Bettas in container ponds

The resident bettas may go on a snacking spree with the fry, females may fight with the male, vice-versa, or each other. I would not jeopardize a beautiful pair, but if you could have some way to divide the pond, it's feasible. Also, the design of the pond. If it is kidney shaped, just a deep hole, shallow but wide, etc. should be taken into consideration. If you can breed your pair, then transfer the babies to the pond by themselves, you would have better luck. At least until they start fighting and boundary issues. I've raised partial spawns outside in a baby pool and totes successfully. Still had to sort and bring in before the frost.

-Stef*

Don't mix male and female domesticated bettas...ever. If they were wild bettas, this would be more than feasible.

Domestic bettas are unpredictable (too many personalities) and were originally bred to be aggressive. The aggression can and will flare up whenever two or more bettas meet. When it's just females, they can usually sort things out and learn the social order without necessarily killing anyone. Males don't always have that restraint. Some females will also kill males if they feel like it.

If you want to breed, go the traditional route, but then allow the fry to grow up outdoors if temps are stable enough.

With most species of wild bettas, this wouldn't be a problem.

Grah the great said:

Don't mix male and female domesticated bettas...ever. If they were wild bettas, this would be more than feasible.

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Actually, it depends on the wild betta sp. I thought that too but the I had a B. smaragdina pair in a 29G tank and the female was harassed like they were B. splendens.

take care that the bettas dont jump out of the water. have a cover or something.

I wouldn't try it in just 20gal (you'll also need to be very careful where to set up a 20gal outdoors that it won't get some really extreme temperature shifts), but over 50gal heavily planted might work with a single male and female.

Make sure they can't jump out; bettas will often jump when pursued.