Female Betta Questions

[Alaris]

1.) Can female bettas be kept together in the same tank? I have read both yes and no.
2.) Is there a minimum or maximum number for a group of females?
3.) What environmental recommendations do you have for keeping females together?
4.) Does anyone have xp with grouping females, good or bad?

We're just considering our options for stocking the 10g. I want a girl and my husband wants a boy. go figure ^_~

 

[mr86mister]

I once had 3 females in a ten gallon. There is a possibility that they will fight, as always in certain types of fish. I would go with 3+ to at least spread out the aggression. I had mine in water temps around 81, with basic pH levels for a Tropical Community aquarium.

 

[Purrbox]

Normally it isn't a problem to keep multiple female bettas together. Occasionally you'll run into a female that is just as feisty as the males, in which case she may need to be housed separately.

 

[new2betas]

I have two females that I had to separate, but I think it had more to do with the tank being too small for two of them. I am getting ready to introduce them to my 29g soon, though with other fish and I am hoping they get along with everyone already there.

 

[saffikeagan]

With female bettas you should have at least 3. It's good to break the tank up with plants or decorations so that each can establish her own territory. If you do not get them all at the same time, when adding a new one, my LFS said to turn the lights off and rearrange the tank. Then the one(s) that were there will be nicer to the newbie because it won't be "their" tank anymore. It will trick them out of thinking that the whole tank is their territory to defend.

 

[Alaris]

So then I should add them all at the same time rather then one at a time? I am thinking about 3 girls in my 10g.

 

[saffikeagan]

If your tank has fully cycled and you've been dosing with high levels of ammonia, why not? If your tank cycled with low doses of ammonia, then adding the three fish at once can cause a mini-cycle that will need to be monitored.

 

[fluffyntex]

I have 2 in my 55 gallon community tank. I added them a week apart after it was already stocked with guppies, platys, mollies, cories and pleco
No problems at all with them.

 

[JohnPaul]

1.) Can female bettas be kept together in the same tank? I have read both yes and no.
2.) Is there a minimum or maximum number for a group of females?
3.) What environmental recommendations do you have for keeping females together?
4.) Does anyone have xp with grouping females, good or bad?

We're just considering our options for stocking the 10g. I want a girl and my husband wants a boy. go figure ^_~

1. Yes.
2. At least 3 minimum, a few more (4-5) is a bit more ideal if you have the space.
3. Lots of plants and/or other items to break up sight lines. Especially important so the non-dominant females can "get away" from the dominant female if she is in a bad mood.
4. I've kept females in community tanks successfully, but only 1 at a time.

Note: from your last line, I get the impression that you are considering housing the male with the females. This is major bad news. The male almost certainly will kill the females one by one. Males must be housed by themselves; if you want to breed bettas you keep the male & female(s) in separate tanks (though within sight of each other), feed them lots of live foods to prep them for breeding, then introduce a single female into the male's tank when the bubble nest is built and both are ready...and then remove the female from the tank immediately after mating has occurred.

You can only get away with keeping males & females in the same tank if it is a very large tank (probably 75 gallons plus).

 

[Alaris]

1. Yes.
2. At least 3 minimum, a few more (4-5) is a bit more ideal if you have the space.
3. Lots of plants and/or other items to break up sight lines. Especially important so the non-dominant females can "get away" from the dominant female if she is in a bad mood.
4. I've kept females in community tanks successfully, but only 1 at a time.

Note: from your last line, I get the impression that you are considering housing the male with the females. This is major bad news. The male almost certainly will kill the females one by one. Males must be housed by themselves; if you want to breed bettas you keep the male & female(s) in separate tanks (though within sight of each other), feed them lots of live foods to prep them for breeding, then introduce a single female into the male's tank when the bubble nest is built and both are ready...and then remove the female from the tank immediately after mating has occurred.

You can only get away with keeping males & females in the same tank if it is a very large tank (probably 75 gallons plus).

Thanks JohnPaul! Actually I know better than to keep a male and female together. I know that my last statement kinda sounded like it though.

I read your reply in the "Angels & Bettas" thread and it sounded to me like this group of 4+ females need a bigger than 10g tank. I've been reading more and more how difficult and random it is that females will get along together. (At least with males you know that chance is zip.)

I really don't want to over crowd my tank and it's so difficult to choose! We'll probably go to the fishy store and see which one we'd like to take home. Then after a few weeks and we've gotten to know the betta's disposition, we can then decide whether or not to add more fish (considering: otos, cories, cardinals [not ALL]).

Thanks for all replies. ^_^