How many fish? (33 gallon sorority)

[pattyfurg]

Hi guys! It's been a seriously long time since iv kept fish.
The deal is, I went to a betta expo with some work friends and there was an auction...
Me having all the self control, didn't get a paddle until half way through when HM female bettas were going for $5!!!
So back to the point, I bought 4 females. Kept them in small containers floating in my fishtank whilst my 33 gallon tank cycled.
Now it is cycled (and heavily planted for hiding) I want to know how many bettas I can put in the tank?
I haven't introduced the 4 to the tank yet as I know it is unlikely to work with 4 but I don't want to overpopulate the tank.

(I also have a blind goldfish in there as my yabbies were nipping at her)


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[Delapool]

My guess would be two for a try but I have heard of more working in very, very heavily planted tanks (albeit very rarely).

 

[Cecibella123]

You should probably put 5-6 female bettas in the tank. It's best to keep only 1, or several. Too few, and the dominant female will harass the weakest to death. With 5-6 fish, her harassment will be spread out more. You could also put 1 male in the tank if you chose. He'll keep the females occupied so there isn't as much aggression between them. If you put a few floating plants in the tank, and keep your water warm enough (78-80), in all likelihood, they'll breed, especially right after a water change.

 

[Autumnsky]

Any of the fish male or female, can have better community personalities than others. And they can change personality overnight and become unsuitable.

I have kept a sorority of 6 fish which became 4 after one was discovered to be (raised from a baby) a plakat finned male fish (looked like a female) which grew up to maybe 2.5" and killed a female before I caught on and maybe a small / baby (earlier on) but unknown the cause of the tiny one.

So the male was expelled and that just left 3 females, then due to changing tanks around those were rehomed to another family.

As babies they were fine together and when they got ~2" I did notice one chasing others around much more than they usually should.

Just be careful to observe the fish. I have owned maybe 30-40 Bettas in 20 years and only 2 times tried the sorority.

Once long ago ended up with the meanest female fish I have ever seen, killed anything in the tank. Really beautiful wild looking mossy green. But MEAN fish.

Then the other time mentioned above.

OP how are the fish doing? I have read and followed several people with great luck with large groups of female Bettas. Just watch for any mean ones and have a plan to rehome or isolate to different quarters.

The GF shouldn't be a bother to them but I would introduce the GF first and then the females all at the same time. The only issue is temps for the GF. 75F would be the lowest for the Betta and the GF would likely be okay as their ideal temps would max at around 74F.

Just keep watch on a daily / routine basis in case they mature and start causing issues.

As for how many, I think you could do a larger number than 4 maybe 6-8, but they should be added at the same time.

Later if you get more, you might be able to remove them all to a bucket put in the new ones and add the old ones back in after 12 hours to a day. With no guarantees but a possibility of harmony. Also you could keep the leader out for another day for the rest to adjust.

It is recommended to move around plants and decorations to seem like a new tank to diminish territorial familiarity.

 

[pattyfurg]

Any of the fish male or female, can have better community personalities than others. And they can change personality overnight and become unsuitable.

I have kept a sorority of 6 fish which became 4 after one was discovered to be (raised from a baby) a plakat finned male fish (looked like a female) which grew up to maybe 2.5" and killed a female before I caught on and maybe a small / baby (earlier on) but unknown the cause of the tiny one.

So the male was expelled and that just left 3 females, then due to changing tanks around those were rehomed to another family.

As babies they were fine together and when they got ~2" I did notice one chasing others around much more than they usually should.

Just be careful to observe the fish. I have owned maybe 30-40 Bettas in 20 years and only 2 times tried the sorority.

Once long ago ended up with the meanest female fish I have ever seen, killed anything in the tank. Really beautiful wild looking mossy green. But MEAN fish.

Then the other time mentioned above.

OP how are the fish doing? I have read and followed several people with great luck with large groups of female Bettas. Just watch for any mean ones and have a plan to rehome or isolate to different quarters.

The GF shouldn't be a bother to them but I would introduce the GF first and then the females all at the same time. The only issue is temps for the GF. 75F would be the lowest for the Betta and the GF would likely be okay as their ideal temps would max at around 74F.

Just keep watch on a daily / routine basis in case they mature and start causing issues.

As for how many, I think you could do a larger number than 4 maybe 6-8, but they should be added at the same time.

Later if you get more, you might be able to remove them all to a bucket put in the new ones and add the old ones back in after 12 hours to a day. With no guarantees but a possibility of harmony. Also you could keep the leader out for another day for the rest to adjust.

It is recommended to move around plants and decorations to seem like a new tank to diminish territorial familiarity.

I have since moved the GF to a different tank and introduced all the fish together, they get along just fine so far, I'm worried about adding some more fish in the future as I'm looking to breed a pair of bettas and I would like to add the female after the spawn to the sorority (obviously after a cool down)

 

[Autumnsky]

The breeder's setup I saw was about a 75G holding all small babies maybe under an inch.

Then she would remove culls as she saw they needed to go.

Then as they got larger she would remove them to small pint sized / maybe quart containers - like deli containers and sell them. They got daily 100% water changes.

She would keep some in larger containers maybe gallons or so, Then some more special ones were in 2.5-5 gallons (- it has been a few years...to remember it all) for consideration for breeding prospects.

There was another almost cube shaped large tank (probably over 60G) she moved the females into - all the younger ones in a pretty large tank as they were maybe 1-2 inches.

But she sold lots of fish and won many awards.