Help with 2 marine bettas (argus and altivelis)

[Ardeus]

2 and a half years ago I got 2 marine bettas, 1 was nearly an adult and another with 6-8 months.

At the time I thought they were the same species, I later found out that the larger was an argus and the smaller an altivelis.

The argus hasn't grown at all and the altivelis tripled in size and is now larger than the argus.

They didn't care much about each other until recently.

I recorded a few of their interactions over the last couple of days and I think it's getting worse.




I would really appreciate some help in interpreting what's happening and where it's headed.

I leave a camera recording early in the morning and late afternoon because it's when they're most active.

 

[Nem1clownfish2]

Do you have another tank you could separate them with?

 

[Ardeus]

I have other tanks but they are empty at the moment.

I don't think I will be able to catch any of them without destroying half the tank. I will have to wait until 1 of them is cowering in a corner.

These videos are a collection of their interactions. 95% of the time they don't interact. Often they can be near each other without any problem. But it's getting worse, because they're getting more physical.

They're different species but it seems they're close enough to treat each other as conspecifics.

On the other hand it seems they're different enough that they won't cross breed. This means that maybe the altivelis is transitioning to a male.

My hope at the moment is that they manage to accept the new hierarchy and that the difference between the 2 species is enough to allow 2 males to coexist.

Anyone has experience in keeping 2 adults of these species?

 

[Ardeus]

Today I filmed them for 2 and a half hours and this was all I got.


It seems the argus accepts the reversal in the hierarchy. Hopefully there's peace from now on.