Why?

[salman]

Why is it that every time i enter a fish store, They have betta's in small glass bowls? They dont put them all together in one aquarium like other fish, why is that? And why do they tell us to only buy 1 for our fishtanks? I've seen some pictures with like 3 or 4 betta's in the same tank. The salesmen say that they dont live in pairs or more, then how do people breed them if the cant get along? They are one of the most beautiful fish I've seen but why dont they live together?

[Rue]

Males are territorial and will fight to the death. Some lines have been bred specifically to fight...just like cock fighting or dog fighting breeds.

When the male has built a bubble nest, he's ready to mate with a receptive female. After she lays the eggs she leaves, or he might even kill her.

So you can't have more than one male in a tank.

You can have a male and several females in a large tank. The tank has to be big enough that each fish can have a small territory. Females can also get aggressive.

[RobbieG]

All the ones in the bowls are males Salman - the females don't have the long flowing fins.

[salman]

I just remembered, I've also seen some Betta's inside with other fish but they are put in a plastic box kind of like hatcheries. So these are female? I want to have a male and like 2 or 3 females, is that possible? They are soo beautiful but when there is one from anything in a tank, it makes me feel sad, i like to have at least 2 or more.

[RobbieG]

Depends on what else is in the tank / what size the tank is.

[salman]

Not big, Its like an A3 sized paper.

[RobbieG]

Is A3 bigger or smaller than normal letter sized paper?

[salman]

The size varies from fish store to fish store. Its a bit bigger then the paper you use to print.