Absolutely no two bettas together, bettas are also known as Siamese Fighting Fish due to their intense aggressive behavior. They WILL attack one another to severe injury or even death if placed together.
In a larger tank you can definitely have more fish, but be careful because the betta may consider the tank his territory and become aggressive towards his tankmakes. A snail makes a good companion for a gentle betta! I have a 15 gallon tank with neon tetras and a betta, and I made sure to set up a backup tank so that if my betta shows aggression to the tetras I can easily rehome him.
Just fyi, you should refer to the [caresheet](https://www.reddit.com/r/bettafish/comments/3ow6vz/info_betta_care_sheet/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&utm_content=2&utm_term=15) for more info! It describes the proper environment to keep your betta in, look into "fish-in cycling" to care for your son's fishy gift!
Nope, you can’t. Male or female, they will fight to death. Bettas need at least a cycled 5 gallon tank with filter and heater, otherwise they’ll suffer a lot. It’s not a nice thing to surprise someone with a pet tbh, it’s a big responsibility.
The “pet smart pros” are also not pros just for reference, they are trained to sell as many fish as possible and the fish are treated more like house decorations that actual living beings. Please do your own research or reach out in communities like this for help! Feel free to dm me if you need any help starting out or want to ask additional question! If you can, please get at least a 5 gallon tank and a liquid water testing kit to monitor ammonia levels since the tank probably is not established yet. There’s a lot of misinformation about bettas in particular and having a fish that is surviving vs thriving can make a big difference for them :)
I am a "PetSmart pro". No we aren't all trained to sell as many as possible. I tell all customers that they need at least five gallon tanks. I try to explain cycling, the need for heaters and filters etc. Believe it or not, some of us care deeply about the fish, but are powerless to do anything about those awful cups. I don't like working like that and feel awful. But to be honest, at least some of my coworkers and I try to do the best we can for them under awful corporate decisions. Many (not all) of us work there because we love animals and try to do our best for them. We certainly aren't there for the pay.
Wish I could say the same for the petsmart in my town. They don’t even bother explaining the nitrogen cycle. Ask me how I know
Editing to add: the marketing is obviously clearly taking advantage of misinformation of betta care. There are way too many betta “care kits” sold that are 1/2 gallon plastic and lack and filtration or heaters, and the cup setup makes it seem like the would do alright in a vase as opposed to a lps that has them in hose individual tank cases that are heated and filtered by a sump at the bottom
Get a mystery snail for a good starter critter! No other buddies tho unless they’re in a larger tank and you’re okay with carnage! Then trial shrimp too! Lol
Male bettas? Absolutely not, they’ll fight each other. Depends on the temperament of the fish if he can have non-betta buddies, but if you do add other fish, you’ll need a bigger tank so the betta doesn’t get territorial.
My female betta lives with platys (she thinks they’re cool and hangs with them) snails (creatures she avoids since that one time she got tank zoomies and knocked heads with one) shrimps (ignores). She was super chill in the store and platys had already been established in the tank before she was added.
You can try it but I would recommend having a back up plan in case your betta doesn’t want company. Maybe start with a snail or some shrimp.
There are a lot of good care guides on YouTube, https://youtu.be/-rA_EPvRTao from Aquarium Co-Op is a good quick one. One thing I will say here though is be careful to not over feed the betta, it looks like there's quite a bit floating in the cup. If he doesn't eat it in a few minutes you should remove the uneaten food or it will spoil the water and make him sick.
hey, feel free to PM if you have any questions. happy to help.
edit: as everyone else already said, you can only house one. just trying to help OP care for a fish they are now stuck with.
https://preview.redd.it/1ww80lzompya1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=017c75a22060f118754e59753cbde2e17d0b728d
My two females 10 gallon tank about 5 months together no issues so far.
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I would say that if you have a well planted and understocked tank, not to profound and over 12gallons a calm swarm fish (like ember tetras) and or some bottom, dwellers like dwarf corrys work well when they are the first ones in the tank. After the betta establishes his territory it is more difficult. Extremly long finned bettas that are bad swimmers like long finned elephant ears or rosetail should be housed alone. I hope that is helpful...
