putting females together

[GuppyDude]

hey, iv got all 3 of my new females in the last 2 days and today i put them in the 10g tank with my st girl. i added the second to largest first and she quickly scared off the spadetail girl, i then added the 2 month old copper girl i got as an extra from a breeder, she very small and stays hidden pretty well. and last i added my huge ct female and they all coward in fear, shes near 2 inces lond and puts even my male to shame they all kinda met and did their lil agressive circleing thingy but they settled down. i didn't notice any nipping and it all looked cool but wen got back about an hour later my spade tail had a couple bad rips in her tail, im not sure whos responsable but they are deep. i dont otice any ther wounds on the fish and im going to be keeping an eye on them tonight, its quit humerous how they flare up and challenge each other and then wimp out on the big female. ill post pics asap probably tomarrow. how should i treat the banged up female? should i remove her and treat her? i dont want finrot to take over. how long will it take her to recover, my guppys take a couple weeks i know to recover from fin damage but is it differant with bettas?

 

[cutecotton]

i woudln't worry too much about it, ti's expceted as they settle inot a pecking order. maybe add some salt, and as long as the cut doens't hit her body it will recover by hreslf.

If you isolate her, she might get too comfortalbe living by herself and u'll never able to oput her back in a community with the others anymore. Unless you see it really getting worse, then isolate, but otherwise i'd just upt some salt in the tank and do some extra water changes (water changes never hurt)

 

[GuppyDude]

yea i think ill leave here there, its accually the ct and hm female ( the 2 largest ) fighting for number 1 but it looks like they've all taken a couple lil nips now that i look closer. the st was the one i ewas really worryed about because heres was quite bad looking at first. the 2 cuts come quite close to the body by i think its just finage. iv added salt and a water change is due for tommarrow. i hope they settle down becauese im not gunna get much sleep until they do

 

[GuppyDude]

ok these now go 3 major ripps. im not sure y shes the only one being attacked, i know who doing to but i dont think removeing the attacker is going to help keep it the community well. i think i should remove my st girl for a while till she recovers a bit. shes not the one fight, shes accually quite melloed out but she is now very stressed out from the dmage she has taken. what do u guys think i shoulld do?

 

[cation]

I would remove and seperate them. Some females can get along, some can't. More then 4 might spread the agression out more too.

 

[ChocoMeijin]

I think using one of those guppy breeding traps is a good idea for awhile. I like to use it to introduce a new female into the "colony" and release her after a week and a water change. I don't really recommend isolation because of what was mentioned before. The fish will get accustomed to it. I have one female in isolation now, and she flares at the mirror I put up for her

 

[cation]

Welcome to the board! Always good to see new members, now I'm going to disagree with you as a welcome gift! (just kidding, I both agree and disagree...)

Well, this is where you and I disagree somewhat. I believe the majority of females can get along in groups of more than 4, but I also strongly believe that some females are not community oriented and will kill or be killed in that situation.

I have a 20g community that includes 6 female bettas. They get along well. Some of them even hang out together sometimes. But after two attempts to add my first female to the community, I realized she did not have the temperment to make it in the 20g. This may have something to do with how long she was alone, which actually is somewhat in agreement with what you're saying - the problem is, many of our members who start community female tanks seem to do it with at least some females that have been kept on there own. You know, you sart out with one female, then two, then more -then, "can I keep them together?". I think that's where the problem really starts. If a female comes from a community tank to your community tank, even the quarentine time can be long enough for a fish to desocialize.

In my opinion, you just have to watch and do what's right. In my opinion, a female community should not result in the magnitude of injury that one would expect out of, say, a breeding experience.

 

[GuppyDude]

hey the aggression is way down than before and they are keeping out of each others way. its a 10g tank and i only plan to keep like 5 in there at any given time. when i introduced them i did use a breeder as recommened to me before. my battered girls are doing better, i think they've chilled out a bit now and are getting used to haveing other fish around. thanx for the help, expect pictures off all my fish this weekend, ill get a whole gallery going for u guys