Theoretical Betta Community / Open Breeding Environment

[IHaveADogToo]

THEORETICAL - AS IN I'M NOT CURRENTLY DOING THIS OR ADVISING ANYONE TO DO THIS

I've been theorizing what it would take to actually accomplish a "Betta Community" tank that houses males and females without dividers.

I keep coming back to the number 5.

Keep at least 5 female bettas for a sorority. Keep at least 5 of aggressive species.

I think I'm onto something.

A sorority of 5 females needs at least 10 gallons of water.

A male can easily claim an entire 10 gallon tank as his own territory.

So I'm thinking, 5 females and 1 male for every 20 gallons.

But need at least 5 males. So 100 gallons, stocked with 5 males and 25 females.

Heavily planted of course, to mimic rice paddies. Basically, create a bunch of little "5-10 gallon sized territories" with plants and rocks and driftwood. And obviously the less crowded the better. So maybe just add on anther 50 gallons of water, just to ensure everyone has plenty of room, and there's room for more if any of the bettas decide to spawn. Plants would also help fry hide from the adults.

So a 150 gallon tank with 5 males and 25 females, and enough plants call it "heavily planted" and mean it. Also, blackwater may help. Also other species, because in the wild, they won't just encounter other bettas, but other species as well. But for the sake of keeping this predator free, consider snails, shrimp, etc.

What do you think? Is this the magic formula for keeping multiple male bettas, and females together, undivided? Has anyone tried something this crazy before?

Actually executing this would be insanely expensive.

 

[Colin_T]

Shrimp will eat the baby fish.

The males will find each other and go nuts.

If you keep Betta imbellis or B. pugnax or some of the other peaceful Bettas you could simply set them up in a 200 litre tank and let them breed without fights

 

[IHaveADogToo]

I found a youtube video of someone who tried this but with even more water and even less fish than I was thinking.

He has 2 male crowntails and one female, in a 300 gallon tank.

According to him, the bettas pretty much avoid each other, and when they see each other, they just swim away. As if they prefer flight over fight. The males do find each other, and instead of going nuts, they just retreat.

Here's the video. It's not mine.

 

[IHaveADogToo]

Shrimp will eat the baby fish.

The males will find each other and go nuts.

If you keep Betta imbellis or B. pugnax or some of the other peaceful Bettas you could simply set them up in a 200 litre tank and let them breed without fights

YES, on a totally unrelated note, I am very curious about wild type bettas right now. They are very much peaking my curiosity these days.

However, keep in mind, this theoretical experiment is for splendins.

 

[SnailPocalypse]

What if you had community fish to spread the agression or disperse it from the males?

 

[NickAu]

No it cant be done with b.Splendens end of story.

 

[betta fish]

That's a gorgeous tank but not quite sure why anyone would try this, both bettas are stuffed full with what I can only assume is guppy fry so unable to swim at each other quickly, plus the flow looks to be hindering them some what, crowntails can't swim as quick as other types due to their shredded fins. I can clearly see the blue/yellow fish is the dominant out of the two so the red keeps out of his way though this is a constant source of stress for him, no tank can replicate the expanse of the wild.

 

[IHaveADogToo]

no tank can replicate the expanse of the wild.

Point taken, and I agree. Replicating the wild (or even attempting to) is cost prohibitive to the hobbyist, and the people who run tanks large enough to try this experiment likely have no interest in it and are busy keeping things like stingrays in those tanks anyway.