Female bettas

[Mike&Diana]

I have a 3 gallon Eclipse system and was eventually interested in buying some female bettas to put in it. How many could I put in it? The only other thing in there is an African dwarf frog.

 

[Teelie]

At that size, only two at most but I would be careful incase there's a personality conflict. I have two in a 30 gallon and there was some nipping and dominance flaring between them before things settled down.

 

[cometcattle]

I would not put more than 1 in a 3g.

 

[Teelie]

Bettas aren't too bad at smaller spaces like that, especially compared to what they're crammed into.

 

[Dwarfs]

Females should be kept in fours tokeep agressiveness down. They aren't as bad as the male but they will fight

 

[cometcattle]

Females should be kept in fours tokeep agressiveness down. They aren't as bad as the male but they will fight

Yes, but it woudnt be wise to cram 4 in a 3gallon.

 

[Teelie]

I have two in my 30 with no troubles at all. Then again the amount of space probably helps a lot, but I don't think they need to be kept in groups of 4. It does partly depend on personality too.

 

[shrks1fan]

It has been well documented by many longtime betta keepers/breeders, if kept in the same aquarium, females should be kept in at least 3 if not 4 or more otherwise there will be one that will be dominated against and possibly injured or killed (but definetly harrassed to the point of not enjoying life). Also it's known if you do keep the females together then it needs to be in a tank with plenty of room and hiding places, which a 3 gallon would not be. So I'd say just keep one in the tank with the frog.

Linda
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[Teelie]

As well documented as it is, it's not always correct. Like I said, I have two females with no problems. Dominance was established or ignored and they get along very well. Only one female had minor fin injuries and those may have been present before I bought her.

A 3 gallon though, probably wouldn't work so well. I didn't think about how much space would be taken up by having to add plants and hiding places.

 

[freshmike]

IMO. Female bettas can be as nasty as males, no they don't fight to the death like the males (all the time) The best idea for keeping a group is to have a tank with plants/hiding places and enough room for them to have there own spaces. A 3 gallon, in my opinion is only big enough for one of them and maybe some other non-betta type friends. Just as an example, we have 2 females, each in their own 3/4 gallon azoo tank and any time they even catch a glimpse of the other, they are flaring and bashing into the sides of their tank, pretty much trying to kill one another...maybe it's just them, but these two could NEVER live together...it's actually pretty cute, they flare out like males, or try to.

 

[Teelie]

It does depend on the personality of the fish in part. I was lucky that my girls get along fine and share food. I don't over feed them but they do get well fed, stealing pellets from my Cories.

 

[Mike&Diana]

So if I do get one female betta for my tank, what would go well with it? I've pretty much thrown out the idea of having more than one female in there. I didn't realize that females could be as aggressive as males! I've only had male bettas, never females. Just wanted to try something different!

 

[freshmike]

In my 2.5's I have male bettas and 2 julii cories each.....makes for a pretty good balance and seems to give the betta some friends to "play" with....

I am assuming that an eclipse3 is filtered....

 

[cutechic]

I agree, a betta and a pair of corys would be nice Or you might be able to keep a betta and a pair of ADFs instead

 

[Teelie]

Cories prefer groups of 3 or more but you may be able to squeeze 3 in there with a Betta. Cories are the cleanest fish I've seen. I never find any waste from them and they are fairly hardy fish so long as the conditions aren't dramatically altered on them.