many breeders do successfully breed bettas that way and its understandable when you have a substantial amount of breeding pairs which will result in thousands of fry. makes cleaning the breeding and grow out tanks easier. However, having a plant or two doesn't hurt and rather is beneficial when either betta is not quite ready for spawing and needs to hide from the more aggressive one. It can be as simple as having a clump of java moss floating in the tank. Males do kill females, but females are just as aggressive and do kill potential mates for being too slow.![]()