Tankmates: Female Bettas

Redpixy · Mar 9, 2009

I've recently bought several female bettas for my 10 gallon tank; they've established whose their alpha and some have little nips missing out of their caudall fins and some have a tear. Will they grow back together on their own? Or will I need to add vitamins to the water? I've never really had a community of fish before, just a male betta. I'll take any kindly advice given. Thanks.

unwritten law · Mar 9, 2009

Well in that tank they will keep nipping and they should grow back as long as they arent stressed out too much

homebunnyj · Mar 9, 2009

They will grow back, but you need to be sure to keep the water in excellent condition. Do you have test kits for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate? What do you know about tank cycling?

You can add some Bettafix to the water to help them heal up. Melafix is too strong for bettas because of their labyrinth organs.

Do they have lots of hiding places? They need them to get away from each other. The 10 is okay; as long as they have lots of hiding places, the nipping will calm down now that they've established their pecking order.

DesignsOnYou · Mar 9, 2009

I agree with homebunny and unwritten, but I'm also wondering, how many is several? The general rule is 1" of grown fish per gallon of water, but you can maybe push the stocking limits depending on the fish.

homebunnyj · Mar 10, 2009

Four is about right for a ten.

jo3olous · Mar 10, 2009

homebunnyj said:

i heard down the grapevine female betta heirarchies are easier setup if there is an odd number of fish, myth or fact?

Redpixy · Mar 10, 2009

Four are in the tank right now. I have tons of plants and a rock formation, but I'm think about getting a couple more plants. I'm growing live ones also but they'll probably take a little while before they can work as cover. I only have a ph test kit, but I'll be getting the full water test kit; any suggestions?

jo3olous · Mar 10, 2009

Redpixy said:

having lots of plants will increase tank oxygenation and overall be better for your fish, but excessive plant and decor will also take away space your fish need. I don't think this is an issue though because bettas aren't very active

Redpixy · Mar 10, 2009

I have the plants off to one side and then the rock formation on the other-the rock formation takes up bottom space but middle and top are still pretty open. I also have a little random piece of plant (the fake type) that's floating around the top. One of the females really enjoys it.

homebunnyj · Mar 10, 2009

jo3olous said:

I've never heard that. I think as long as there are more than three they'll do fine.

Redpixy · Apr 16, 2009

Update

I just wanted to update on my Sorority...I currently have 6 with OCCASIONAL chasing and nipping-no holey fins. They've been moved to a 20 gallon with an oto and have been living peacefully together for 2 months. I've done extensive research on females and thanks to ultimatebettas.com I got the ball rolling with more info than I could ever find on google/internet.

jo3olous · Apr 17, 2009

Redpixy said:

very nice! might I add you should get a few more ottos, they prefer a school and you have the room for them

emmanuelchavez · Apr 17, 2009

jo3olous said:

I've heard that most fish have a thing about preferring odd numbers, but I can't be too sure. I don't have Dr. Doolittle abilities, so I couldn't say for sure.

BTW, if anyone hasn't read it, the Dr. Doolittle book is awesome... well it was back when I was like 14.

jo3olous said:

Plants can somewhat take space away, but I've noticed that my fish LOVE swimming through the plants, and playing 'hide-and-seek' in there. I know my old bettas (pre-hurricane Ike

) loved fully planted tanks. I think my German Rams do the naughty in the planted areas too... they always disappear into the plants together, and "race" out when they see me walk by, thinking it's feeding time.

big54bob · Apr 17, 2009

homebunnyj said:

4 shmore. You should over stock soronity tanks to keep agression down. Bout 6-10 should be good for a 10 gal.

Redpixy · Apr 20, 2009

big54bob said:

Agreed. I had 6 in my 10g before I found a 20g.

jo3olous: Most def will get more otos-he's a little fatty. I'm proud of how big's he gotten since I've the 20g. Lol.

I plan on making this a community tank and getting a trio of albino corys along with 2 more otos. I made the mistake of getting neon tetras...one missing every morning...waste of money. I didn't realize how tiny they were compared to my females. Lesson learned.

I'll probably add a type of barb-not sure which though. Any success with female bettas and a certain barb?

unwritten law · Apr 20, 2009

barbs can be a bit nippy at fins... I know females fins aren't as large be you would have to be careful. Also barbs like to school, 6+, so I don't think you have the bioload room, or swimming room in the 20.

Redpixy · Apr 20, 2009

Other suggestions?

Moshi-Cat · Apr 28, 2009

Have a back up plan in case the females get too nippy. My four females did just fine together for a whole year then three of them decided to get hyper aggressive. I sort of did a fish tank shuffle to fix the problem. The three females were moved to the 10g that belonged to my male. I divided it into thirds with plactic screens. There's no filter but a bubble bar accross the bottom of the tank keps the water flowing. I didn't want the filter kicking one fish around while the others didn't get enough water flow. The male got moved to a 2g that sits on my desk.

It might work better for you since you have room for more, though.

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