Multiple Bettas

[RCA]

136.3828 litres in 30 gallons UK, 113.5624 litres in 30 gallons std, so that is about half the size of what I am running, which helps me to understand the size you are looking at.  I was advised by a Betta breeder that the more females I had the better, and in fact is the only time you should overstock(?).  This prevents squabbling whereby one Betta takes all the bullying.  In my case I do not have that many females at present and have built them up over time, starting with five.  I always add at least a pair, when I have quarantined them, to prevent a new fish becoming a target.  I have also heard that it is advisable to change something in the aquarium to break down any territories that have already been established.  That said, my aquarium is well planted with a lot of bog-wood/hiding places, that at present I have not moved about too much, as it is the way I like it   I am also running the Aquaone 980 filter in the hood as well as an external turning over 1400 Litres/hour, with UV light if needed.  So basically I am not 100% sure whether what you are proposing would be acceptable as I am still learning with my girls.  All I can say is all of my girls appear happy without any particular fish taking all the bullying, although occasionally there maybe one that I notice looking a little stressed with her fins clamped.  I then isolate her in a breeder basket, giving her salt baths for a few days.  This gives her a rest to regain her strength and then she is returned to the main aquarium. 
 
So in summary, provide plenty of hiding places, build up slowly, maybe starting with three (as young as possible), lots of plants and have the ability to isolate if need be.  Oh, and I always have some Cory's and/or Kuhli/Java Loaches to help clean up, love them   That is my experience so far ...

 

[Paradise3]

Always start with 5 minimum and build up in twos or threes. 7 Girls in a 30 gallon is fine, I'd say you could fit more like 14 in there. 2ft is the minimum for 7 girls so I'd say in a 30 gallon(3-4ft long I'm guessing) you could double that and maybe add a few more. Yes, female fighters is the only time you should really slightly overstock to prevent too much aggression.

 

[Questions?]

wow 14, that would be cool. and it is 30 gallon Us if that make any difference, so about 120 liters

 

[Paradise3]

wow 14, that would be cool. and it is 30 gallon Us if that make any difference, so about 120 liters

 
Yeah, you'd be good with 14-16 in there. They don't need keeping in odd numbers if there's more than 5. If there's only the minimum amount(5) then obviously, odd number so they don't gang up and pick on one or 2. Make sure you heavily plant it and make you buy actual females... Some "females" are young PK males. I've experienced this first hand.

 

[Questions?]

that would looks so cool, how could i tell if it isnt a young plakat male?

 

[Paradise3]

that would looks so cool, how could i tell if it isnt a young plakat male?

 
Watch the behaviour in the shop, look at the ventrals. If they come past halfway down the anal they are most likely males(though some have short ventrals too so don't count on that) and look at the anal obviously. Don't count on egg spots as some young males have them too.

 

[Questions?]

ok, thanks

 

[Wildbetta]

I would NEVER intentially house a male splenden with females (or another male obviously  LOL).  Even if everything seems to be going great and no matter how heavily planted the tank is the stress on the fish is not worth the risk.  I have kept sororities in tanks as small as 10 gallons BUT I will warn you--these setups are not for the beginner and often end up in failure since having more than one splendens in a tank causes stress to the fish.  The rule of thumb that works the best with sororities is VERY heavily planted (the less you are able to see in the tank the less likely the will see each other) and to overstock a bit so the agression is not as bad.  Even the best laid tank can have problems so always have backup plans for the females if things don't go as planned.  Overall though, I loved my sorority when I had it up and running in my 20 gallon long.  I kept as many as 17 females together with no real clear open areas in the tank with no big problems.  All of my females came from breeders and were young to start with so the agression wasn't AS bad and I knew they were not sick.  All of them were quarantined separately for 2 weeks before being put in the tank just to make sure they were healthy.  I introduced them all at the same time and let them sort out the "who is the boss" situation while watching carefully.  I checked on the tank 3 times a day--making sure to take a good look at every girl to make sure there were no signs of "wear and tear", sickness, or just being overly stressed.  Ones with any major fin issues were removed to heal then slowly reintroduced.  I had this setup run for around a good year with no major issues, then had to rehome one female because she just really wasn't cut out for sorority life and was constantly stressed, and had one come down with the dreaded columnaris which thankfully I caught early enough to separate her before infecting the whole tank. (that is what wiped out my first sorority of 11 right after I moved them to the 20 gallon from the 10 gallon within 24 hours of first noticing the signs on the first fish)  I then rehomed the rest of my girls because I decided I was going to go "wild" which to me are much easier to keep/breed.  While I do not highly recommend keeping more than one splendens in the same tank, I can attest to the fact that it can be done successfully as long as a few things are kept in mind.  Only females together--no males; very heavily planted to line of sight broken; watch your females very carefully and remove at the first sign of ANY problem; quarantine ANY new fish; and understand that some females just can not handle the sorority life--either by being too aggressive or by being easily stressed. 
Don't let people fool you into believing that females are not as colorful as the males.  I had a tankfull of females that could rival some males for color and I had quite a few long finned females(these were "for sure" females by the way). 
Sorry this run so long,  I get to going and sometimes.....forget to stop. LOL  I hope at least some of this is helpful for ya.

