halfmoons, in my own personal experience). You'd only want about 4-5" of water in the tank to simulate the splendens' natural breeding environment (as I said, right before the monsoons when the water levels are lowest). It might work if you did a sort of paludarium-type environment. Hmmmmmmmmm...now you've got me wondering! lol

 

[Tolak]

That's an idea as well, some island sort of things offset to create a zig zag path. Bet I can find a 55 gallon with a top corner leak going cheap, give me enough time!