Betta Sorority?

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GuppyGuy333

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I'm honestly surprised I haven't seen that much on here about it (I tried using the search tools and could only find passing comments that it's possible).

I was just wondering if anyone on here has experimented with it? and if they have had any success or horror stories. Tips, tricks?

I'm experimenting with one right now and I'm kind of paranoid about it and am prepared for the worst. Still fingers crossed and hoping for the best though!
 
More than four at all times, odd numbers are better, lots and lots of plants and decor, and have a back up plan in case one just can not get along with the others.

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Toad has the right of it. You need a tank large enough and decorated enough that the line of sight is broken often and any fish being picked on can hide. It's also key to add them all at once so there is less chance of one seeing another as invading their territory and so the pecking order can be established. it's also important to get betas that do not look alike (different colors). I've always heard 5 or more is preferred, never less than 4. Try to find females that don't show aggression towards others at the pet store. This way you have a better chance of them being less aggressive towards each other. You would still want to avoid any fish that seems inactive or disinterested in their surrounding however. These can be signs of unhealthy fish.
 
Both above posters are correct and give very good advice! The first step is choosing a tank. Some use a 10 gallon and say it works fine, but I'd recommend a 20 gallon to begin with. The reason is because it gives more room to hide out in if stressed, allows you to have more females which is better, and has enough space to keep the bioload down. Make sure your sorority has lots of hiding places terra cotta pots, rocks, driftwood, and caves all make excellent shelters for your bettas. I also recommend live plants as it is good for your fish's delicate fins, looks very nice, is natural, and helps maintain water quality. When choosing your fish, my recommendation is to choose siblings first. I breed bettas and I have sibling sororities and they tend to get along much better than females introduced in adulthood. If you can't get siblings, shoot for fish raised up together as this too increases your chances. If neither are available, look for females from the same source, whether this be a pet store, small breeder, or whatever else. Also check them for aggression, you don't want a female that flares insanely at the other females and looks as though she wants to kill. You also want to make sure though that the female isn't sickly and that's why she's calm, you likely already know what to look out for in a sick fish so I don't think I need to go over that. The ideal female will be calm, but active, and will be responsive to you but ignores or does not confront the other female(s). Make sure you have spare 2.5 gallon buckets, bins, or tanks available as many times sororities don't work out and fish need to be removed. Each separate bucket/tank will need its own filter and heater so be aware that instead of having one tank with several females, you can have several tanks with one female if it happens to not work out. Watch your females VERY closely for the first two weeks, after that point you can usually settle down. Tussles and fin nips are not abnormal and your females will flare and create a pecking order. It's important that through this time you leave the females to do their thing, but if a fish's fins become very frayed, they become way too stressed, or an actual fight breaks out, separate immediately. Sororities are an amazing experience and having successfully run many, I have come to love them quite a lot! They're definitely lots of work and heartbreak, but it's definitely worth it to see a group of such beautiful fish living in harmony. I wish you luck in the creating of your sorority, and please ask if you have any more questions!
 
Thank you all so much!!! much of what you said coincided with and gave more detail to the research I did beforehand before attempting it. I plan on making a detailed post in the future about my experience/attempt....hopefully it will be talking about my success.

My sorority has unintentionally become my favorite tank. Thought the tank is perhaps the least attractive due to the high amount of plants making it very jungle like and doesn't look planned at all. it has one big thing of driftwood and some sticks throughout.

They are currently in a ten gallon and that is where I'm starting to have my difficulty
They have a filter(filter intake has a sponge over it and I baffled the outflow with one too), heater, and I do 50+% water change once a week.

I was unable to choose siblings because my bettas have been chosen one or two at a time over the last four months. Though I have been pretty good about choosing different looking bettas. I have also usually pick the younger looking ones or the more passive ones (possibly sick ones too......but every time I add a betta I dose with tetra life-guard tablets for the recommended time and it seems to help a lot!)
I have kept backup tanks the entire time in case anything bad happened.

but my problem or rather my anxiety comes from that I have 9 female bettas at the moment in a 10 gallon tank. I probably should have stopped at 7 but my self control lost to my love of my new additions.
Though there is absolutely no difference between this last addition of two to the previous time when i went from 5 bettas to 7. I would rather be pro-active than reactive. And it's only been a week so I feel like it's too soon to tell whether or not the amount of bettas is working in the current tank

I would very much like to transfer them to a bigger tank but I have some questions. Have any of you ever kept a sorority with other fish or invertebrates? Potentially having a sorority coexisting in a community tank or do you think it could work in certain conditions?


I currently have a male betta in a 55g community and he is weirdly passive and non-aggressive. I know every betta personality is different and one betta in a community doesn't really translate into 9 different bettas possibly coexisting with other fish while also trying to coexist with eachother...I was just curious/hopeful (I have no intention to ever let my male live with my females, i was just using him as an example)
 
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