Male betta in with 2 females?

[Carolinesugar]

hi all, i really need advice, and in order to make sure im as accurate as i can be im gona give you the full story...

after a year of actually having fish (and many many many years of wanting them, and reading all i could about them) i have fallen in love with a betta.

i have been wanting one since i first saw them, and because i couldnt have one in a tank to himself at the time, i settled for 2 females to have in the community tank.

now however, i have a smallish, 12" by 6" by 6" tank (roughly holds 2 uk gallons) free, and decided to get a betta. after setting the tank all up and making a home for a male, i decided to go and get him.

to me he looks like a patterned butterfly, but hay, what do i know about how to class them. i just know he is gorgeous, and has a red/pink head, red/purple body, and then red fins, with clear looking tips, which have blue hints to them, (if that makes any sense?)

Now that i have him at home, and his lil friend (a blue glow light tail tetra?), and im thinking, hay, they look lonely. cus everytime that i open the hood they look up as if to say please let it be a new friend for us, please! so i decided to get sumbody else to join them.

i was told that only fish who dont have long fins, dont nip, and fish that wont be a threat to the betta will mix with him. but then was told that i could let him lead a bigimisist lifestyle, and have two wives/girlfriends.

so off to the shop i went, in search of a pair of sexi females for my loverly Prince Charming (my betta).

i gets to the shop, and find the sexist females they had. 1 blue/purple and 1 red/purple. come home, float them, add tank water to their water, then release them.

Price decided he didnt like them, and wouldnt accept them, and constantly went for them both, but more so with the blue/purple one, which i now beleive to have been a short finned male.

So, i took them back, and told the shop that i could get him to accept them, and he agreed that he thought the blue/purple one was indead a short finned male, and therefore agreed to change them.

i then have to hunt their tanks high and low to find smaller bettas, which were suitable colours for Prince to be with. i manage to find to sexi lil girls, and bring them home. i float them, add the tank water to their bag, and then realease them.

instantly, Prince chased them, which i thought to be normal, being that their new fish. but they have now been hiding behind the filter, and in the plant, behind the heater, and im now more or less convinced he doesnt like them, or he does, but they dont like him.

Therefore, all in all, i need help in making them like him, or him like them, or just advice on how the hell i am meant to please him.

would splitting the tank, and then letting him woo them (through a clear divider) help ?

please help me, i want prince charming to find his perfect wives!

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

i made this mistake...all my books said it was ok to have male and female bettas together...as long as there were plenty of hiding spots...but it aint ok to keep em together at all..id take em back...you wont get him to accept them cause he wont...simple as that.

 

[BeccaBlain]

If you want to keep your new fish, divide the tank.

If you don't, take them back. The male will kill your little ladies. The only time they should be put together is when you want to breed them, and breeding is a royal pain in the tail.

Good luck!

 

[Bettaman]

Its not a case of who likes who,? its a case of hello a female i want to breed, he will chase them and for this reason, you could try and put some plants in the tank in flower pots if its not big enough for gravel in the bottom, IE 3"ones gravel in the pots to give them more of a hiding places, or some caves that they can go into, they just need time to get used to him and they should be OK once they have built there confidence up or yes you could divide the tank,what would you do if you and one of your friends was put into a room with no door and with a male who was intent on breeding think of it that way I'm sure you would hide,...........

 

[endparenthesis]

This sounds like a disaster. Not only that but with two more fish in there you'd probably be overstocked. I think the tank sounds fine as it was before.

 

[Carolinesugar]

Its not a case of who likes who,? its a case of hello a female i want to breed, he will chase them and for this reason, you could try and put some plants in the tank in flower pots if its not big enough for gravel in the bottom, IE 3"ones gravel in the pots to give them more of a hiding places, or some caves that they can go into, they just need time to get used to him and they should be OK once they have built there confidence up or yes you could divide the tank,what would you do if you and one of your friends was put into a room with no door and with a male who was intent on breeding think of it that way I'm sure you would hide,...........

LOL!!!

put in a room with a male intent on breeding, id kick him where it hurts, but i guess im a strong minded female who will not be pushed about, lol.

the tank ideally isnt big enough to keep them all in there long term with a divider, its just not big enough.

if push comes to shove and i cannot take them back, i will have to either go begging to my favourite shop and ask him to have them in exchange for something else, or put them in the community tank, and hope they are as timid as the last pair i kept in there.

over the space of the late afternoon and evening, they have come to some kind of arrangement i think, as he chases them all over the place, then he lets them hide, goes off n sits in his lil courner, sulking, and they get their chance to have a lil swim about, until 1 of them catches his attention, and we're off again in the big circle of kiss chase, hide and seek, and then musical chairs, lol.

please tell me there is some hope for them yet ?

im a mug really i guess, i was unsure about keeping a male with a female unless to bred, but the lfc that i trust (as they have always helped me out and been there in emergencies) told me that i would be fine with gettin him some wives!

 

[LynX]

hi Carolinesugar. well i heard that u could have two females put into the same tank as a male... if ur tank was big enough and it sounds big enough, but only if you have a densly planted tank, i heard the male will chace either female for awhile, and then when he relises that he cant get them he will start to make a nest, when he sees them again he will attempt to "catch" them again, if the female doesnt submit, then he will change his tatics to try and lure her out more than chase her, but still make his nest...

btw i did have a male betta and a female betta in the same tank for a long time but it was a community tank so even if they did spawn the babies wouldnt last long, I caught them TWICE spawning! so it is possible for a male to feal relaxed when there is more than one fish around, but the thing about this is u will wanna remove the females after spawning, do u have anywhere to put them?

 

[Bettaman]

It was just a point, and I'm sure you would kick hard but the female Betta's cant do that and believe it or not if they were conditioned they would have the same thing on there mind, and would be quite happy to do so, it may be just that the tank is to small i have 10 females and five males all in a four foot tank not divided and no plants or hiding places and they all live quit happily together an odd get out of my way, but no ripping each other to death so maybe if you added them all to the big tank at the same time so no i have been here your new kind of routine.........

 

[LynX]

may i asked where these bettas all raised from fry together?

 

[Bettaman]

Correct, yes and they all had slightly bent ventral fins, but they are all so nice i could not get rid of them,by culling when fry,and would not sell them because of the bent fins so i have kept them all together and they are fine as i say the odd get out of my way if anything its the females who have a peck at the males and nip a fin now and again just to be spiteful because they don't look as good but it is rare........

 

[Carolinesugar]

may i asked where these bettas all raised from fry together?

not to my knowledge, no, but the male is deffinately not from their family, the females all came from the same shop, and were brought in the same batch, so im guessing that they could be ? but im not sure ?

 

[LynX]

woops sorri i was talking to bettaman about his fry... yeah cause i read that if u raise them all from fry and never seperate them they can live with each other and even make a small community breeding every now and then, have they ever spawned in that tank?

 

[Bettaman]

They have spawned in the tank, my first ever spawning was in a community tank and since then its just grown to a big fish house with breeding tank, and betta barracks, will all be up and running by october this year have to do it between work and family life............

 

[LynX]

o ok thats preety cool though having male bettas live with each other and not kill each other, its something i'd try if i had another big grow out tank

 

[Bettaman]

not a good picture night time but you can see the males as i say there is five in this tank..........but at least you can see them together....

8) 8) 8)