Individual Or Community Tank?

[betta_luv]

Hey folks, have been wondering what people prefer, keeping a male Betta in an individual tank or community tank with other fishes? Cheers.

 

[jollysue]

None of the Betta that I put in a community tank faired very well. They would do well for awhile, then they got sick or started harrassing other fish. They seem to have some indiviual needs that are hard to meet in a community. Well, that's just my experience so far. I found what Synirr said about them wearing themselves out trying to patrol the whole tank interesting. That is exactly what I found that the PK, Waldo, did in the 100 usg community. He was always very well behaved with the community, but he was patroling the whole tank constantly. He didn't last long there.

 

[lisie]

Definitely individual tanks. Even for the girls, I like keeping them in their own little tanks much better.

 

[catxx]

mine have tanks to themselves. one has shared with otos and thats been fine
another shared with corys and kept attacked them

individual tanks all the way!

 

[wendywc]

Mine has his own tank.

 

[nmonks]

I am mindful of a quote of Clement Freud's: "If you resolve to give up smoking, drinking and loving, you don't actually live longer; it just seems longer".

OK, you can keep bettas in tiny one gallon (or two gallons or whatever) tanks all by themselves, but are they having fun? Do they have much of a life?

What do they do in the wild? They certainly don't live in puddles all by themselves. Surely, the best tank for a betta would be one that had a very weak water current (if any at all), masses of live plants, and peaceful tankmates suitable for a Southeast Asian still-water habitat, such as dwarf rasboras, gobies, and so on.

What I wonder is whether the arguments about what artifical strains of Betta splendens "want" is similar to that farmers make about keeping chickens in battery cages: they don't get sick, they don't fight, they grow faster, it's easier to check their health. All true, but what kind of life is that?

I'm not saying mix them in with fish that will attack them, or keep them in tanks with power filters and water currents that wear them out. But isn't it more ethical to give a betta a stimulating life where it gets to explore, hunt for food, express its territorial behaviours, and generally have whatever is considered "the good life" in the betta world?

Cheers,

Neale

 

[OohFeeshy]

I understand where you're coming from Neale, but you have to remember non-wild B. splendens (basically all) have been raised ever since they were first wild caught to be pretty, and aggressive. When breeding, you have to seperate out all the males (and some females), so they are isolated in small tanks until they are large enough to be resold. This breeds in even more aggression, as observed when you look at breeders who have success keeping even multiple males together becasue they have been raised together and haven't developed aggressive tendencies. Your tank size arguement is the same- everyone strives to give their fish the biggest tank possible, but when you compare, say, wild caught fish (like kuhlis) kept in 10g tanks from the enormous wild, it really is a lot smaller in comparison to going from something like between a cup and gallon in size to a 1+g tank with bettas. Bettas don't need tankmates to be stimulated, masses of plants are obviously good, as are many decorations (bearing in mind that many decorations can damage bettas pretty easily), but tankmates is just encouraging things to go wrong. They don't live alone, but they sure don't let anything into their territory.

 

[_cRaCkEr_]

Individual tanks of course.

 

[betta_luv]

Hey folks. Thanks for the inputs. This is turning out to be a very informative debate.

 

[33moths]

I have two individual tanks side by side with a blind between them. They're very aware of each other even though I keep the blind up most of the time. I let them see each other for a while each day or so- it keeps things both safe and interesting for them. I have a male and a female.

 

[kazsymonds]

I have a betta in a small community tank with a few fish that are supposedly taboo (guppys, platies etc) and hes absolutely fine, never had any problems at all, in fact hes never even acknowledged any of my other fish appart from my plec who nearly squashed him once!

 

[dwarfgourami]

I am mindful of a quote of Clement Freud's: "If you resolve to give up smoking, drinking and loving, you don't actually live longer; it just seems longer".

OK, you can keep bettas in tiny one gallon (or two gallons or whatever) tanks all by themselves, but are they having fun? Do they have much of a life?

Who said that individual tanks had to be tiny? Last time I kept a betta, it had its own tank, but it was a 5 gallon. If I did it again (not my favourite fish, I have to admit), I would be happy to spend a little bit more on it. I believe there are people on this forum who keep bettas on their own in a 10 gallon tank.

 

[catxx]

uhhuh, the smallest tank i have is a 5 gallon, then i have a 7.5 gallon and an 8 gallon.
no 2 gallons for me thankyouverymuch!

 

[_cRaCkEr_]

I use 0.5, 1.5, 2.5 gallongs for bettas.

 

[jollysue]

My lately departed Lips was in a 3 usg filtered split tank with a sibling brother. He couldn't have been happier. When he wanted, he went over and flared his little heart out. When he wanted, he went behind his plant. He built his bubble nests. He wiggled and flared at dinner. One day I filled the tank too full and he managed to jump the divider. He chewed on his brothers fins. Brother pk got fin rot and died. I got Lips out of that tank and into a 2+usg critter keeper--no filter. Ms Kinky was next door in her bowl that she likes. Lips stopped wiggling, he stopped flaring, he stopped building bubble nests, he hid in the plants, a very unhappy little Betta. He jumped to his death the other day.

Each Betta is different. But there is lots of experience here. I don't always listen well when I want to do something. The result has always been that I and my fish suffer.

Why not do an actual voting poll "yes, no, no opinion" on Community Bettas?