Twintail Halfmoon

[devillikeme]

Today, I finally moved my twintail halfmoon betta into a proper 2 gallon tank, with a filter and new decor! I adopted him from a friend, who had him in a half gallon tank. Now that he's got a bigger place, he seems so much happier, and has fewer stress lines! He even has a special cave where he can rest on the top, and a leaf hammock near the surface. Since I moved him into the tank, he's made a few bubbles, and has spent all evening exploring his new tank!
I do want to also get a sorority of three females, but I'm unsure how big of a tank I would need for that.

 

[Essjay]

I'm afraid 3 females is not a good number. Basically -
1 is fine
2 - one will pick on the other
3 - two will gang up on one
4 and above - fine, there are enough females so that no one female gets picked on all the time.

Female bettas form a hierarchy and the ones at the top maintain their position by bullying the lower down fish. The more there are, the more the bullying gets spread out. 4 is the minimum number for a sorority, but more is much better.

As for tank size, the smallest I would go with is 15 gallons, and that's for 4 fish. More will need bigger. The tank also needs to be heavily planted (or lots of fake plants) so that each fish can get away from the others.

 

[devillikeme]

Alright, thanks so much! I thought 3 was okay, because so many people and sites have said that odd numbers are best, but thanks for the clarification!! Would a 20 gallon be able to hold 5 or 6?

 

[FishGuest5123]

I had 11 in a 20G long. Let me tell you, sororities are not easy. As said above, you have to have a lot of plants. I mean packed in so the fish can hide. You also need lots of caves for each betta to stock a claim on. You have to monitor them daily and make sure each one is ok. Some could be picked on horrifically so you have to have extra tanks to move those bettas into. Read, read, read on bettas sororities before moving forward. They are beautiful. I’m not trying to discourage you. I just want you prepared. Happy to answer any questions you may have.

 

[devillikeme]

All noted! Would live plants be best, then? Also, does substrate really matter much? I've been finding mixed answers online.

 

[Essjay]

For a betta-only tank, the choice of substrate doesn't really matter. Large gravel should be avoided if you want live plants as they do better in small gravel and sand. Personally I find sand easier to clean than gravel (I used to have gravel but changed to sand several years ago)

Live plants are better for a tank than fake plants. But the main need for a betta sorority is lots of them, so lots of fake plants are better than a few struggling live plants if you have difficulty growing live ones.

 

[FishGuest5123]

I had a mixture of both. My avatar is my sorority tank if you can click on it to make it larger. I had white sand in mine.

 

[devillikeme]

Noted, thanks! A mix of live and fake plants seems like it would work nicely for me. My only issue with fake plants is that many of them are folded up, and it's difficult to spread out the leaves to prevent fish from getting stuck

 

[FishGuest5123]

Noted, thanks! A mix of live and fake plants seems like it would work nicely for me. My only issue with fake plants is that many of them are folded up, and it's difficult to spread out the leaves to prevent fish from getting stuck

I order some nice silk plants off f eBay. Just be sure they have strong stalks and aren’t flimsy. Nothing to hurt the fish on either.