male:female ratios in the wild

[Ben]

I was just wondering about this while looking at my betta.

what are the male to female ratios in the wild.
I once heard that a male has a group of up to 10 or more females that are his and when and if he meets another male they fight for the group and the loser either dies or goes off to find another group of females and the winner takes over
Is this true?
If so....

If tank size wasn't an issue( or say around 70 gallons)
Would it be possible to add ONE male plakat or another wild type betta, and add about 20-30 females and see wild behaviour of the male taking care of his group of females, and seeing no damage done to females etc etc?
and in your own opinion what would be a sensible male:female ratio?

just wondering, i wouldn't do it or anything

DD

 

[RandomWiktor]

Didn't someone post a tank here a while ago that was gigantic - probably 75-120 gallons - that was set up to mimic wild conditions? I remember him/her posting pics and mentioning having males and females mixed in the tank. It seems logical that if well enough planted and large enough, you probably could pull it off, because in the wild they don't each live in thier own pond. However, in the wild, they also are not under the stress conditions of captivity, which in my mind probably increases agression. So, I don't really know.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't some wild-types peaceful anyways? I though I saw someone selling a male and females together on aquabid under wild types, and it noted that they were a placid species.

 

[SRC]

I would venture to think..in the wild that they all live alone, but the females may "tolerate" each other more since they can just chase them away if they wanted.

Breeding would probably occur like it does with solitary land mammals...as in when the "time" is right...they go looking..but any other time..it's all for 1 time and they keep to themselves lol.

As mean and vicious as my girls are....I don't think they would tolerate each other in a 100 gallon tank...with it being just the 5 of them lol. It would be a constant game of tag...I'm going to bite your tail off if I catch you.

 

[Ben]

RW- Would be interesting to see pics of the tank,
and i was talking about Betta Splenedens Plakats mostly, i know most other wild types get along.

Thanksfor your imput guys

DD

 

[RandomWiktor]

It is noteworthy that many wild solitary mammals will have overlapping territories, however, and usually the overlap is such that the male is willing to share parts of his territory with females, but not with other males. And he isn't overly tollerant of the females unless it is breeding time. It seems that maybe for bettas, the case would be similar; everyone has thier own territories, but the males may not guard as stringently against the females as he would the males. This could explain the theory that males keep a 'harem,' because to the casual observer, it might seem like he has a large territory encompassing all of the females' territories.

DwarfDude, I do not have the pictures; it was from a topic a long time ago. You might be able to find it by digging up old posts, but I really don't know where it would be.

 

[Synirr]

I don't think it would work too well with Betta splendens unless they are truly wild-type instead of just plakat... as in they haven't been line bred for aggression for many many generations. I imagine a tank set up to mimick natural conditions would work quite well with some of the less aggressive wild species though, such as imbellis

 

[slamster17]

yea i agree with synirr. i wouldnt try it unless i knew that it would work and i would only try it with wild splenden imbellis or sometihng in the splendens category.

 

[DaSauce89]

It wouldnt work

The bettas we own are domistected meaning they get everything they need and dont have to work or hunt for it


The reason Males in the wild dont kill each other is because they know wats up and because they can tolerate them more because they been around males there whole lifes

as for domistect males they've only seen males when they were fry or when placed side by side >__>

I wouldnt try it if i were u

3 things can happen

1) Male goes crazy and attacks everyfemale then dies of stress
2) Females dont play around and demolish the male
3) They will seem ok, but are really really stressed out......You know kinda when ur in school and have to do an assignment with a person uve never talked to.......so everyones quiet and it kinda gets u stressed out >__> imagine that but 100x worse......yeaaaaaa

 

[Ben]

As i said in my first post, i wasn't planning on doing this, was just researching.
And i should've used a better choice of words, i was talking about wild Betta i.e F0 species, or what ever you may call it.
Thanks for your imput though

DD