Marine Betta--anyone keeping 2 in a tank?

[flameangel88]

The lfs got 3 nice looking Bettas in ranging 3.5-4" and the smallest one looks really nice. I've one that's about 4" that swims out of the cave to feed and comes out more and more. I'm wondering if anyone had success of keeping 2 in a tank? It's not a must have but rather checking to see if it's a possibility. Please share your thought/experience. How fast do they grow? TIA.

[AquaKnight]

A good read: http://advancedaquarist.com/issues/sept2002/Fish.htm

[tcmfish]

I have a pair right now that I'm not really paying much attention too, but I got two spawns out of them before. Males will fight and I have found that here and there the pair fights a little but for the most part they keep about a foot away with their own little caves.

They are in a 180 with a flame cardinal, heniochus, and a small filefish.

If you want a pair put them together (all three) if two fight they are males and the other one would probably be female. But who knows what sexes you could have.

Also FWIW, I originally had three they all resided in a 55 gallon, then I had to move them so they went to another 55 with less hiding places (one pvc tube between all three) and the largest picked on the smallest so the weak one was removed and the other two paired off. So it may be best to limit hiding places at first to determine sex.

Good luck!!! One of my favorites. Let me know if you have other questions.

[flameangel88]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14161876#post14161876 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AquaKnight407
A good read: http://advancedaquarist.com/issues/sept2002/Fish.htm

Thanks for the link. The info in the article are info I've gethered so far. My current Betta will swim out of its cave to eat prepared food then goes right back in. It'll venture out as far as 10-12" from the cave into the middle of the tank and utilize the back side to other caves. I've over 200lbs of LRs so all the inhabitants have plenty of hiding places to spread around.

I've to say this is a tough fish to get a good picture of
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/reeftankpix/IMG_5885.jpg

this is before it when into the tank
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/reeftankpix/IMG_5638.jpg

[flameangel88]

tcm,

Thanks for the info. I've a 180g at the moment as well with plenty of caves. Getting the current one out or taking one out in the future is a bit difficult as I've 260lbs of LRs in there and would rather not go through that and disturb the other fish. But then sexing them is difficult other than your method and see which one gets along. May be this will give me a reason to redo the rockwork as they need some cleaning from my overfeeding. :lol:

[tcmfish]

If they don't like each other, IME the bully will keep the other pinned in the coner with ragged fins (not the hardest catch) so you could try it in the 180.

[flameangel88]

Thanks. What I should of done was to put the Betta in the 75 instead of the 180.