betta sorority. sounds perfect!!

[hayer]

ok, so i have always wanted a betta sorority. and now i have enough money for a ten gallon aquarium. i plan to seed the tank with old gravel, filter media, and Dr. Tim's or TTS. anyway, i would like to have 3 female bettas, 2 mystery snails, and 5 ghost shrimp. i will be going away for 2 weeks very soon, so it will have to happen after that. also, if this makes a difference, i love to heavily decorate my tanks in a natural looking way with plants(fake; never tried live) and driftwood.
so my questions are; how soon would i be able to add fish? would this stocking be ok or should i bump the number of bettas up to 5(risky, right?)? and where can i locate TTS? i cannot find it at any of the chain stores(petsmart, petco, walmart) and i will be checking a trusted lfs later today.
sorry for the long post and thank you for all of your help.

 

[bassbonediva]

I would definitely up the number of female bettas to five. I've had five in a 10gal tank and they actually did okay (and this was with not very many hiding places). I currently have four females and a very confused male who thinks he's a female in my 18gal and they are fine (same footprint as the 18gal, just taller).

As far as plants go, why not try live if you have the lighting for it (meaning if you have flourescent, not incandescent)? Bettas love live plants, they help with your water quality and they look just awesome. There are some easy, low maintenance plants that are great for bettas including anubias, java fern, java moss, cambomba and anacharis. From the moment I put live plants in my tanks, I've never gone back, nor will I.

I would say let the tank run for the two weeks you'll be gone with the used media, gravel, and TSS (if you can find it...I live in a small town and have never been able to find it), then add your fishes. I would also only do one mystery snail because if you do two, they will breed and you'll end up with millions of them. I would add the ghost shrimp and mystery snail first, then add your female bettas. I've had luck adding the girls all at once and spacing the interval between adding them, but most people recommend adding them all at once so that none of them get a chance to establish territory and then pick on the newbies. There will be some nipping and chasing at first, but just keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't get too bad. The rule of thumb that I use for sorority tanks is: "Nipped fins are normal, body wounds and missing fins are not." If you do have one girl who is being picked on constantly, regardless of what you do, remove her. I've been lucky to get mostly girls of similar aggression (or lack thereof) levels, so I haven't really had to deal with one being picked on more than others. In fact, I had one little girl for a while (before ich randomly wiped out all my female bettas) that was definitely queen of the tank, even though she was *maybe* 3/4" long.

 

[hayer]

ok. live plants it is!!*BOUNCINGSi am so excited. unfortunately, i do not have time to set up the tank as i am leaving in 2 days and have alot of things to do. i would add the ghost shrimp and the snail a couple of days after it is set-up, right? then when everything tests right, add all of the girls? got it.
one plant that i really like is green wisteria. can you give me some info on it please?
thank you so much bassbonediva! that was really helpful!

 

[Fishman1995]

Bass can you explain more about your confused male id like to hear about him

 

[bassbonediva]

Water wisteria is a great beginner plant. It doesn't need a lot of light, it doesn't require ferts or CO2, and it's a very pretty plant.

Your plan for stocking the tank sounds great (the order).

Tristan is a male betta who is very confused about what he is supposed to be. He has shorter fins (he looks like a cross between a veiltail and a plakat, but I doubt that's what he is) than a male would, but longer than a female. He gets along perfectly with the girls and is actually low-man on the totem pole within the sorority. I compare him, rather aptly, to a gelding in a herd of mares. The gelding is always the lowest ranking member of the herd.
Meet Tristan:

 

[OrangeCones]

The gelding is always the lowest ranking member of the herd.

Tell that to the gelding I had growing up! He was the king of a herd of 8 mares and 2 other geldings in a 25 acre pasture for years.

 

[bassbonediva]

That sounds like how Dakota (my arab/saddlebred gelding) would be if he were allowed to be turned out with anyone else. As it is, he was kicked in the neck by a mare which split open his jugular (his then-owner's hand holding his neck closed was the only thing keeping him alive until the vet got there), so he is very defensive around other horses when turned out, so he gets turned out by himself. All our other geldings are wusses, though. Especially my boss's gelding, Kintari. He is a big wienie (reminds me a lot of Tristan, actually).

Alas, we digress from the original topic...sororities.

