if your getting siamese fighting fish, try not to get more than one in a tank. they can live okay with some other small fish, but even the females are territorial.usually they only stick with each other to breed. and if you have one male and 2 females, they will breed, and if there are male babies, the father will fight, usually to the death because the baby has no where to hide

it is very unlikely that fighters will breed. if they manage to hatch babies out, the babies unless very very well looked after by humans will die when they are a few days old because as they are developing their laberinth gland, they take a first gulp of air and if the air is not the right humidity and temperature it will not develop and the baby will not survive. I don't think there are any problems with having babies that could fight with the dad. Also if the male makes the bubble-nest, the female is likely to destroy it.
To me its crueler to keep one male fighter all on its own than to put a female with him, but everyone thinks differently.

*Heidi*

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Well, being my usual fussy self I've been umming and ahhing for ages over this tank, and I've finally decided that I just don't like it.
Its weirdly shaped, its very tall, it has a rather poor surface area and considering how little water it holds, it takes up quite a lot of space! But I've grown quite keen on the idea of a nice little tropical tank, sooo... I've bought a replacement!

It's a bit bigger (about 28 litres) and is the standard rectangular shape (18x10x10 inches), which I much prefer! I've transferred the contents of the 21 litre to the new tank (filter, gravel, plants etc) in the hopes that the cycling process won't be knocked quite all the way back to square one... but I'm in no great hurry so I don't mind if I have to start cycling again from scratch.

In response to the siamese fighter discussion - If I were to get one I would definitely only get one. I've heard that males have to be kept with a minimum of three females coz they harass the females so much - and I certainly don't have room for four of them!
Having said that, I really do prefer the idea of a small shoal of really tiny fish, like the microrasboras that Pleccy suggested or endlers maybe

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shiny