Female Bettas And My Other Fish . . .

[guppymommy]

I am wanting to move my sorority into a larger tank. Unfortunately, the only tanks I have at the moment are occupied. My 29 gallon has black skirt tetras, rosy barbs, serpae tetras, kissing gourami, and a rainbow shark so I don't think that would be a good choice.

In my 55 gallon, I have "regular" and hifin lyretail swordtails, silverdollars and a tinfoil barb (that thinks it's a silverdollar). I've heard that female bettas can coexist with regular swordtails, but I'm not sure about the hifin lyretail swordtails. I'm also not sure about the silverdollars and tinfoil barb. I don't want any dead fish so I've been hesitant to just put them in and see what happens.

Would adding my female bettas to this community tank be a disaster waiting to happen?

 

[lisie]

I'm sure lyretail swordtails aren't any different than regular ones as far as temperament goes, since it's just a difference in finnage. Silver dollars are also peaceful, if I remember correctly. I'm not sure about tinfoil barbs though. I would just use your best judgment on this one, and watch them closely to see how it goes if you decide to try it.

 

[guppymommy]

Yeah, the temperment is the same. I'm more worried about the flowing fins of the hifin lyretail swordtails causing the female bettas to attack them.

 

[jumphigh]

You people must come to the realization that betta are a solitary fish.

It is a mistaken belief that a female betta is somehow happy with any other type of fish in her water.

The truth is the female will stress. But some fishkeepers see this as a sign of contentment in the fish, and think they are happily 'playing'.......when in fact the female is slowly stressing enough to shorten her life.

The only arena to keep a female in with other fish is in a virgin community tank, and even then most females stress enough to shorten their lifespan.

When are some of you people going to wake up to the fact that what you are doing is wrong.

Betta are solitary, and for the sake of the fishes they must be kept in a body of water no larger than eight litres.

The water must be still. To keep them in bubbling filtered water is wrong also.
Some people actually state that their fish is happy and smiles at them and even plays in such an enviroment.

You are being cruel to these fish!!!!!!

 

[SPLiSH]

You people must come to the realization that betta are a solitary fish.

It is a mistaken belief that a female betta is somehow happy with any other type of fish in her water.

The truth is the female will stress. But some fishkeepers see this as a sign of contentment in the fish, and think they are happily 'playing'.......when in fact the female is slowly stressing enough to shorten her life.

The only arena to keep a female in with other fish is in a virgin community tank, and even then most females stress enough to shorten their lifespan.

When are some of you people going to wake up to the fact that what you are doing is wrong.

Betta are solitary, and for the sake of the fishes they must be kept in a body of water no larger than eight litres.

The water must be still. To keep them in bubbling filtered water is wrong also.
Some people actually state that their fish is happy and smiles at them and even plays in such an enviroment.

You are being cruel to these fish!!!!!!

My males are kept in 12 litre tanks. They are both over a year old and always blow bubblenests. Are you saying that the rice paddies that these fish originate from are less than eight litres?

 

[invader]

And another thing, you can put females together safely in a tank. As long as there is enough room, a lot of them and plenty of hiding places, they will get along.

 

[guppymommy]

You people must come to the realization that betta are a solitary fish.

It is a mistaken belief that a female betta is somehow happy with any other type of fish in her water.

The truth is the female will stress. But some fishkeepers see this as a sign of contentment in the fish, and think they are happily 'playing'.......when in fact the female is slowly stressing enough to shorten her life.

The only arena to keep a female in with other fish is in a virgin community tank, and even then most females stress enough to shorten their lifespan.

When are some of you people going to wake up to the fact that what you are doing is wrong.

Betta are solitary, and for the sake of the fishes they must be kept in a body of water no larger than eight litres.

The water must be still. To keep them in bubbling filtered water is wrong also.
Some people actually state that their fish is happy and smiles at them and even plays in such an enviroment.

You are being cruel to these fish!!!!!!

Woah!!! Take a breath and calm down. Thank you for your opinion. I resepect you for your feelings and the stand you choose to take, but I don't appreciate the "scolding" tone of your post.

Female bettas can be kept in sororities with each other and can sometimes be kept in community tanks. I was asking for advice BEFORE I do anything. Many people here have been keeping bettas for extended periods of time. The "natural" environment doesn't have much bearing on how we keep them domestically (with the exception of maybe the wild types) since the fish have been bred and raised in captivity and know nothing else.

I really don't want this thread to turn into a debate. If you want to debate, start a new thread. I am asking for the advice of my fellow betta keepers and am hoping to learn from their experiences.

Thank you.

 

[Dart]

I have actually been really lucky with my house's community tank (5-6 roommates - one large tank lol). Originally it had my five betta females and one large black skirt tetra, a guppy and a other tetra(not sure which type). It now has about 4-5 danios, a number of feeder guppies, a fancy guppy and the two tetras, a yoyo loach and a pleco. And to be perfectly honest it's worked out so i guess it really depends on what fish are in there and the temperment of the other fish.

 

[SPLiSH]

I really don't want this thread to turn into a debate. If you want to debate, start a new thread. I am asking for the advice of my fellow betta keepers and am hoping to learn from their experiences.

Thank you.

Sorry GM, got a bit carried away.

 

[geezer]

I put my female betta in a 95 gallon community tank.

includes clown loaches, sailfin mollies, gold gourami, emerald, turqoise, new guinea, ornate rainbow fish, blackskirt tetras, platies and algae eaters

I dunno where this person heard they need 8 litres only, since when? my female seems fine with all the fish and never flares at any of them

 

[Naughtygirlrlw]

I have successfully kept females in a community tank with no problems. It ALL depends on the temperament of the fish. If you do decide to go for it, just keep an eye on them and see how it goes.

 

[dwarfgourami]

8 liters- that's just over 2 gallons. Not a lot of space for a sorority tank. Could the poster just explain why female bettas need this restriction in volume? They do not strike me as such very poor swimmers.