Giving Female Betta a Friend?

[amerz]

Right now I have a healthy female betta in a 3g... some of you may have seen the video I posted... Well, she looks completely different now. No more horizontal stripes, she's just a plain colour that shimmers purple/blue/green. The other day I even saw vertical stripes!

She spends a lot of the time swimming up and down the corners of the hex, looking at her reflection (i think), as do lots of my other fish. She looks so lonely that I thought I'd buy her a little friend.

Is this possible (agressiveness of females?)? Do I have room? If so, suggestions on what kind of fish?

 

[JoKeR]

Maybe some cories or ottos. Maybe even another female.

 

[amerz]

I have another female betta

The new one's still in the bag, and I'm already starting to worry a wee bit. They're showing off -- flashing fins. The one I've had for a while now has vertical stripes, too. Is that normal?

If they don't get along, I have another spot for the new guy.

 

[Patrick333]

im pretty sure vertical stripes means she is ready to breed

 

[endparenthesis]

I think I'd go for 3 females in the tank. From my experience, albeit limited, having just 2 of them will encourage the most fighting. One of them needs to be the alpha, and I guess it gets weird when there are only two of them there. It's like an army sgt. commanding a platoon, but the platoon is just one other soldier. Just doesn't work .

I could easily be wrong though... they all seem to act differently. You never know.

 

[my_fallen_angel]

The one I've had for a while now has vertical stripes, too. Is that normal?

do you mean horizontal??

 

[Nes]

Stripes:

Horizontal = juvenile/really stressed out
Verticle = ready to mate/agressive/stressed

Hope that answers some questions

I would not suggesting keeping (a) Just two females together - they will fight, if you have alot of females (like 5) the fighting gets spread out & there is not as much of a problem - this is the same in most species of fish (B) keep females together in a 3 gallon, 10 is the minimum for a female community tank & 20 is best to keep them from fighting.

Corydoras are the best tank mates (IMHO) for bettas - they are calming & entertaining for the bettas. Snails are also fun.

A 3 gallon is a little small to be adding cory because they like to school (4/6 cats is best) so I'd go with a nice snail.

Nes.

 

[White Whale]

Don't put just 2 females together. They will kill each other or seriously injure the other beyond repair. At least 4 females are recommended to spread out the aggression and maintain a stable pecking order. You can try 4 dwarf cories. Two panda cories seem to be sufficient. They are active enough as long as they have each other.