Female Betta Questions

[Sime]

Hi,
I'm new to bettas - i have one male who has been living happily in my tank for a while now, i was thinking of getting him some female friends though. Would the minimum be 3 females?

I was just wondering how delicate they were etc, i read somewhere they were prone to fungus - is this true? I've read around these forums a bit and cant see why they wouldnt be at home here - just want to check first though...

any tips welcome,
many thanks,
Simon.

 

[RandomWiktor]

This forum REALLY needs a sticky thread about female bettas....

To answer your question, male and female bettas should never be kept together. They will almost always, with VERY few exceptions, injure or even kill one another.

Males strongly prefer to be alone - no females unless for breeding, and no other fish. They feel stressed and constantly need to display and attack to feel secure in their territory. Your male should be kept alone, or in a heavily planted tank with passive, dull colored fish.

However, if you'd like to keep female bettas separately from your male, you will need a min. 10 gallon tank with heater/filter/etc. and tons of places to hide. You may then purchase 5 females, and providing you don't have a super-dominant or super-submissive female in the group, no one should get attacked any more seriously than an occasional tail nip. However, there is never a guarentee of them getting along with one another or with other fish as many are just as agressive as their male counterparts.

As for fungus, I don't think females should be any more prone to this than males, though my experience with females is limited.

I hope this helped.

 

[Sime]

thanks! i only just posted that and an answer right away!

i'll leave him alone then, poor old chap! he seems content enough though - thanks for your reply, very informative.

Simon.

 

[Kiarra]

Another option is to simply get another setup like you have for your male, and simply put a female in it. Girls have much the same needs as the males do, and they can easily be kept alone, and in view of the male, so he can have a girl to look at, and she can look at him.

 

[Haiku]

Girls have much the same needs as the males do, and they can easily be kept alone, and in view of the male, so he can have a girl to look at, and she can look at him.

Apparently like some human guys I've known, who like to look and maybe flirt for awhile, but none of the marriage/commitment stuff

 

[BettaMomma]

that's like myself and Mr. Betta.
Well, we can't technically call him MISTER betta, because after only 6 1/2 short years he still isn't quite "ready".

lol

He's lucky I'm patient.