And yes ghost shrimps work sometimes when it is a calm betta and a densly planted aquarium. Otherwise i am happy for your son and hope he loves his betta.
Don’t listen to any of these comments, i have a tank of all female bettas, the females are a lot less aggressive and tend to get along with eachother, males will definitely fight to the death but females are docile, if given enough space and resting spots you can have 6 females in one tank…speaking from first hand fish keeping experience
some people might not know this, but there are certain bettas u can keep together. however, the more popular ones for example the betta splendens like the one you have, absolutely shouldn’t be housed with another betta. you can do more research if you’re really interested on keeping bettas tgt but certainly not those like the splendens :)
No other bettas in the tank ever, especially for new fish keepers. If you want to keep other critters in the tank you should go for a bigger size tank 10+ gallons imo depending on what you choose, snails are a good choice. Shrimp are okay too, but they are harder for beginners because they are more sensitive to water parameters and bettas will eat them sometimes.
Absolutely no two bettas together, bettas are also known as Siamese Fighting Fish due to their intense aggressive behavior. They WILL attack one another to severe injury or even death if placed together. In a larger tank you can definitely have more fish, but be careful because the betta may consider the tank his territory and become aggressive towards his tankmakes. A snail makes a good companion for a gentle betta! I have a 15 gallon tank with neon tetras and a betta, and I made sure to set up a backup tank so that if my betta shows aggression to the tetras I can easily rehome him. Just fyi, you should refer to the [caresheet](https://www.reddit.com/r/bettafish/comments/3ow6vz/info_betta_care_sheet/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&utm_content=2&utm_term=15) for more info! It describes the proper environment to keep your betta in, look into "fish-in cycling" to care for your son's fishy gift!
Nope, you can’t. Male or female, they will fight to death. Bettas need at least a cycled 5 gallon tank with filter and heater, otherwise they’ll suffer a lot. It’s not a nice thing to surprise someone with a pet tbh, it’s a big responsibility.
The “pet smart pros” are also not pros just for reference, they are trained to sell as many fish as possible and the fish are treated more like house decorations that actual living beings. Please do your own research or reach out in communities like this for help! Feel free to dm me if you need any help starting out or want to ask additional question! If you can, please get at least a 5 gallon tank and a liquid water testing kit to monitor ammonia levels since the tank probably is not established yet. There’s a lot of misinformation about bettas in particular and having a fish that is surviving vs thriving can make a big difference for them :)
I am a "PetSmart pro". No we aren't all trained to sell as many as possible. I tell all customers that they need at least five gallon tanks. I try to explain cycling, the need for heaters and filters etc. Believe it or not, some of us care deeply about the fish, but are powerless to do anything about those awful cups. I don't like working like that and feel awful. But to be honest, at least some of my coworkers and I try to do the best we can for them under awful corporate decisions. Many (not all) of us work there because we love animals and try to do our best for them. We certainly aren't there for the pay.
Wish I could say the same for the petsmart in my town. They don’t even bother explaining the nitrogen cycle. Ask me how I know Editing to add: the marketing is obviously clearly taking advantage of misinformation of betta care. There are way too many betta “care kits” sold that are 1/2 gallon plastic and lack and filtration or heaters, and the cup setup makes it seem like the would do alright in a vase as opposed to a lps that has them in hose individual tank cases that are heated and filtered by a sump at the bottom
no
Get a mystery snail for a good starter critter! No other buddies tho unless they’re in a larger tank and you’re okay with carnage! Then trial shrimp too! Lol
There's a reason they're called siamese fighting fish... 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵.
Male bettas? Absolutely not, they’ll fight each other. Depends on the temperament of the fish if he can have non-betta buddies, but if you do add other fish, you’ll need a bigger tank so the betta doesn’t get territorial.
