Just Wondering...

[Villemolove]

There's this betta website that says female bettas can live together. Is it true? Cuz the last time I got 2 female bettas, I put them in seperate tanks, but they still glare at each other with gills opening wide. So I'm confused, and again cuz I gonna buy 2 or 3 more bettas.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Thereoretically, 5 ish females in a 10g would work. It's getting the balance of enough so that not just one gets victimised, a big enough tank with hiding places and territory for everyone and females that aren't mega nasty.

 

[jarmado]

i got 5 healthy female bettas in my 180L.

 

[Somethin_fishy]

Yes female bettas can live together (ive had girls in my 25 gal for a year now). Though some females are just as aggressive as males, or worse, i used to have a female who lived by herself because she killed (or tried to kill) every tank mates she ever had, other than a 5 inch pleco. So you just have to be careful and if your buying from a store, watch them to see which are less aggressive.
CLICK HERE to go to a pretty good little article about this, HERE is another one for mare info.

 

[RandomWiktor]

Good articles, but I hear with 3 (as one site suggested), you can get a situation where 2 dominants gang up on the one submissive. I've always heard the suggestion of 4-6, with five being ideal, in a MINIMUM of 10 gallons. Whatever the size (10g or larger), it must be extremely well planted with plenty of caves and hiding places, as even females who have gotten along for months or years may suddenly errupt into fighting. In my humble opinion, it is not particularly safe, and I wouldn't risk it. However, many people have had "sorority" tanks with great sucess. Its all about just finding the right girls and the right set-up.

 

[Naughtygirlrlw]

I have had a succsessful sorority tank for almost 2 years now, it REALLY helps if you can get spawn siblings.
From what I have heard and in my experience, sisters do not have as much aggression towards each other as 5-6 random females and most of the time already have an established "pecking" order. Good luck!

 

[RandomWiktor]

I've heard that, too; I believe Atison's betta webpage questions the practice of putting females who are not spawn sisters together as fighting is likely. But, if you get them young and raise them together, sibling females seem to have fewer problems. Either way, they are not a social species, so they are perfectly fine solitary. But I must say, a functional, happy sorority tank is a beautiful sight to behold.

 

[Synirr]

I think females who came straight out of a growout tank do well together, it's not necessarily that they are sisters, it's that they are already used to living with other females. Once they have their own territories for a while they are more likely to be aggressive toward others, I noticed this in some jarred females. I currently have 3 plakat sisters of my own breeding housed in a 10 gallon with 4 combtail siblings I ordered; all 7 have gotten along great from the very start, and I attribute it to the fact that the combtail girls were pulled straight from their growout when shipped

 

[afireinside]

I have no problems either, I have 6 girls in my 10g and they all get along fine, though it does seem that the biggest one is their "leader".

 

[Somethin_fishy]

that 3 betta thing must be a bit of a debated topic, i guess it depends on the fish. I've heard tat with 3 you get one alpha/queen/leader and the other two. Both ideas sound like theyre plausable to me.

 

[Wisperian]

It totally depends on wether the tank is large enough and wether the girls are spawn sisters. My copper girls are all from the same spawn and they practically hug and kiss each other, while as my MGDT girl tries to bully them.

 

[Silverlady]

I have just bought 5 sisters for my 50uk Gallon tank,they all seem to be getting on OK at the moment. I will be watching them to make sure they are all happy to be together.

 

[BWBettas]

i have never tried this but if i did id probably put 5-6 in a 10 gallon with atleast a good few bunches of bushy stem plants in to provide cover

Bret

 

[aquagirl]

I had three girls in my ten gallon. One was large, the other average, and the third somewhat small. The largest one picked on the smallest one and the middle one tollerated the smaller one, but would flare at her occasionally. Eventually I decided the smallest one was getting picked on too much so I moved her.. then she jumped out of her bowl and died. I felt really bad about that...

And then the larger one started nipping the middle one... I was hoping 2 would work but it didnt... so I just seperated all the friggen things and the big one rules over the tetras in the ten gallon still while the middle one is happy in her own bowl (which has a lid.... )

So uhm yeah. Have about 5 if you want to put them together...