multiple male bettas in one tank?!?!?!?

[wrinehart]

I have a very interesting situation. About six months ago, I bought a puny male betta that was quite quite ugly. He had been sitting in the little container in the store for quite some time, as I go to this LFS regularly as it is right next door to my apt complex. I bought him in an attempt to breed bettas for the first time, and I felt sorry for the puny thing. He was no good for the job as he was too small for any of the females and they attempted to kill HIM!
Anyway, now he has been in my 55 gallon tank for close to six months, and I decided I wanted a large pretty male, and went to the LFS and bought one.

Knowning how docile the runt I have is, I placed the large male in the 55 gallon community tank with him and left them to see if they would fight, before removing the runt. I didn't want to put him back into the 2 gallon tank after he had his "freedom" in the 55 gal. It has been 2 weeks now, and even though they are often near each other, neither one even flares up or attempts to fight each other. NOT EVEN ONCE, and I have watched very very closely. No fin nips or anything!

Has anyone ever had this experience before??? I have kept bettas for over 10 years and although have had more than one, NEVER had them housed in the same tank. Even in homes near each other, if they caught sight of each other would flare up.

ISn't that odd???? Maybe my runt is *** and the other male doesn't find it as a threat!!!! Would be why the females I tried to breed him with hated him too.. LMAO...

Will

 

[WinterWind]

The bettas that I heard of that are kept together have either been raised together since birth or a very early age in large tanks so they don't see each other as a threat. Even then there may be a potential danger. I wouldn't reccomend keeping more than 1 male betta per tank. If you want to try to put them together, do it quickly, and observe to see if they start attacking each other. If they do, take them out immediately! Even if they don't fight right away, they eventually might, so it might not be so good an idea.

Btw, if you want to keep male bettas together, there is a "peaceful" type of male betta. They are the betta imbellis, although they are shy and not really as brilliant as the betta splendens.

Here's a betta imbellis:

 

[wrinehart]

Well... I know both are the typical betta splendens and both are male. like i said the first is a puny ugly runt. I felt sorry for it. I will definately keep my eyes out for the safety of the runt, but am pretty happy to see them coexisting. I know it doesn't sound possible but it is happening for TWO WEEKS!! Like you said though, after the newer male is more established for a longer time in the tank, he may then try to attack the smaller male, but I don't think my runt will pose a threat at all either way. I am really trying to find out if this has happened to anyone else, as I can't find anything online about it (except like you said, possibly if they are raised from fry together).

 

[WinterWind]

Sorry I didn't read your post carefully. So you already have them together?

 

[StreetCypher]

If i ever turned my 180g into a comm tank, i'd definitely try a betta comm.

 

[NatakuTseng]

Its not common but it happens, I had a 75gal once with two males, and three females. So ya say well they had enough space to not see each other as a threat or the females, well they SHOALED around the tank together, all 5 of them were always together. They had set up their own hierarchy, and knew what that meant. One of the males and females would regularly spawn and no probs at all, it was quite interesting, they almost acted as if they had paired up, the female even helped take care of the eggs.

ALL that being said, I wouldn't try it normally.

Betta imbellis are called the peaceful betta, however, males are just as aggressive with each other as the splendens, they do tollerate females in their territories outside of spawning. So they aren't quite as peaceful as made out to be.

 

[wrinehart]

Yes they are together... Don't avoid each other either, however, the larger one tends to stay in one particular corner area often unless feeding. They swim near each other quite a bit, neither flaring or getting upset or alarmed or fleeing or anything. They just don't seem to be threatened by each other.

 

[suby7272]

That's Amazing !!

 

[PurpleSmurf]

That really is pretty cool

 

[Emg]

I would be especially vigilant right after a water change. Sometimes water changes will set off spawning type behavior in some fish and could make one of them remember that they aren't supposed to get along.