Aggression in breeding

[Canfeleq]

I was wondering which of the various types of Betta Splendens is the most aggressive when breeding? So far I have tried HM's & CT's and the CT's seem to be more agro but I have heard that plakats are very aggressive. What's your experience?

[kingcrab]

From what i understand the short finned fighters are more like their wild counter parts and tend to be abit more aggresive then long fins. This doesnt mean that long fins won't be or that short fins have to be. In Thailand the aggressive nature in fighters is bred for to produce fighting fish. Much like we select for a particular colour, you can breed for aggresion too.

[Robbies Betta]

I've heard that PK are the most aggressive, followed by CT, HM and then VT. don't know how true it is as I've never really bred many CT's (only had one spawn that was CTxVT)

[Callatya]

wow, i've had 4 plakat spawns go off without too much hassle (OK, so one killed the girl, but thats 80% no hassle...) I would have said CTs are pretty mental, but thats only in comparison to plakats and VTs.

[Figure_8]

My plakats have been the least agressive. Its the CT's I've had that went slightly nutso. I think it all depends on the individual fish involved and their overall compatability rather than tail type. I've spawned HM's, CT's, Plakats & SD's and they have all been much of a muchness. Can't comment on the VT's though since I've never kept them.

[Robbies Betta]

You've never owned a VT before Mousie ;)

[Figure_8]

nope never had one ;)

[Fishchick]

aggression or damage? certainly the most damage = HM fin size gives an increased target area. only death to date is with this tail type. (female killed the male) Aggression = plakat - full on agro hour after hour. beat the female to a pulp, then she spawned. go figure no damage to the male least amount of damage - CT - perhaps the spikey rays are hard to grab! VT - fairly agro and a bit of damage - but only to the female Wild splendens - v. little damage, not much agression. great parents. Cheers, J

[VickiPS]

From 7 spawns so far (no VTs), I haven't had more than fin-nipping. The wild splendens were very gentle, as were the imbellis. Probably the most vigorous chaser was the CT male. The most aggressive betta I've had (someone has him now) would be Ming the Merciless, a wild-coloured plakat sold as a female. He must have come straight from fighter stock, because I've never seen another betta as determinedly belligerent.

[Mishy]

I'm not sure how entitiled I am to this but, from the 6 times I've tried (3 VT, 2 HM and 1 CT), definately the VT has the edge. Could just be the individual, I had to remove the female cause I thought he'd kill her. However, with that said, the CT is a placid male. I've got a gold CT now who's nuts and is in the naughty jar at the moment away from any other fish. Trying plakat now and from just the conditioning, it looks like this is going to be painful.

[Chuckie]

I have spawned VTs, HM/SDs and CTs. I couldn't say any one type is more aggressive than the other. I have heard rumours that CTs are the most aggressive of the long finned bettas but my own experience didn't indicate this. ;)

[Bren MacFish]

I have two red girls who I think are VT carrying a CT because they have slight crowning and they are vicious. They are the only two who repeatedly bite me, they even jump out of the water to do it and one has scarred the other and almost blinded her in one eye but she still goes back for more. I thought maybe the red gene had something to do with it because I seem to have mostly very aggressive fish. (edit... I've been looking at the tail shapes of females and there's no way the banger sisters are VTs... they most resemble plakat females! The shop I got them from had loads of red VTs and CTs tho... so I presumed these were from the same spawns?)

[splendidbetta]

I think it all depends on the individual betta and the way the pair are introduced. I have only spawned VTs and 1 pair of HMs, and both tail types seemed the same level of aggression before the female was released, while the VT was more aggressive than the HM after the female was released. but I did have the female separated from the male for longer in the HM spawn, and the tank was larger so she had more room to escape, and he gave up pretty easily. :P

[Canfeleq]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. In the two HM attempts tried to date both where fairly gentle. The platinum pair that I tried first had a few nips at each other but lost interest very quickly and basically ignored each other. The male developed finrot from the nips in his tail so I pulled them out and treated them. someone, the yellow pair that I got in your last shipment are very gentle with each other and go exploring the tank together, have a little chase then go exploring again, but they don't seem to have any interest in breeding so I am going to seperate, feed like crazy and try again. Of the two CT attempts the first was fairly aggressive but almost successful, they embraced a few times but he couldn't quite roll her into the correct position and she finally released her eggs during a vigorous chase. both fish wound up with shredded fins and missing scales. The other attempt the male just wants to kill the female, he's not interested at all so I am going to try him with a different girl. I will keep you all posted on the next attempts.