My Betta's behaviour...

[BettaMomma]

Aww, thanks
Some of my boys look a little ratty right now, though.
Archie and Harvey have taken to biting their tails for some reason, and I don't know why. They're getting sparkly clean water and salt to try to get them to stop.

The rest of them are pretty mighty healthy!

And be warned... breeding might sound like a fun experience, but you can end up with somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 fish! and you need to have containers up the bazooka for all of them.

Bettas are wonderful fish.
I have 6 teeny eyeballs staring at me right now as I type - they all want treats before I go home. They can play me like a fiddle. lol

 

[xanthianacid]

In my opinion, a betta can handle it out in a bigger tank, it totally depends on individual temperments. My Betta friends have all been happier in larger tanks. When I first introduced the purple maruader to an 8 gallon he immediately began blowing a bubblenest (I didn't even own a female at the time!). My husband's betta is in a large 40 gallon tank, god forbid, a community tank! , and he is the happiest fish on the block! He has a children's blue water wheel attachment slide in that tank attached to his filter so it doesn't splash too much, and why doesn't that Betta get up and onto the slide and gets pushed out into the tank by the stream of the filter, and go back over and over if he's not enjoying it just a teensy weensy bit? Not to mention other antics he get's up too, but he is in a very social, harmonious tank of course. If you want to see the stats find it on Katchan's signature. I'm sure he's mentioned his antics before.

And once they have been in a larger tank they soon develop the fitness and stamina if they are the Betta who is going to enjoy the bigger tank environment. Some might sulk, and then, unfortunately they end up in a smaller lonesome tank, even in our household, that's where the Purple Marauder is. We aren't cruel, if they don't seem happy (and he wasn't in the bigger 40 gal), and I couldn't keep him with my dwarf gourami as he was nipping, he had to go into the Betta tank we have. Oh it is sad!

I find the smaller ones they can't get the excercise they seem to enjoy so much! Adaption is all about giving them a chance to do new stuff. Or be limited to a smaller environment can be stifling. I prefer happy fish, so I do what I must to make them happy....