 

[Paradise3]

I would NEVER intentially house a male splenden with females (or another male obviously  LOL).  Even if everything seems to be going great and no matter how heavily planted the tank is the stress on the fish is not worth the risk.  I have kept sororities in tanks as small as 10 gallons BUT I will warn you--these setups are not for the beginner and often end up in failure since having more than one splendens in a tank causes stress to the fish.  The rule of thumb that works the best with sororities is VERY heavily planted (the less you are able to see in the tank the less likely the will see each other) and to overstock a bit so the agression is not as bad.  Even the best laid tank can have problems so always have backup plans for the females if things don't go as planned.  Overall though, I loved my sorority when I had it up and running in my 20 gallon long.  I kept as many as 17 females together with no real clear open areas in the tank with no big problems.  All of my females came from breeders and were young to start with so the agression wasn't AS bad and I knew they were not sick.  All of them were quarantined separately for 2 weeks before being put in the tank just to make sure they were healthy.  I introduced them all at the same time and let them sort out the "who is the boss" situation while watching carefully.  I checked on the tank 3 times a day--making sure to take a good look at every girl to make sure there were no signs of "wear and tear", sickness, or just being overly stressed.  Ones with any major fin issues were removed to heal then slowly reintroduced.  I had this setup run for around a good year with no major issues, then had to rehome one female because she just really wasn't cut out for sorority life and was constantly stressed, and had one come down with the dreaded columnaris which thankfully I caught early enough to separate her before infecting the whole tank. (that is what wiped out my first sorority of 11 right after I moved them to the 20 gallon from the 10 gallon within 24 hours of first noticing the signs on the first fish)  I then rehomed the rest of my girls because I decided I was going to go "wild" which to me are much easier to keep/breed.  While I do not highly recommend keeping more than one splendens in the same tank, I can attest to the fact that it can be done successfully as long as a few things are kept in mind.  Only females together--no males; very heavily planted to line of sight broken; watch your females very carefully and remove at the first sign of ANY problem; quarantine ANY new fish; and understand that some females just can not handle the sorority life--either by being too aggressive or by being easily stressed. 
Don't let people fool you into believing that females are not as colorful as the males.  I had a tankfull of females that could rival some males for color and I had quite a few long finned females(these were "for sure" females by the way). 
Sorry this run so long,  I get to going and sometimes.....forget to stop. LOL  I hope at least some of this is helpful for ya.

 
Females aren't as bad as everyone makes out. My females never fought, there were only 3 of them and the tank was planted to an extent but not heavily. The males were not put together on purpose, it was accidental.Males and female can work but only rarely and after a lot of time and planning. And you always make sure you have a backup plan in case it does go wrong. 

