Are girl bettas happy living alone?

[SuckerLove86]

I don't think it's really an absolute must. I mean, most of the cups they are kept in don't really have a way of cycling, and probably hardly ever changed. So frequent water changes would be great for them cause eventually the tank will cycle on it's own I believe.

 

[BettaMomma]

See that's where I run into a problem.
I don't have another cycled tank and no one that I know of does.

I dont' wanna sacrifice another fishy like a danio, cuz it's not fair to him (i'm such a tard!) and if he made it thru the cycle process what would I then do with him??

I might just go for it and do partial, but high percentage water changes daily for quite a while.
We'll see what happens....

 

[SuckerLove86]

I think that the bacteria will be gone after two weeks of no ammonia.

If you're nervous about passing on what Amos caught then by all means sterilize it.

Are you going to use any of the decorations that are in there in the new setup? If so, then perhaps you could sterelize what you wanted to use, and put it in one of your other betta's tanks for a while. After a few days, move it back over to the 5 gallon cause it will have likely picked up some of the beneficial bacteria.

*EDIT* Also, I read that adding a few pieces of food to a tank with nothing in it will create ammonia too when the food decomposes.

 

[BettaMomma]

Yeah, that's what I thought.
I think i'm going to skip using anything that's now in that tank.
Too many bad memories.

Anyway, they don't really work with my new decorating idea.

I'm off to the lfs.
WISH ME LUCK!

 

[SuckerLove86]

Good luck!

 

[OohFeeshy]

Adding a danio to cycle? Now thats not fair IMO. Danios are schooling fish, and need a lot of space to swim in, since they are active fish. And what would she do with it after?
Is it having a filter? If not, then you don't nessecarilly need to cycle. But to be on the safe side, I'd add a small scoop of gravel from your most disease free tank, put it in the cut off end of an old pair of tights and put it on the sand. That will transfer some bacteria from the gravel to the sand.

 

[lovebuzz]

Cycling is not necessary. I had my betta in a 5.5 gallon and did WEEKLY water changes of about 50 percent and he was fine. You should be fine doing 30-50% changes every 3-4 days, then after about 3 or four weeks increase it to every 5 days for a while, then 6, then a week, but go no higher.

 

[Raechal]

I can send you some gravel from my 29 gallon that is cycled but that might take a few days. When we first got our male betta, we didn't know about cycling so we kept him in a 1.5 gallon bowl and did water changes like every 2-3 days and he lived for 3 years...would have lived longer but my little sister did a water change and didn't know you had to use dechlor.

Anyways, I think it would be fine to leave your tank uncycled as long as your committed to do frequent water changes. I agree that water changes with sand will take more time than water changes with gravel, but if you have the time then I would go with sand as I love it in my 120 gallon.

About females and the currents and all that stuff...My tiny female betta (She is only an inch IF that) had a really hard time even in a 10 gallon with a filter as she was blown everywhere and had a hard time searching for food. She got really skinny and I tried her in the 120 gallon as well and she didn't eat and stayed in a corner all the time. So I removed her and put her back in the 10 gallon without the filter/current and she is doing fine! She is a bright red now and getting fatter. She is still about an inch though. I don't think she will ever grow, that is why I am afraid putting her in with any other females since she is so small. My female betta is fine by herself and seems happy. I have a moneywort plant in there and another tall plant I am not sure the name of, she also has a little plastic plant and a cave. She likes the cave, I just added it today for her.

I also have 12 female bettas in the 120 gallon and there is very minimun flaring and nipping. And when there is, it is always the same few bettas. The others are pretty docile and have a good time swimming all around the tank together. If you get them young, maybe they will tolerate each other in the 5 gallon but I would make sure you have a separate tank you can split them up if anything goes wrong. Goodluck!

I am also thinking about getting another tiny female for my current female. I think she would like the company, but I need to make sure I get one as small or smaller than her.

 

[3fsh]

Adding a danio to cycle? Now thats not fair IMO. Danios are schooling fish, and need a lot of space to swim in, since they are active fish. And what would she do with it after?

Not fair? I don't think that adding a betta to a tank that is unfiltered and subjecting it to mini cycles every week is very fair. Danios are one of the hardiest fish out there... and they can withstand significant amounts of ammonia without serious damage. I also didn't say you have to use them because there is always the option of doing a fishless cycle. As for what she would do with it afterwards... most reputable LFS will buy the danio/s back once you are done cycling your tank or they will give you store credit for them.

 

[newfishies]

i was thinking of putting my 3 girls in a 5 gal mini-bow, and i was STRONGLY advised not to, (although i kinda knew it was too small myself). i think a 5 gal hex would have even less room for the 2 girls to get away from each other!

i have 2 girls that flare at each other all the time (well, mostly during feeding time, i don't know how they'd be in a tank together?

i'll try to find my topic from before....

edit here it is!!
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...5475&hl=females

 

[Raechal]

I just picked one of the females out of my 120 gallon and put her in the divided 10 gallon that is about 6-7 gallons and the other 3-4 gallons is for the male betta after he gets over his finrot. The female I picked out of the 120 gallon was showing stress lines ever since she was put in the 120 gallon. She is VERY docile and hasn't even flared at my tiny female betta. I re-arranged all the decor so the current female wouldn't have her territory anymore. I am currently monitoring them and will continue to do that all day. There is two caves and lots of plants so there are lots of places to hide in. Hopefully it will work out and I will post back on what happens.