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well, i went over to a friends grandfathers house, and just happened to notice a, what looks to be a 20 gallon sitting upsidedown on the porch, well, i asked him about it and he said he would talk it over with the wife

he said it still has everything inside too!!

so, i was thinking, a betta comunity? with my 6 females and the 2 males?

Don't you remember what your mama told you about putting 2 male bettas together?

Seriously, in any size tank, they'll kill each other. People have put 2 bettas in 1000s gallons ponds and they still fight.

First of all, you'll want to check to make sure it doesn't leak. It depends on how long it's been there, but I'd check thoroughly... I'd hate to have 20 gallons of water on my floor!

As for the betta community... I hope you don't mean two male bettas living in the tank with the females... that would be a disaster waiting to happen! The males would fight (possibly to the death) and likely severely injure anyone in their way. If a male breeds with any of the females, you'll have world war three on your hands as he defends his nest. If it even GETS that far.

Male bettas should never be kept with other males or with females for a long period of time. Unless you are breeding them, they are kept separately. Male and female come together for breeding, and then the female must be removed or the male can attack and kill her while defending his nest.

I've heard of people keeping the two sexes together in large tanks (100+ gallons) without incident, but I wouldn't attempt it in a 20 gallon.

As for a betta community, however, you could easily put six girls in there with other fish. In my twenty long, I currently have uh... seven betta girls, one BN plec and *counts on fingers* eleven cories of various types. I think I'm a bit overstocked... it's the cories' fault, I can't stand seeing lonely cories at the LFS. I just added the BN plec, and he's tiny, so by the time he one big poop machine, I should have upgraded my betta community to a bigger tank.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

dident have time to explain myself

ok, 1 of the male betta cant see his own fin infront of his face he bumps into everything, plants, driftwood, fish and once he sat on an algae disk a danio sliped it from under him, like 5 secs later he went for another bite.....nd he got a mouthfull of sand and he rutinly runs into the other male betta, and the other male flairs, for a sec (no nipping, showing off) then moves off to find food, and my other male is still young, and shows littel aggression, but im working on his littel trap to put on the side of the tank, but the females stick together, and ruyle the tank (2 pink cambos, 2 celophane marbels, 1 opaque, and a royal blue crown) but the males ignore the females but i wouldent have dont this if i wasnt confident that there would be minimul aggression, they are in a 29 gallon, and the most troublesome fish is that stupid half banded loach who is obcessed with nipping betta fins, but l=not he only goes for the males, the female all charge him at once i would run 2 if i saw 3+ female bettas after me but im still going to seperate the males when i get the bigger tank, and i spend hours at a time watching my fish, and cleaning filters (gosh that gets anoying after a million times)


so i guess thats my clairifacation, but i have more of a concern of the female picking on the males, than the 2 males going after eachother, even the females go gental on the little blind boy, just flairing and pushing him away, rather than nipping

Yea i kept two males betas together and they fought all the time, but eventually there wasnt a problem...once the one died.

You know, there is a possibily that males can be put together. It is very rare and NOT suggested by any stretch of the imagination, but it can happen. Usually this occurs when you have two males that have grown up since fry and spent their entir lives together. If you really want to try this idea, go for it. But I stress that it is very dangerous. If you already have the bettas living together without issues, that you can try it. The best advise I would give you is:

4) add any fish you want BEFORE you add the bettas. Never add another betta or a fish that could look like a betta or behave like one (guppies, gouramis, paradise fish)Any kind of change in scenery would change the social order of the bettas.

3)try to decorate the tank like you did the old tank. I would take substrate, plants, decorations, EVERYTHING, from the old tank and put it together exactly like you did in the other tank.

2)NEVER seperate the bettas. If you are dosing meds, then dose them all together no matter what. Whatever you do with the bettas, do it together. I can not stress how important this is.

1) Always keep spare tanks on hand in case of agression, but once you seperate the fish, remember there is no going back. Don't use these unless you are willing to part with the idea of a betta community. Think of it like escape hatches.

What you are doing is dangerous, the equavalent of building a house on a cliff. This can work, but it will take serious care. But, if you pull it off, it will look spactacular. Good luck.

EDIT: What I'm saying sounds radical and stupid and basically goes against all the fishkeeping rules. Kitten, I would agree with you 100% if it weren't for the fact that the poster already has the fish in the tank in the first place.

Last edited by djtj at 24-May-2005 13:35

Why risk it, and in the process, stress out the fish?

Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 24-May-2005 18:42

My thoughts exactly, although it seems like she already has the setup in a different tank. Basically this isn't a stocking thread, but a "compatibility thread". The poster already has this working in a 29 gallon. I think she just wants to know what to put with the fish in the 20.

That is unless I misread something...

Last edited by djtj at 24-May-2005 19:08

You can get a couple of female Betta's, but only with 1 male.


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I'm not sure, I might have misread the post myself; dunno. Good luck to you, regardless.