Female Bettas

[krista522]

I have two female betta's, or atleast the fish store PetCo had them as female. One is pink with darker pink on the edges of her fins and the other one is very blue. I was wondering how to tell if they really are female. Both have very short fins and as I have been told thats how you know between male and female. I also want to know if a 5 gallon+ tank is big enough for the two of them and if I should get more incase they start to fight. I have had them since Valentines Day (they were a V-Day gift from my boyfriend) and they have yet to fight. I originally had three but one of them died (no idea why). Should I get more or is keeping two alright? And is my tank big enough? Ive often been told it's not big enough.

 

[Forestpisces]

In my experience females will fight if kept in groups less than 4 with 5 plus being optimal, in a 5gallon tank you will only be able to keep one girl, the options you have about that situiation is to either:

. Buy a ten gallon tank for 4-5 girls and have a sorority set-up

or

. Buy a seperate 5gallon tank and have one for each girl

To tell wether they are truely female you can look at their gills when they flare males will get a much more noticable "beard" (very large almost double layered looking) gills females are much smaller. Ventrils ( the dangley bits under their tummy) are also smaller on females

Hope that helps

 

[GuppyGoddess]

Hi,

I'm not a fan of keeping females together regardless of how big the tank and how many are in there. That said, 5-gallons is only big enough *UNLESS* your dedicated to frequent water changes. And I mean VERY frequent. As you can see from my sig below, I have a betta in a 2-gallon and he's kept in my bathroom b/c of the number of water changes that small of water volume requires. The ONLY betta I have who's water has been stable is the one I have in the 10-gallon. I bought the tank and put the betta directly in that one and after all this time, it still hasn't cycled but with 25% water changes, she doesn't have ammonia.

 

[Forestpisces]

Saying that i have two of my boys in sgal tanks alone and their tanks are very mature, i used mature media from my 35litre to cycle them both and the water has always been spot on. Sororities can be great when done properly. IMO your best off gettin another 5gal with filter heater etc and keep the girls sepereate

 

[silverrabbit]

Why are people against keeping females together? Sororities work fine IF you have enough females to spread the squabbling (personally 6 is good for me), a large enough tank 10gal+ and lots and lots of plants.

Sororities are fun to watch

OP - I think the 5gal will cause problems - more with fighting over territory I think than water quality (as long as you have a good filter that is). It may be ok now, but with bettas you never really know, the cheeky little minxes might just turn on each other and as there are only 2 the aggression is focused on just one fish, which results in worse injuries and high stress levels.

Just my opinion

 

[krista522]

Thanks for all the opinions! I originally had three female bettas in a 2 gallon and one of them died (I think she was sick when I got her she never swimmed around and didn't eat from the beginning) I just recently bought the 5 gallon and they honestly don't know what to do with all the space. They never leave each others side which is why I was wondering if one of them was a male but apparently if the blue one was a male, they wouldn't be so close. About my filter, are they supposed to turn off?

 

[Forestpisces]

You need to leave the filter running around the clock

As for the girls i really must stress that they either need to be made into a sorority in a larger tank or seperated, it may not seem it no but they can turn in a second

For now whilst you figure out what to do why dont you divide the tank so that the girls have 2.5 gals each

 

[krista522]

i will definitely divide them. My filter won't turn on, I have done exactly what it says and it keeps turning off. its whirring, but it's not filter-ing. is there anything i could do? or should i just take it back?

 

[silverrabbit]

Can you take it apart and check the impeller? Maybe it's blocked up with gunk and so isn't moving water but you can hear the motor...

 

[Night61]

my experence with female bettas is this.
i tried to establish a community with 5 female bettas. one female betta in particular, picked on and had a hand in the death in all the bettas either indirectly or directly. she now lives happily in a community of other fish but no other bettas.
i think she likes being queen of the tank.

 

[krista522]

Male or female??

 

[The betta expert]

I think usually about four bettas are best. Ask me if you need anything!

 

[BethK]

Male or female??

That looks like it's a young male. Did they say how old they were?

p.s. a friend keeps 2 female bettas in a 17 ltr tank and has no issues (think that is 4.5 gallons?). Mind you, they were both brought from the same LFS tank, so had been together prior.