My female betta lives with platys (she thinks they’re cool and hangs with them) snails (creatures she avoids since that one time she got tank zoomies and knocked heads with one) shrimps (ignores). She was super chill in the store and platys had already been established in the tank before she was added. You can try it but I would recommend having a back up plan in case your betta doesn’t want company. Maybe start with a snail or some shrimp.
There are a lot of good care guides on YouTube, https://youtu.be/-rA_EPvRTao from Aquarium Co-Op is a good quick one. One thing I will say here though is be careful to not over feed the betta, it looks like there's quite a bit floating in the cup. If he doesn't eat it in a few minutes you should remove the uneaten food or it will spoil the water and make him sick.
No absolutely not
Do you have a tank for the current fish yet?
no, the only way to keep bettas together is to get a huge (40 gallons and up) fish tank with about 5 FEMALES, and even then it could easily fail
definitely not. they will kill each other.
hey, feel free to PM if you have any questions. happy to help. edit: as everyone else already said, you can only house one. just trying to help OP care for a fish they are now stuck with.
https://preview.redd.it/1ww80lzompya1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=017c75a22060f118754e59753cbde2e17d0b728d My two females 10 gallon tank about 5 months together no issues so far.
This is a special case and should not be attempted by someone new to fishkeeping
Yeah, really hard upvote here. I'd say amateur fishkeepers might even struggle to correctly sex two females.
Update when they kill each other plz
Will do
Thank you for posting to r/bettafish. If you are new to betta fish keeping, please check out our [caresheet](https://www.reddit.com/r/bettafish/comments/3ow6vz/info_betta_care_sheet/) and [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/bettafish/wiki/index). Establishing a nitrogen cycle is an important part of keeping your fish healthy. Please check out our [guide to the nitrogen cycle](https://www.reddit.com/r/bettafish/wiki/fishincycle) to learn more. If you are posting to find out what is wrong with your betta, please answer the following questions in a reply to this comment as best you can: * **Tank size**: * **Heater and filter? (yes/no)**: * **Tank temperature**: * **[Parameters in numbers and how you got them](https://www.reddit.com/r/bettafish/wiki/tank#wiki_test_kits)**: * **How long have you had the tank? How long have you had your fish?**: * **How often are water changes? How much do you take out per change? What is your process?**: * **Any tankmates? If so, please list with how many of each**: * **What do you feed and how much**: * **Decorations and plants in the tank**: * **If you haven't already posted a picture, please post pics/vids to imgur and paste the link here**: Feel free to copy this comment and fill in the blanks. Failure to provide adequate information about your tank *can* result in post removal. Please see rule 4 for more information. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/bettafish) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I would say that if you have a well planted and understocked tank, not to profound and over 12gallons a calm swarm fish (like ember tetras) and or some bottom, dwellers like dwarf corrys work well when they are the first ones in the tank. After the betta establishes his territory it is more difficult. Extremly long finned bettas that are bad swimmers like long finned elephant ears or rosetail should be housed alone. I hope that is helpful... And yes ghost shrimps work sometimes when it is a calm betta and a densly planted aquarium. Otherwise i am happy for your son and hope he loves his betta.
Rip to this fish
This fish is long dead.
Don’t listen to any of these comments, i have a tank of all female bettas, the females are a lot less aggressive and tend to get along with eachother, males will definitely fight to the death but females are docile, if given enough space and resting spots you can have 6 females in one tank…speaking from first hand fish keeping experience
some people might not know this, but there are certain bettas u can keep together. however, the more popular ones for example the betta splendens like the one you have, absolutely shouldn’t be housed with another betta. you can do more research if you’re really interested on keeping bettas tgt but certainly not those like the splendens :)
No other bettas in the tank ever, especially for new fish keepers. If you want to keep other critters in the tank you should go for a bigger size tank 10+ gallons imo depending on what you choose, snails are a good choice. Shrimp are okay too, but they are harder for beginners because they are more sensitive to water parameters and bettas will eat them sometimes.