 

[Wildbetta]

I would NEVER intentially house a male splenden with females (or another male obviously  LOL).  Even if everything seems to be going great and no matter how heavily planted the tank is the stress on the fish is not worth the risk.  I have kept sororities in tanks as small as 10 gallons BUT I will warn you--these setups are not for the beginner and often end up in failure since having more than one splendens in a tank causes stress to the fish.  The rule of thumb that works the best with sororities is VERY heavily planted (the less you are able to see in the tank the less likely the will see each other) and to overstock a bit so the agression is not as bad.  Even the best laid tank can have problems so always have backup plans for the females if things don't go as planned.  Overall though, I loved my sorority when I had it up and running in my 20 gallon long.  I kept as many as 17 females together with no real clear open areas in the tank with no big problems.  All of my females came from breeders and were young to start with so the agression wasn't AS bad and I knew they were not sick.  All of them were quarantined separately for 2 weeks before being put in the tank just to make sure they were healthy.  I introduced them all at the same time and let them sort out the "who is the boss" situation while watching carefully.  I checked on the tank 3 times a day--making sure to take a good look at every girl to make sure there were no signs of "wear and tear", sickness, or just being overly stressed.  Ones with any major fin issues were removed to heal then slowly reintroduced.  I had this setup run for around a good year with no major issues, then had to rehome one female because she just really wasn't cut out for sorority life and was constantly stressed, and had one come down with the dreaded columnaris which thankfully I caught early enough to separate her before infecting the whole tank. (that is what wiped out my first sorority of 11 right after I moved them to the 20 gallon from the 10 gallon within 24 hours of first noticing the signs on the first fish)  I then rehomed the rest of my girls because I decided I was going to go "wild" which to me are much easier to keep/breed.  While I do not highly recommend keeping more than one splendens in the same tank, I can attest to the fact that it can be done successfully as long as a few things are kept in mind.  Only females together--no males; very heavily planted to line of sight broken; watch your females very carefully and remove at the first sign of ANY problem; quarantine ANY new fish; and understand that some females just can not handle the sorority life--either by being too aggressive or by being easily stressed. 
Don't let people fool you into believing that females are not as colorful as the males.  I had a tankfull of females that could rival some males for color and I had quite a few long finned females(these were "for sure" females by the way). 
Sorry this run so long,  I get to going and sometimes.....forget to stop. LOL  I hope at least some of this is helpful for ya.

 
Females aren't as bad as everyone makes out. My females never fought, there were only 3 of them and the tank was planted to an extent but not heavily. The males were not put together on purpose, it was accidental.Males and female can work but only rarely and after a lot of time and planning. And you always make sure you have a backup plan in case it does go wrong. 

I would have to disagree with the male/female part.  If it did work for one person that is fine but it is a good way to lose all the fish in the tank whether by them killing each other or by eventually stressing each other out.  Sorry but bettas are the only thing I really keep and I feel very strongly about their BEST health so please don't take this personally because I DO NOT mean for it to be.    (written word is hard to tell emotions with)  I also think you got some very laid back females  LOL .  I have found some females to be as if not more aggressive than males and can be more "sneaky" about it as well. 
 
Oh and I also have had that happen with my males in divided tanks.  Sometimes they would be perfectly fine in the same area with the other and sometimes they would immediately go in for the attack.  HATED when that would happen. 

 

[Paradise3]

 

