Wilds?

[Hershey]

I Saw a youtuber with two wilds in the same tank, flaring, but they were not attackng (the wilds I believe were either two females or two males) And I was wondering why they were not attacking at all?

[Mahachai]

Depends on tank size. Usually in a bigger tank, they'll just have a stand off and nibble here and there until one or the other submits. Eventually they'll fight in a smaller tank because there's no where to go. If you're talking about a small tank then I believe in the video the owner probably left them to flare at eachother just for recording and probably removed them afterwards.

[Hershey]

Yeah it was small, I see.

[babystarz]

Wait, what species? Wild splendens?

Some of the wild betta species live happily in mixed sex community tanks, and will only display territorial behavior towards each other when they're in breeding mode, but they won't really fight, just show off how manly they are and color up into full dress.

[Hershey]

I can't remember the video name..

[babystarz]

Originally Posted by Hershey

I can't remember the video name..

Ok, well the explanation for this is that bettas are not aggressive due to a naturally evolved aggressive streak. They were artificially selected for the trait over thousands of years by humans who wanted to fight them. Any betta species that cannot interbreed with betta splendens is generally pretty peaceful given the right amount of room and plant cover, but species that can interbreed with betta splendens may have some of those aggressive genes in their gene pools due to the aggressive domesticated bettas being released back into the wild by owners who didn't realize what they were doing to the native wild populations.

It is probably impossible to find a truly wild betta splendens with absolutely no genes from a domesticated betta, but if you were somehow able to find one, it could probably live with other bettas and fish without being at all aggressive.

[indjo]

I agree that non splendens don't normally fight like splendens we know.
If you meant wild looking splendens (probably fighters) . . . how long was the video? Before they attack each other, they will show off their fins - trying to intimidate the other. For some individuals, this may take quite a while. If none swims away, they will eventually attack each other.

[Hershey]

I think it was about a minute.

I found it!

Wild Betta Stiktos acting. - YouTube!

[LittleBettaFish]

Stiktos would definitely posture and flare at each other, but even if they fought, they probably wouldn't do serious damage beyond a few missing scales and torn fins.

A lot of aggressive behaviour with wild bettas even those of the splendens complex is mostly posturing. It rarely escalates to a full-blown death match.

[Setsuna]

Stiktos are not as aggressive well wild bettas in general are not as aggressive they may flare but they wont fight well maybe they will but not long one will eventually flee