If I have a 30 gallon (ca. 113 litres) tank that is medium planted. Would it be OK to keep two male bettas, or one male and one female betta?
I have read a lot of stuff online about keeping a group of females and such, however I am wondering if I can specifically have only two bettas where one of them must be male.
Additionally I intend to include 10 neon tetras, two snails, and a few shrimps of different variety.
I don't have direct experience with bettas, but I've never heard that pairs will work long-term in any male/female combination. There's research that suggests they prefer to be alone or in large groups, rather than with one other fish. From Social partner preferences of male and female fighting fish (Betta splendens), by J.L. Snekser, S.P. McRobert, and E.D. Clotfelter in Behavioural Processes:
Despite high levels of conspecific aggression by both sexes (e.g. Goldstein, 1975 and Jaroensutasinee and Jaroensutasinee, 2001b), in most situations Betta chose to spend significantly more time with other fish rather than swimming on the empty side of the test tank. Two exceptions to this general preference were seen: males did not spend significantly more time with a single female test fish and females chose to spend significantly more time on the side of the test chamber that was empty than spend time with the single male fish.
In other words, lone females went out of their way to avoid lone males, and lone males didn't seem to care much one way or the other about lone females. A pair of males was found to be the most aggressive combination.
The paper also mentions that, in the wild, you'll find about 1.7 bettas per square meter. And that's in the wild: remember most domestic bettas have been bred for aggression and are probably even less tolerant of their neighbors. A typical 30 gallon has a 0.27 square meter footprint (91cm by 30cm), so I'd say that's not enough room for a pair to establish their own territories. (I'm not personally sure if the females are territorial, but if not they probably prefer to avoid a male's territory when they're not breeding.)
As for compatibility with neons, nothing I've heard makes me think it won't work unless you have a really aggressive male. That many tetras should feel safe in their shoal, so I wouldn't expect to see much fin-nipping from them; and 30 gallons planted means they won't constantly be in the betta's personal space. And the bioload from this community would be perfectly safe for this size tank. One thing I'd suggest you check though, if you haven't already, would be water parameters: neons tend to live in cooler waters than what I've heard about bettas. You might find cardinal tetras a better fit if the bettas need more than say 75 degrees F or so.
Bettas are highly territorial and no matter what sexes you keep together they will fight. The males are solitary in nature ( like in elephants), while the females might live in schools/small groups. Males and females come together to breed only.
It is not wise to keep any form of Bettas together, specially males, they'll fight and kill each other.
I do not actually think putting a 2 betta fish with tiny tetras is a good idea and there's the fact the male will harass the female
My suggestion is to reconsider having bettas together or with other fish
But hey sometimes you might hit a lucky betta
I feel you should experiment with many fish because many say certain fish are aggressive and certain fish can't be with certain fish. I can say that I have betta male with a female in a tank with tiger barbs, tetras( 4 different types ), guppies, Molly's, platys, red fin sharks , cat fish , crawfish, alge eaters, angel fish, kissing fish, and gouramis (3 types) plus a few other fish and all seem to get along just fine. I'm not gunna lie I have lost a few fish in the past but to where I am now where all my fish get along its worth it. All have adapted to each other fish. I have a lively community of fish. Take the risk because the outcome of it all is awesome to see