I would NEVER intentially house a male splenden with females (or another male obviously  LOL).  Even if everything seems to be going great and no matter how heavily planted the tank is the stress on the fish is not worth the risk.  I have kept sororities in tanks as small as 10 gallons BUT I will warn you--these setups are not for the beginner and often end up in failure since having more than one splendens in a tank causes stress to the fish.  The rule of thumb that works the best with sororities is VERY heavily planted (the less you are able to see in the tank the less likely the will see each other) and to overstock a bit so the agression is not as bad.  Even the best laid tank can have problems so always have backup plans for the females if things don't go as planned.  Overall though, I loved my sorority when I had it up and running in my 20 gallon long.  I kept as many as 17 females together with no real clear open areas in the tank with no big problems.  All of my females came from breeders and were young to start with so the agression wasn't AS bad and I knew they were not sick.  All of them were quarantined separately for 2 weeks before being put in the tank just to make sure they were healthy.  I introduced them all at the same time and let them sort out the "who is the boss" situation while watching carefully.  I checked on the tank 3 times a day--making sure to take a good look at every girl to make sure there were no signs of "wear and tear", sickness, or just being overly stressed.  Ones with any major fin issues were removed to heal then slowly reintroduced.  I had this setup run for around a good year with no major issues, then had to rehome one female because she just really wasn't cut out for sorority life and was constantly stressed, and had one come down with the dreaded columnaris which thankfully I caught early enough to separate her before infecting the whole tank. (that is what wiped out my first sorority of 11 right after I moved them to the 20 gallon from the 10 gallon within 24 hours of first noticing the signs on the first fish)  I then rehomed the rest of my girls because I decided I was going to go "wild" which to me are much easier to keep/breed.  While I do not highly recommend keeping more than one splendens in the same tank, I can attest to the fact that it can be done successfully as long as a few things are kept in mind.  Only females together--no males; very heavily planted to line of sight broken; watch your females very carefully and remove at the first sign of ANY problem; quarantine ANY new fish; and understand that some females just can not handle the sorority life--either by being too aggressive or by being easily stressed. 
Don't let people fool you into believing that females are not as colorful as the males.  I had a tankfull of females that could rival some males for color and I had quite a few long finned females(these were "for sure" females by the way). 
Sorry this run so long,  I get to going and sometimes.....forget to stop. LOL  I hope at least some of this is helpful for ya.

 
Females aren't as bad as everyone makes out. My females never fought, there were only 3 of them and the tank was planted to an extent but not heavily. The males were not put together on purpose, it was accidental.Males and female can work but only rarely and after a lot of time and planning. And you always make sure you have a backup plan in case it does go wrong. 

I would have to disagree with the male/female part.  If it did work for one person that is fine but it is a good way to lose all the fish in the tank whether by them killing each other or by eventually stressing each other out.  Sorry but bettas are the only thing I really keep and I feel very strongly about their BEST health so please don't take this personally because I DO NOT mean for it to be. 

  (written word is hard to tell emotions with)  I also think you got some very laid back females  LOL .  I have found some females to be as if not more aggressive than males and can be more "sneaky" about it as well. 
 
Oh and I also have had that happen with my males in divided tanks.  Sometimes they would be perfectly fine in the same area with the other and sometimes they would immediately go in for the attack.  HATED when that would happen. 

 
The thing is, the males weren't living in the tank when they got together. My PK was swimming with the 3 girls temporarily(30 mins) as I knew he was perfectly fine with them(none of them bothered each other) the other male who I wasn't sure about and because obviously you don't put 2 males together was in a divided section. This was happening while I cleaned their actual divided tank out. I went to catch the HMPK boy first out of his little section and he wasn't there. Saw him and the PK male happily going about business next to each other. No flaring, no aggression. Just calm. I was like "Whut...?" And then I separated them because I didn't want a disaster.

 

[Wildbetta]

Hahaha  My males were in a 20 gallon long divided 4 ways and I had done a water change on the tank and accidentally overfilled it to where the water level was higher than the 2in below the dividers that I always kept.  Came back down into the room a couple of hours later to find two males in one part calmly going about their business.  No one hurt or any aggression being shown but it freaked me out and I got the one out that was not supposed to be in there quickly.  The other time it happened was with a different pair next to each other.  Somehow one of them would get into AND out of the other's section and they would tear each other up.  I had to eventually move one to the other end of the tank so that those two males were not next to each other anymore.

 

[Paradise3]

Hahaha  My males were in a 20 gallon long divided 4 ways and I had done a water change on the tank and accidentally overfilled it to where the water level was higher than the 2in below the dividers that I always kept.  Came back down into the room a couple of hours later to find two males in one part calmly going about their business.  No one hurt or any aggression being shown but it freaked me out and I got the one out that was not supposed to be in there quickly.  The other time it happened was with a different pair next to each other.  Somehow one of them would get into AND out of the other's section and they would tear each other up.  I had to eventually move one to the other end of the tank so that those two males were not next to each other anymore.

 
These 2 didn't jump that much so I wasn't expecting it