Breeding betta males that could live together?

[Chopstick Chick]

I was sitting here watching Shu float around his tank when the thought crossed my mind, "Gee wouldn't it be great if you could have a tank full of these guys in all different colors without them fighting?" and then I remembered something from my dog training course that lead me to asking the question "Could betta's be bred for low agression?" An domestication experiment done in siberia with foxes for the fur trade proved that you could breed for tameness, and that there were color variations linked with tameness, eg. white spots, drooping ears and curled tails. So if people can breed bettas for color, why not breed them for tameness towards one another so that eventually you could breed them into community fish (as in all male communites) much like guppies? Considering how quick (in comparison to foxes or other animals) the breeding cycle is I'm sure you could do it given enough time and the proper tests. Some interesting things would be observed a few generations in I'd bet. Not sure what but since tameness in foxes resulted in dog like features and coat color changes, I'd bet reducing aggression in bettas would have similair results, though I'm not sure. Males guppies are just as flashy and they can live together? Any thoughts? It's not something I could try now, but if I ever won the lottery I'd be on this in a heart beat.

[1fish2fish]

There's been thread after thread about this. The opinions never change.

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=52448

[TaylorW]

That thread 1fish linked... wow. Just wow.

[Jupiter]

I remember that topic. Though personally what I like about bettas is their agressiveness. For a while I thought it would be neat to have a few together...but then I realised that keeping them seperate really 'showcases' them for the unique fish that they are, if that makes any sense.

[1fish2fish]

I'll never understand it. I'm looking at a beautiful planted tank with 7 gorgeous male guppies all swimming together happily. I don't see the point in changing an aggressive species to a non-aggressive species when there are SO MANY beautiful fish that can be housed together.

[sayurasem]

ive been dreaming for this too!
the sad thing is the only time you can see them all housed in 1 tank is when they are 3 weeks old from hatching..... kinda weird tho... if they all raised in the same tank they should be social with other siblings...

just like if you raise cats & dogs since they are born together... they wont fight

[MrVampire181]

Bettas fight for control, they establsih an alpha dominance. Read this article, it shows how when a male betta is left with his fry until they're adults and how they don't fight because he's the alpha fish:

http://bettysplendens.com/articles/p...?articleid=809
http://bettysplendens.com/articles/p...?articleid=839