Betta Sororities

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absolutangel04 said:
Thanks AquaKai. I appreciate the links. :)
From all the research I have done, it really seems like one of those things that is highly variable. I still have not found many examples of it actually working out in the long term though. People will sometimes say it worked out for them, but do not give specifics on the tanks. I just am naturally a little skeptical about info like that with no data to back it up.

Seems like we are reading the same sites! I think I am going to try 4-5 females - as small as I can get them and all the same size- in my 20g once the plants grow in. If it doesn't work, I'll give up! And I'll stock up on five gallon tanks in case I have to separate them!
 
Yeah, that seems like it has as good a chance of working as anything does. I haven't really seen any better outcomes in larger tanks. I currently only have a 10g available and 4-6 females in there just seems like way too much to me.
I think I may switch over to a different species of betta instead.
 
From the research I did, you have to look at them like African cichlids. You gotta over stock the tank (including up-ing the filtration). I came up with six being good for 10g through the millions of things I read. I, literally, over researched until I bored myself to death.

IF (big "if", here) I did this again, I would probably use a 40gB. Lots of floor space for all the caves you will need. And then grab like fifteen females.

Oh, another thing I didn't add, they were are juviniles. If I did this again, I would grab the "baby bettas" are Petco. Even younger, so better conditioning to get used to each other.

The problem with going bigger (another thing I read) is that you have the chance that it won't be just one fish that could go rogue. You can get pairs or trios that work together to take out the whole tank.
 
Thanks for the additional info.
Yeah, it does seem a bit like Africans now that you mention it.
I have certainly picked up that the more females the better. It makes sense to limit the amount of territory any fish can claim to reduce aggression.
I had not heard about the teams working together before. That makes sense though judging by how I have seen them behave sometimes.
I had actually started thinking about this again because I saw a ton of babies at PetCo the other day. I won't buy bettas from them anymore because of their husbandry practices, but seeing all TINY little fish make me think. I have definitely heard the same thing about the younger the better for these set-ups.
 
I have a sorority 10g with 3 Betta, I've had them in it a week now and they are doing fine. It's early, I know. The gals were in separate (too small) bowls for 3 weeks, set up so they could see each other. I don't know if this helped when I put them together in the 10g or not. Wanda appears to be the Alpha. She and Florence get along fine. Florence just started chasing Goldie. Wanda ignores Goldie. I know I need more hiding places for them, I added 3 caves and more plants yesterday but I think I still need more.
 
I have a sorority 10g with 3 Betta, I've had them in it a week now and they are doing fine. It's early, I know. The gals were in separate (too small) bowls for 3 weeks, set up so they could see each other. I don't know if this helped when I put them together in the 10g or not. Wanda appears to be the Alpha. She and Florence get along fine. Florence just started chasing Goldie. Wanda ignores Goldie. I know I need more hiding places for them, I added 3 caves and more plants yesterday but I think I still need more.
Well, let us know how it goes in the long-run. I have heard some people say that letting them see each other helps, some people say no. It can't hurt though in this case, so hopefully it helped. :)
 
Because I just can't let this topic go... I was searching other betta forums and found this:

http://www.ultimatebettas.com/index.php?showtopic=12193&st=0

The initial post recommends 10 in a 10!

Another forum had several members recommend 6 for a 10g. And absolutely no less than 5. Seems like folks on this forum are much more conservative, which I tend to like. At the very least I don't have enough tanks to separate out 10 bettas if it doesn't work! I just think it is interesting how much of a spectrum there is for how many you could and/or should have.
 
Thanks VioletEmber! Yeah, there is not way I would put 10 of them in a 10g! I noticed though that the OP on that thread said they were running a sorority, but didn't say anything about what actually worked in their tank. The only person I saw who said theirs was successful for a couple years was the one with the 12g tank, 3 females, and danios. I definitely like to read about specific tanks set up that either have or haven't worked rather than the generic formulas for success that I keep seeing.
Lol, yeah I don't have 10 tanks sitting around either to separate everybody into if it doesn't work.
 
Oh man, I also had to laugh because the OP in that thread talked about how the plan doesn't follow the inch per gallon rule that stocking should usually follow. Lol.
 
From the research I did, you have to look at them like African cichlids. You gotta over stock the tank (including up-ing the filtration). I came up with six being good for 10g through the millions of things I read. I, literally, over researched until I bored myself to death.

IF (big "if", here) I did this again, I would probably use a 40gB. Lots of floor space for all the caves you will need. And then grab like fifteen females.

Oh, another thing I didn't add, they were are juviniles. If I did this again, I would grab the "baby bettas" are Petco. Even younger, so better conditioning to get used to each other.

The problem with going bigger (another thing I read) is that you have the chance that it won't be just one fish that could go rogue. You can get pairs or trios that work together to take out the whole tank.
I second all of this. My research lead me down the same path and I did 6 in a 10 gal. Tried 5 first actually, that wasn't working, so I added another, and lots of plants. It would seem to work for a while, but then there'd always be some sort of uproar. If they just could have settled down and established the whole pecking order thing, everything would have been fine, but there was constantly a new girl wanting to be alpha.

A larger tank would give them more room to run and hide, but if you ask me, the majority of female bettas do not want to be housed with another betta. They flat out don't like eachother.

After several months I split up the sorority. Some of those females are in communities now, and are model citizens, unless that is, I add something that resembles a female betta.

The only way I would ever consider trying a sorority again, is with sisters that have always been in the same tank.
 
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I second all of this. My research lead me down the same path and I did 6 in a 10 gal. Tried 5 first actually, that wasn't working, so I added another, and lots of plants. It would seem to work for a while, but then there'd always be some sort of uproar. If they just could have settled down and established the whole pecking order thing, everything would have been fine, but there was constantly a new girl wanting to be alpha.

A larger tank would give them more room to run and hide, but if you ask me, the majority of female bettas do not want to be housed with another betta. They flat out don't like eachother.

After several months I split up the sorority. Some of those females are in communities now, and are model citizens, unless that is, I add something that resembles a female betta.

The only way I would ever consider trying a sorority again, is with sisters that have always been in the same tank.
Thanks for adding to this thread! The more I have looked into it, I have not found many times when this actually did work out long term for people. I have not found any experiences where people tried it with sisters and shared the specifics of their tanks/attempts. I am curious now how much that would affect the long term outcome....
 
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