Male & Female Bettas

[ohsorisque]

My 2 year old son has a male Betta that we got him last year. Yesterday we were at the pet store and he wanted another Betta. I asked 4 different people who worked there to see if I could put a female Betta in with my male. Every single person said that it would be fine. So we got the fish.

We brought her home and put her into the tank with the male. They seemed to be doing fine but some hours later I noticed she was laying at the bottom. She wasn't moving but she was breathing. As I stood there watching the fish for a minute I noticed that the male kept charging at her. I then took her out and put her back into the little bowl she came with.

So really my question is....

Do male and female Betta's often fight? Is this part of their mating? Or could he be extra aggressive because he's shared a tank all to himself for a year.

If they can live together then I plan on going to get a 15-20 gallon tank this weekend. If not then I'll just buy separate little tanks for each of them.

Advice is much appreciated.

[dramaqueen]

I would not advise putting males and females together.Males and females should only be put together for spawning purposes. Bettas are very territorial and will fight. Females will fight with each other, too. The female was at the bottom because she was scared.I don't know why petstore employees tell people that its ok. to house males and females together. You can put them in the 15-20 gallon if its divided or you can get them each their own tank.

[ohsorisque]

Thank you for letting me know. If I knew that before I probably wouldn't have gotten her but oh well. They're both beautiful fish so I don't mind.

[dramaqueen]

Yeah, its too bad they can't live together. It would be nice to have a big tank full of colorful bettas. I'm sure you'll enjoy both your male and female. Bettas have wonderful personalities.

[onekatietwo]

I've seen some that get along. Someday there should be a line of them bred to be non aggressive. I'm sure it could be done in about 30 or so generations of very careful breeding. haha.

Anyone care to start?

EDIT: Whoops, to elaborate DO NOT HOUSE BETTAS together. It doesn't work. I've just noticed that some people find Bettas that are particularly nonagressive/docile but these are very rare and NOT somethign you should ever count on.

Didn't want people to take my comment the wrong way.

[MrVampire181]

Now you know why they are called SIAMESE FIGHTING FISH!!!!!! Males will shred and kill any betta that comes near them.

[dramaqueen]

And females can shred a few fins, too.