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Hi- I got this from Wikipedia and it is very thorough: Females may or may not be able to coexist peacefully in the same tank depending on their temperaments. They are not schooling fish, and are still rather aggressive, but with enough room and many hiding spaces, they can learn to get along. There should never be exactly two female bettas in a tank together—a pecking order, a hierarchy, is necessary for them to live peacefully. With only two fish, one will be the bully and the other will be picked on. However, with three or more, a hierarchy is established.

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Females can live together if the tank is big enough (20 gallon) and there has to be a least 4 females but no more than 6 and you must ensure there are plenty of plants and hiding places. But that doesn't mean that female bettas aren't still very much hierarchical fish. That means initially, when introduced to their tank, they will "pick" at each other. Rarely does anyone get seriously hurt however. Just normal female betta behavior. et despite some flaring etc, all will eventually fall into a pecking order with one dominant fish. Once established things should calm down considerably.

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I once had one male and ten females in a 50 gallon, with a few goldfish and they were all fine together with places to hide. Once a few of the females died, I had to seperate the male because he would target the females more. However, once I moved the males- the females got along just fine with each other AND the goldfish.

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Um, angeleyes why on earth would you do that?? seriously, you do realize that goldfish are coldwater fish and bettas are tropical?

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Goldfish can live in warmer waters just fine. So what do you mean why would I do that? Firstly, I was like 10 when I had the big tanks setup- so if it was wrong I really don't know what to tell you. However, my father is an expert with tropical fish, salt, brackish and fresh water. He was the one that used to teach me how to setup my tanks as a kid. I haven't had a tank going in about ten years, since my Betta died after I had him for 5 years. After that we moved the one remaining goldfish to a 10 gallon... my sister kept him in her room and he lived for a total of 8 years. Does that mean we were doing something wrong? I won the goldfish at a fair when I was just a kid (Though I do not agree with that today) so I figured 8 years was a pretty long life for them.

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Obviously you don't understand, goldfish require coldwater, hence being called coldwater fish and betta's require warm water therefor being tropical. Not to mention the fact goldfish produce a lot of waste and need a strong filter which is a major irritant to any betta and can eventually lead to fin tearing. The fact you kept him in a 10 gallon is cruel as adult goldfish need at least a 40-50 gallon. Regardless I'd advice you to research before stepping into the responsibility of a pet.

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Can you be a little bit more rude? All I was doing was explaining that if there are several females the male betta shouldn't bother them as much as he would if there were just one or two. I understand NOW as an adult, but I do not have fish tanks any longer, nor do I want one. You have NO idea about me, my responsibility or anything else for that matter. Don't tell ME to research before taking a pet under my responsibilty because I volunteer in rescue and am VERY knowledgable with cats and dogs, your comment is plain offensive. I don't ever suggest that I'm a fish expert- though I do remember a little about their care from when I was young. If I made a mistake with feeder goldfish when I was 10 I apologize... however to flame me for that and suggest that I am an irresponsible pet owner is plain ridiculous and ignorant. Additionally, it's ADVISE not advice. In all honesty at least I cared for and about the fish as that is probably the most those poor feeders get! I was freakin' ten, I didn't know better about temperature... get a life! Really! As for your filter comment, I do remember having a fuval filter I believe... like a 650 or something. It was supposed to be a really great one so that's probably why there was never a problem with my Betta. You should really reread your posts and not be so quick to flame people. You know nothing about me, and in all honesty if you did that to a newbie on my forums I'd probably ban you.

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Oh yeah, and the feeder goldfish never grew much in the 50 gallon. I'm not sure- as I'm not a fish expert and wouldn't want to take the risk of you flaming me again, but I never thought it was age, but more size as to how big of a tank any fish needs.

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From Wikepedia: Native environment Goldfish natively live in ponds, and other slow or still moving bodies of water in depths up to 20 m (65 ft). Their native climate is subtropical to tropical and they live in freshwater with a pH of 6.0–8.0, a water hardness of 5.0–19.0 dGH, and a temperature range of 40 to 106 °F (4 to 41 °C) although they will not survive long at the higher temperatures. They are considered ill-suited even to live in a heated tropical fish tank, as they are used to the greater amount of oxygen in unheated tanks, and some believe that the heat burns them. However, goldfish have been observed living for centuries in outdoor ponds in which the temperature often spikes above 86 °F (30 °C). When found in nature, the goldfish are actually an olive green color. So - it appears that the lack of oxygen available to the goldfish in the warmer tanks is what kills them the goldfish..... Sometimes, animals do well against the odds - and sometimes they die even though the person did everything iright - go figure. Angeleyes was just sharing her experience.....

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Why do you keep mentioning that you were 10? that has nothing to do with it and I know many 10 year olds I know are mature and responsible, researching a pet before actually getting one. I'm not flaming you or being rude, I'm simply stating the facts and that it wasn't exactly smart to place a goldfish in a tropical tank. No need to get all touchy about it, seriously. Regardless I'm done with this thread.

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I keep mentioning that I was ten, because 14 years ago there weren't options such as the Internet to research with. All I had were the people who taught me. My fish did well and lived long... that's all I knew or cared about at the time. You ARE rude and have been rude throughout this thread, but I am also done with this thread. If you understood at all you would have just stated the facts without flaming me. At ten I had already owned and cared for many types of pets exceedingly well. I always took pride in that... so to hear some ignorant person tell me differently is highly offensive.

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To get back to the thread. I really enjoy my Bettas too! I enjoy the simplicity of it. It usually is ok to put female Bettas together in one tank. However there are many, many different varieties of Bettas. Some of these sub species may not mix well in a tank. However, most likely, the Bettas that we have access to are all the more common variety, are all of the same sub species. So there should be no problem in keeping the females together. Hey, where are you finding females? It is so hard to find them locally here! ps i find it funny to listen to them grind their food as they eat

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I know fish can soothe the soul, and keep the spirit calm. Seems like a few of you on this thread really enjoy these fish.

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Hot Italian, this may be a thread you might be interested in, and puppyluv wanted to see it also. So i brought it back up.

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I want to thank everyone for responding to my betta question as it has been very helpful and useful , I have come to the conclusion that for now I'll hang on to the 2 bettas I have as they're both doing well and I'm happy with them. When I do decide to add a betta or two they'll get homes of thier own, right now 2 are enough. I enjoy my bettas and these are not my first ones, I have had a number of them mostly males and Kagome san is my first female and I've had her for a year. I did have a male betta named Sparky who lived with me for 2 years. I have read on some websites and books on bettas that they can live for sometime providingf they are well cared for but I assume that Sparky was old. You all have been helpful and I'm just sorry for some of the disagreements on the subject. By and b y I have had both tropical and goldfish in the same tank before but I wouldn'ty do that again but to each thier own. Thanks again Kits