need some advice, pleaase

[Kittycat]

I have four betta females, in order of purchase:

1) red VT
2) blue SD
3) red CT
4) red cambodian VT

All females were purchased separately on separate occassions. All except the 4th were kept individually at the sellers', but when I got them I tried to keep them within one anothers' sight as much as possible.

Now, the red VT and CT have shown considerable aggression to the males I tried to breed them with. The blue SD never showed any to the males despite getting beaten up. The red cambodian is new. So anyway, since I had the magic number 4 for a community tank, I tried to put all these females together. To my surprise and dismay, red VT and blue SD began to fight intensely for many minutes (without stop, and ignoring the other females). Finally, since they seem to be suffering considerable damage, I removed the red VT. Now so far after several hours, the 3 remaining females in the community seem fine. The blue flared some, but the other two didn't take her up to her challenge and just swam away/avoided her/hid. The other two pretty much ignore each other.
So what I want to ask now is, is it OK to keep this setup with the three females together? I've learned from everyone that it's best to keep 4 girls at least in a community. I would like to keep the status quo, but if you guys think there might be a problem later, I can buy another female (this time sure to be from a community tank in a store) to make 4. What do you think?

 

[Texaswoman]

Well, if they have all been seperated for the most part, they may not get along at all. They can and will live together for days or weeks, but then it can happen and find a female dead due to being beat to death or gutted by another female. I don't keep any of my females together anymore because I just don't want to chance it. But, if you are going to keep them together, the larger the number would be better, and lots of hiding spots and plants. Once you spawn a female, you will not be able to keep her with any more females. They become aggresive towards each other for the fight to win the right to breed rule. The other female is competition for their own survival at that point. They will also condition better for breeding if you seperate them. Hope this helps you some.

 

[Kittycat]

I'm not planning to spawn bettas. None of them have been spawned, all my previous attempts failed. I just got too worried about their getting hurt. I will keep an eye on the tank for now, and look for more girls to dispel any future aggression that might break out. Thanks!