Betta sorority

[Irishlad123]

Hi everyone. Just came across this concept of a Betta sorority. Does anyone experience with them.
What size tank would ye reccomend or are these a awful idea. Can you put 1 male in with the females? I hear this topic can be a bit controversial. Thanks

 

[Essjay]

Betta sororities need careful attention as things can go wrong quickly. There must be at least 4 females; the tank should be at least 20 gallons/70 litres; the tank should be well planted to give each female somewhere to hide. The females should all be added at the same time. They will set up a hierarchy and any females added later will disrupt the hierarchy. Some females are as aggressive as males, and if you end up with one of these, she should be removed immediately. It is not unknown for a 'female' betta to be a short finned male, something else that should be watched for.
Keeping several females in the same tank is not natural for bettas. It can work but it can also end up in a disaster.

Males should never be kept with females except very briefly with one female in a breeding tank.

 

[Irishlad123]

Can you add other tank mates or should they be a species only tank.

 

[Retired Viking]

Best to have a species only tank.

 

[Irishlad123]

In a 200 litre would ye still stick to 4 or would you up the numbers. If so how many

 

[CryptFan]

In a 200 litre would ye still stick to 4 or would you up the numbers. If so how many

I would do AT LEAST 12.

 

[FishGuest5123]

I had a betta sorority. Eleven ladies in a 20 gallon long heavily planted tank. Beautiful tank. Then, as @essjay warned, one day everything went wrong. The fish began coming down with columnaris due to high stress levels. I lost the entire tank. Won’t do it again. It was horrible.

 

[fishfandan]

So here is the thing. Betta Sororities are great. When you add a Male it is called a "harem" (or sorority +1) Anyways... a lot of people are against harems, because generally Betta males are very aggressive. However, If you cycle through enough males you may be able to find one that isn't very aggressive. I have a harem, Red Crowntail male as my patriarch, absolutely gentle, very friendly fish. (even less aggressive then some of the females) A lot of people might get mad at you for having a harem, these people probably have never experienced having a non agressive male. I lucked out, it only took me 2 tries to get a decent male for my harem, but some people cycle through very many.

 

[cupofjoel]

Betta sororities need careful attention as things can go wrong quickly. There must be at least 4 females; the tank should be at least 20 gallons/70 litres; the tank should be well planted to give each female somewhere to hide. The females should all be added at the same time. They will set up a hierarchy and any females added later will disrupt the hierarchy. Some females are as aggressive as males, and if you end up with one of these, she should be removed immediately. It is not unknown for a 'female' betta to be a short finned male, something else that should be watched for.
Keeping several females in the same tank is not natural for bettas. It can work but it can also end up in a disaster.

Males should never be kept with females except very briefly with one female in a breeding tank.

I have a 75 gallon tank with one male betta and four female bettas. I wanted to add community fish like ember tetras to the tank, most likely around 10+. The tank is lightly planted which could be an issue, but I think with the size of the tank everyone should be okay.

 

[Briggan]

Hi there!
I currently have a 20 gallon tank that houses a sorority of 9 bettas.
In my opinion, odd numbers are best because in some cases, you will find that two of the girls with fight for complete dominance and it could lead to the death of the other, throwing off the heirarchy. I would recommend at least 5-7girls for starting a sorority. It is best to add them all at once but I have had no problem with adding new members so far, it depends on your fish.

Never keep males with females. Even if there isn’t an immediate problem, the male can quickly turn his attitude around. Even when breeding bettas, you should remove the female once the male is “finished” with her so no further trauma comes to her.

Clean water, good filtration, and proper space are important in keeping sororities, but some people support the idea that a slight crowding of the tank actually helps distribute any future aggression so that it is not focused on just one fish.

If you are going to do a sorority, make sure there are enough places for the ladies to escape from each other, females are just as tough as males, just slightly more tolerant. Also be sure to inspect fish before purchase and monitor your tank for any developing diseases or over-aggression. Keep in mind that some females simply will not tolerate others so you may have to return or separate a bully.

One more thing: there is bound to be some nipping and chasing in the beginning, so expect some fraying, but keep an eye out for bullies.

hope this helps and good luck, let us know how you do

 

[goldfish_is_orange]

Sorry for hijacking this thread, but I didn't want to create a duplicate. I already have a lot of info from the replies here, but still want to make sure.

We have a 15g planted tank that's cycling at the moment, and we want to put a betta sorority in it. possibly a male after a year or so, when we get to know the ladies better. Thing is, we were set on not keeping it a species-only tank until I read the recommendation here to keep it bettas only. We were planning to put in:
7-9 female bettas
6 cardinal tetras
4 otos
1 ramshorn snail

Getting a bigger tank is out of the question, because we created a space specially for this 15g. It's planted heavily at the back, with 2 big rock arches and more plants in front, so enough hiding spots I think. Should we reconsider? Maybe stick to 7 bettas to make room for the others? Thanks in advance

 

[Briggan]

Personally I think that’s too many fish for a 15 gal. You MAY be able to get by with the bettas and possibly the snail but I think that might be your limit there, but look for others’ opinions on that.

Regarding the possibility of a male..were you looking to put him in with the females or after the females had been moved somewhere else?Mixing males and females is not a good idea unless you plan on dividing or separating the tank, which in a 15 gallon with that many females I probably wouldn’t do. If you planned on moving the females and then adding a male, then you can probably add some other tank mates like you wanted.

Again, look for other responses in case I overlooked something or was incorrect.

 

[goldfish_is_orange]

Personally I think that’s too many fish for a 15 gal. You MAY be able to get by with the bettas and possibly the snail but I think that might be your limit there, but look for others’ opinions on that.

Regarding the possibility of a male..were you looking to put him in with the females or after the females had been moved somewhere else?Mixing males and females is not a good idea unless you plan on dividing or separating the tank, which in a 15 gallon with that many females I probably wouldn’t do. If you planned on moving the females and then adding a male, then you can probably add some other tank mates like you wanted.

Again, look for other responses in case I overlooked something or was incorrect.

Thanks for your input.
If we reduce the bettas to 5 and drop the otos, do you think that will work betta? (ha!) So the new count is 5 bettas, 6 tetras and a snail.

I'm not worried about the male for now, since that idea only popped up when I read @fishfandan's comment about a harem-- but this is not something we would do in the next 12 months. We want to really get to know the female bettas and how to care for them properly before we try that.

 

[Essjay]

Please don't ever put a male betta in a tank with females. They should never be kept together except when breeding them, and even then they are only together for the brief period of actual spawning and the female must be removed as soon as spawning is over.