Betta fish are one of if not the most beautiful aquarium fish out there.
Because they are so popular, people who have bettas wonder if you can put two betta fish together?
You can put two or more betta fish together if they are all females and then you should have at least five females to form a sorority where the female betta fish will establish a ‘pecking’ order. If you keep two males together, you should have a dividing wall between them. The only reason for a female and male to be kept together is for breeding and then they should be separated again.
The reason for this is that betta fish are very territorial.
Sometimes they will fight to the death or one betta fish will get bullied to the point of so much stress they will become sick and die.
There are some proven cases online, where even male and female bettas have been kept together, but you have to constantly monitor them for bullying or worry about breeding if males and females are kept together.
You will find a lot of conflicting information online so it is best to stick with the majority vote when a fish could possibly die, so please just do a female sorority or keep the males separate!
Especially if you are a beginner, you should stick to the general rules of fishkeeping or you will either have dead fish on your conscience or several baby bettas swimming around your tank asking you for food haha.
Let’s dive in and explore the issue a little more…
What Happens If You Put 2 Betta Fish Together?
The betta fish will usually fight with each other until one of them dies or one of them gives up and concedes dominance to the other.
The problem is, even after one of the betta fish gives up, the dominant betta fish may still bully the other betta fish until the stress causes the betta fish to become ill and maybe die from sickness.
The only recommended method to keep betta fish together permanently is to form a female sorority with five female betta fish.
They will bully each other at first after they establish a pecking order and territories, they should live in harmony together.
The key is to have one-two gallons per inch of length for all of the fish and to have several hiding places or territories, like plants or little caves that you can buy online or at your local pet store.
Can Female and Male Betta Fish Live Together?
I have found online where people are successful in keeping male and female betta fish together, although it is not recommended, especially for beginners.
You should only keep female and male betta fish together for breeding purposes and then separate them. This is also another reason to not keep male and female betta fish together permanently.
Would you want your tank constantly full of baby betta fish that you would have to care for or find homes for?
If you do keep a female and male together for whatever reason, you need to monitor them closely and make sure the male establishes dominance and they both have their own in the territory.
Most fishkeepers who have kept males and females together have more females than males in the tank.
There are fishkeepers online who have proven you can keep males and females together but you would have to monitor their relationship to make sure they eventually leave each other alone.
Even if they do eventually get along with each other, you still have to worry about breeding.
Do you really want the headache of finding homes for several betta babies?
Can I Put 2 Male Betta Fish Together?
There are proven cases where two males have been kept together in a tank but the majority of results are not good.
Especially for beginners, you shouldn’t keep two males together but if you insist, you should at least have a barrier between them in the tank, so that they can’t fight with each other.
Sometimes, two males are so territorial that you would even have to make sure they can’t see each other.
If they can see each other they may constantly flare their fins at each other to the point where it causes too much stress for one of them and then illness can ensue to the point of death.
The safest choice is to not put two males together. If you do you are going to have to constantly monitor them.
Do you have the time to monitor your fish tank all day for over a week?
If not, just don’t do it. Again, the majority rules here, most male betta fish can not be kept together.
How Many Betta Fish Can You Keep Together?
The safest way to keep betta fish together would be a female sorority of at least five females.
This seems to be the natural number for the females to establish a pecking order.
If you try to keep a male with females you should have more than one female per male but this should only be done for breeding unless you want the constant headache of dealing with betta babies.
The best way to keep two males together is to have a divider between them so they can’t see each other. If they can see each other they will constantly flare their gills and get too stressed out.
As we already said, any combination of betta fish have lived together successfully but you need tons of tank space and hiding places and the odds are not in your favor if you do not follow the general rules for keeping betta fish together.
Do Betta Fish Get Lonely?
Betta fish do not get lonely.
In fact, this is why they are so territorial. They like to be alone and have their own space.
It may seem like your betta fish is lonely swimming around by themselves but trust me, they are not.
If you want to put other types of fish with your betta, here are some good tankmates:
Summary
So, please ignore all of the conflicting advice online, and please, if you want to put two or more betta fish together, just start a 5 female sorority.
If you want two males in the same tank, just put s divider, where they can’t see each other.
If you experiment otherwise, it might work but more than likely, you will just have fighting betta fish, dead betta fish or betta fish constantly sick from being wounded in battle.
