I got a 2.5 gallon tank today for my betta marley. He loves it. Anyway I was wondering if a female betta can live with him...? Or if they can't should I get a female anyway and put a divider in? It comes with a divider, but im not sure if the space difference would make Marley less happy. Also is it easy to breed bettas? Cause thats kind of the reason I want him. I got marley when I stole him from my sister who wasn't taking proper care of him and I made him so healthy looking and vibrant so i just want him to stay that way.

You need to have them living seperately. If not, the male will injure the female. If you're going to breed that is a different thing, but you only put them together at the last minute and that's it.


Dividers are bad for 2 males, 2 females, 1 male and 1 female, etc... When they see eachother they get stressed out and that it not good for their health or their longevity.

I have all of my male bettas in divided tanks, however the dividers are made of plastic canvas, so they are not see through, but rather semi-opaque. Also, I have some plants around, so that there are areas that are hidden. I think if you put a few plants in each side, so that there are hiding places, and if the divider is totally clear, you could replace it with a semi-opaque one, you should be able to put one on either side.

Hey there celebr8monkeyday,

No betta should be put togther Since they are agressive fish.
You should only put a female and a male togther
when you plan on breeding them.

When they see each other they usally attend to flare and
flareing over 30 mins aday can really
stress them out.So i would put lots of live plants
like touchofsky said.

I really want to try breeding them so I think im gonna get a female and just keep her in the bowl marley used to be in. But If I do that How would I know when they could breed and exactley how long to keep them in?

Breeding Bettas is a WHOLE lot more complicated than can be posted in a simple post. It takes a lot of effort and perferable at least a ten gallon planted tank to start off with. Breeding bettas can be exceedingly difficult and many people try and fail (including myself) for one reason or another. This would be a topic you would seriously need to research before attempting. Please do not even CONSIDER trying to breed them unless you have done so much research that your brain hurt. Research on many different sites, to get everyones opinion and figure out what is best for you. Breeding bettas is not a simple task that comes without it's consequences. You could end up easily with over 100 fry that need to be fed, cleaned, and when old enough seperated into their own containers which will only make feeding and cleaning more difficult. Do you have the space to put up to 100 or more cups or jars? Do you have the time to be cleaning them multiple times a day and feeding at least 3 times a day? Do you have the money for all the equipment needed? Do you have a way of finding home for over 100 fry? If not then please don't breed bettas.

I'm not trying to discourage you but so many people try to breed their bettas because they hav successfully raised guppies and how much harder could it be? People just plunk a male and a female together and they end up with dead fish. Please, Please, PLEASE don't just jump into this. Do lots of homework first and be certain that you can deal with the responsibilty of such a large undertaking. Here's a good website to get you started:

http://www.bettasrus.com/bcorner/index.htm

Great post sour... Gave people lots to think about

Thanks Peaches. When I tried to breed my bettas I had read a lot but I fudged a lot of rules I had plastic plants instead of live plants.) If my bettas had successfully bred then all of the fry probably would have died because they wouldn't have had anything to eat since there where no live plants. Luckily I was super protective of my fish and on my first try my female bit my male (who was my favorite) and so I decided to call off trying to breed them. The Second time the male seemed a bit unintrested and didn't seem to know what he was doing, so after an evening of doing nothing I seperated them too. I was really bummed at the time because I didn't have any fry to raise but looking back its a good thing. I wasn't fully prepared and would have been heartbroken when all of my fry died.

Fish keeping and breeding isn't something you can fudge rules on....It can have disasterious results.

I think its some bacteria that grow on the plant. It's called Infusoria? I don't know how to spell that but its grows around like plants very easily and the fry eat it as one of their first foods. They can survive off of their eggs sacks for a while so long as you have vinigear eels or some other foods on hand as well to feed them when their eggs sacks are used up. (which I didn't have either) You don't have to have them but they are very useful.

lol I guess I wont be breeding then. I didn't know there could be so many! Tnaks for the comments.