Cycling with fish

[lovebuzz]

I want to start a 10 gallon female betta community, with 4 bettas, some shrimp, and a snail or two.

Would I be able to cycle with the 4 females? I have some rocks, wood, and plants to break up lines of sight. The females are all going to be very small so less bioload.

I know for a ten gallon they recommend 3 danios to cycle....how many female bettas?

 

[jrd77]

This is just me but I would wait to put Bettas in until the tank is cycled....

Can you have more than 1 Betta in the same tank? I've nhever had a betta so I know NOTHING about them....

 

[lovebuzz]

You can put only females together, and you really should break up the lines of sight with decor.

 

[sylvia]

...and always keep at least 4 to devide aggression if you want more than one and add them all at once. Males will kill each other and females.

Anyway, yes you could cycle with them or the shrimp but there's the easier method of just 'borrowing' some old filter media from an already running, established tank. Put this in your 10 gallon's filter just before going to the LFS to get the bettas and you'll have an instant cycle. In a 2-5 days, the bacteria should have colonised the rest of the media in your filter and the gravel and it should be safe to return the 'borroed' piece to its original filter. You could also use old gravel from an established tank in place of the media.