can 2 male betta fish live together in a 60 gallon tank?

Question

were setting up our 60 gallon tank, and i was wondering if i could put my 2 male betta fish in along with other peacefull fish

Answer 1

The two males cannot be housed together. Nor can a male be housed with one or more females. Multiple females, however, can be housed together.

You could put one of them in the tank, depending on what the other tankmates are. Bettas are normally not aggressive towards other fish unless they can mistake them for being another betta (like guppies, although I have a betta and guppies together and they are fine, it depends on the fish. most bettas are fine with guppies, some aren't.).

Be careful what other fish are in the tank though. The other fish are more of a hazard to the betta than the betta is to them. Make sure there are no "fin-nippers", or your betta will be constantly harassed because of its long fins and it swims slower than other fish too, so it can't get away.

Tank size on the large end does not matter. A betta will not "freak out", "get confused", or "die" if it's in a larger tank. He will be fine in 60 gallons or even 100+ gallons. On the same token, a betta does not need a small container to be happy.

Answer 2

First of all,to all the horrible misinformed people out there, Betta's have gills. They generally do fine in water, as i would expect most fish would.. They dont 'need' small spaces to live. Theres a difference between surviving and thriving. They can survive in a small tank; that doesnt mean they enjoy it.

Okay, sorry, got carried away. Your answer:
Bettas instinctively will want to claim territory and fight off any Betta that comes near it. The reason that it seems that they will fight any other Betta they come in contact with is because they usually establish very large territories.

What you can do is set up the tank with a clear divider set at the very middle of the tank with a Betta on each side. Leave it there for a few months or until you are certain that the males have gotten used to each others presence and have successfully established and recognized each others territory. This will raise your chances of them having gotten comfortable with not only each other but with their half of the tank so that there isn't too much straying to the other side.

But also, it just depends on your Betta and its individual temperment. There are Bettas that do fine with others and then there are some that cant cant even see a picture of another Betta.

A long term project would be to breed Betta's and raise the male fry together. This will also greatly increase their chances of getting along.

Anyways, good luck. :)

Answer 3

I would not do that. Male bettas are vicious to each other and one or both would likely die.

I have seen many people post that in large 50-60g tanks they have had colonies of female bettas, 6-10, and 1 male betta do just fine with no deaths. I assume this is an exception to the rule about keeping bettas.

I have a 12g tank with 3 females in it, they do just fine together. I don't think it would be safe to add a male betta.

Answer 4

No. The only way you can do that is if you partition it. So separate the normal fishies from the bettas. Then in that betta space, separate the two bettas.
Bettas are called Siamese Fighting Fish because they attack each other. Males fight males, and males and females will fight. If you put them on opposite sides of a piece of clear plastic, they will flare up at each other which can be very pretty.
It's best not to mix Bettas with any other fish, too.

Answer 5

It might work if you place the 2 males in sight of each other for weeks ahead of time. Then place them in the tank at the same time. It's going to depend of their temperament. I generally say you need 50 gallons per male,and 5-10 per female. What you hope happens is they fight a couple of times, and then establish territory on opposite sides of the tank. Just keep in mind with some bettas you could put them in a 1000 gallon tank, and they'd still fight it out in the middle of the tank.

Answer 6

It depends on the fish/ how much territory each one intends to claim. Sixty might be enough to keep them from sparring, but i would be fully prepared to separate the two quickly. If you really really really want to try it i would watch them for a few hours and keep an extra extra close eye out on them for a few months. Mabye you can get your answers at
www.bettatalk.com

there is a lot of very valuable information on that site about betta behavior.

Answer 7

Yes, if there is a divider. Make sure they can't jump over it.

And it is not true that they will die in a big tank! The bigger the better for a betta!

Also, bettas CAN be with other fish. Just PLEASE make sure they don't have long flowing fins otherwise the betta will kill it. Also make sure that they don't nip fins, your betta will end up with short fins, and he'll be really stressed.

Answer 8

It is risky to put two males in the same tank. But if you really need to and don't mind the possibility of losing one then you can put then both in a tank that size. But it has to be heavily planted so they can establish their own areas and hide form each other. Good luck!

Answer 9

No!! they are Japanese Fighting Fish, they will not only fight each other, they'll probably try to kill each other. You have to keep males in separate tanks.

Answer 10

NO!!!!!!!!!!! 1st off betta's can't live in that big of a tank and 2nd off male betta's are REALLY aggresive toward's other fish don't put them together!