 

[Fishman1995]

LOL did you consider maybe your betta is a Shim lol just jokin around, thats very cool, ive seen fish that look like Tristan at Petsmart labled "Betta" and the others are labled female and male. Would these bettas act like Tristan?

 

[hayer]

thanks bass. so that is how i will set it up. very excited about the water wisteria!!
tristen sounds like an interesting character. he is cute as a button though. lol

 

[bassbonediva]

LOL did you consider maybe your betta is a Shim lol just jokin around, thats very cool, ive seen fish that look like Tristan at Petsmart labled "Betta" and the others are labled female and male. Would these bettas act like Tristan?

Actually, there are hermaphrodite bettas. They are genetically male, but they do not possess the aggression that is typical of male bettas.

There is no guarantee that any betta would act like Tristan. I wouldn't recommend trying adding one to a sorority. I got lucky with Tristan. He could just have easily been super aggressive toward my girls (in which case he would have been removed and placed in his own tank).

 

[Fishman1995]

lucky lol, itd be cool to own one

 

[bassbonediva]

He is very cool. I was lucky to get him.

 

[hayer]

he sounds cool.
ok so here is the deal. i might(more so not, but where's the hurt in hoping. right?) be getting a 29 gallon tank and would love to make that my sorority. so i was thinking for stocking wise:
7 female bettas, 1 bumblebee catfish(the smaller variety), 1 clown pleco, and 6 black neon tetras. that is what i have so far. any criticism, suggestions, or additions anyone would like to add?
oh, and thank you all for your help so far.

 

[bassbonediva]

You'll love the bumblebee cat! Ours is named Grover and he's so much fun. At feeding time, he's like a little vacuuming, zooming around the bottom of the tank sucking up food that falls to the bottom. If you can get a clown pleco that doesn't cost you an arm and a leg, go for it. I love my little BN, though (total impulse buy at Walmart...knew she wasn't a common pleco, but didn't know what she was until her little bristles started growing in about two weeks after I got her).

Seven female bettas is a good number, especially for a 29gal. Just make sure you have TONS of cover and plants and hiding places and such. They'll establish that hierarchy, but every once in a while, someone will get a little uppity and get their little butt chased, so they'll need a place to retreat to.

 

[Fishman1995]

Please if you can lower the number of female betta's i would, 5 would be ok i think but make PLENTY of hiding places and lots of plant cover. id put at least a lil cave for each of the females. Actually if you can get ahold of the betta breed Betta Imbellis you can keep 7 of them just fine.

 

[bassbonediva]

Please if you can lower the number of female betta's i would, 5 would be ok i think but make PLENTY of hiding places and lots of plant cover. id put at least a lil cave for each of the females. Actually if you can get ahold of the betta breed Betta Imbellis you can keep 7 of them just fine.

Why lower the number? The more females you have, the more spread out any aggression you do have is going to be. The fewer females you have, the more likely it is for one to be picked on more than the others. I had NINE females in my first sorority and they were in an 18gal tall tank. I never had nipped fins (except when I first added everybody) and no one hid constantly.

Curious as to what experience you're speaking from that you suggest fewer females.

 

[Fishman1995]

As with my experince,ive never owned a sorority im jsut saying if he cant add enough hiding i wouldnt do it.

 

[lauraf]

As with my experince,ive never owned a sorority im jsut saying if he cant add enough hiding i wouldnt do it.

Why on earth would you read into anything that hayer has said so far that makes you think he wouldn't be able to create a good environment in his *29* gallon tank for female bettas?

If he was cramming those fish into small 5 and 10g tanks, *ahem* believe me, we would all be speaking out.

 

[Fishman1995]

ok from now on im staying in my forums and thats it, i keep feeling ganged up on

 

[bassbonediva]

Depends on the fish, just like anything else. I have two females in a 20gL tank right now that is rather barren (has three large amazon swords floating in it and one piece of driftwood that isn't even worth calling a hiding place) and they basically ignore each other. I've had other females, though, that I have actually had to separate out from my sorority because they've been too aggresive. Sorority tanks are not a "hands-off" operation like many communities. They require constant monitoring to make sure that everyone is getting along. I generally check on any tank I have with a sorority in it two or three times a day (any time I'm even remotely near it).

Don't mean to sound like I'm lecturing, just speaking from over a year and a half experience keeping sororities (in fact, a sorority tank was my first "community" tank, meaning a tank with more than a single male betta in it).