Female betta

[Raechal]

So as some of you may know I was looking forward to getting a male betta for my 10 gallon I just set up yesterday. My little sister picked out a female betta about 2 months ago and we added her to our community 29 gallon. She still has vertical stress lines and I've never really seen her eat. Maybe because the pregnant molly always rushes to the surface and gobbles up most of the food? She is smaller than any of the fish in the tank besides the molly fry that are in a breeding net.

So I decided to move her into my 10 gallon about 30 minutes ago. I slowly let her get used to the water. I poured her in a bowl with a small airstone in it with a little of her water from the 29 gallon. Then I slowly added small cups of the water from the 10 gallon to her bowl. After swimming around in the water for about 30 minutes I let the bowl into the 10 gallon. I dropped a few freeze dried bloodworms in the 10 gallon. She swam up to them but didn't eat them. Then I opened the bottle of sun dried baby shrimp and I crushed some up into powder like morsels and soon enough she came to the top and gobbled some up. She has gotten fairly thin so I was worried she wasn't getting enough food.

So is this okay if I keep her in the 10 gallon and forget about getting a male betta? If so, should I add anymore females to keep her company? I know you should purchase 1 or 4 or more females because of the aggression but I didn't know if a 10 gallon would be big enough for 4-5 females. Please help me.

 

[RandomWiktor]

If you have no problem with only having that one fish in the tank, I'm sure she'd love to live without the stress of other girls as they can be quite nasty. From what you've said, she strikes me as a very submissive female; she let other fish boss her around before, after all. If you add females and they are more agressive, she'll end up not getting adequate food and being stressed all over again.

If you do get friends though, I've heard 5 is reccomended, which seems like a lot for 10 gallons to me, but apparently it has something to do with making a social structure to prevent excessive fighting. Just don't do a one-on-one as they will sometimes fight if all they have to focus on is one another.

 

[Raechal]

If you have no problem with only having that one fish in the tank, I'm sure she'd love to live without the stress of other girls as they can be quite nasty. From what you've said, she strikes me as a very submissive female; she let other fish boss her around before, after all. If you add females and they are more agressive, she'll end up not getting adequate food and being stressed all over again.

If you do get friends though, I've heard 5 is reccomended, which seems like a lot for 10 gallons to me, but apparently it has something to do with making a social structure to prevent excessive fighting. Just don't do a one-on-one as they will sometimes fight if all they have to focus on is one another.

Yea I was either going to stick with her or get about 4. But I didn't know if 4 was too many for a ten gallon. She is exploring her "new" tank and she is eating! I can't believe how good she is doing and she's only been in there for like 30-40 minutes! I'll fatten her up and then mayb think about adding a few more....maybe.

 

[cation]

You don't ever want 2 or 3 female bettas in a tank. As RW is saying, if you have two, they'll often fight, and if you have three, often 2 will gang up on one, then turn on each other after they wound or kill the one they were attacking together. Having more spreads out the agression, so you still may occasionally see a nipped fin, but there shouldn't be any major issues. However, girls that have been jarred or kept alone for anything over short periods of time may not be able to be socialized into a community tank, so you have to watch them. The best way to do it is to jar the one that is in the tank currently(right before adding the others, I mean - she should only be jarred for a little bit, or stck in a bowl, or tupperware, or whatever. She shouldn't be there for more then 0.5 hour anyway), rearrange the tank, then put everybody in the tank at the same time.

I think you'll be fine with 5 females in a 10g if you plant it well so the ladies have places to hang out and call their own. My girls really enjoy driftwood as well are plants, great for hidie holes.

 

[Raechal]

Well I only have two pieces of java fern in there so I will be picking up some more bigger java ferns later on this weekend.

Then I will buy one female and put her in a jar like you suggested to see how things go. If things don't work out, I'll stick her in the 29 gallon and just leave the smaller betta in the 10 gallon by herself I suppose.

Man she is really darting around the tank and wanting to explore everything! Poor little thing looks like she hasn't eaten in weeks. She gobbled up those shrimp like a piglet!

 

[cation]

That wasn't what I recommended. If you want a female community tank, you need to add a minimum of 3 fish to the one you already have. That means you need to put them all in at the same time. NOT two for now, then add more later. You are setting yourself up for injured fish if you do it that way.

Also, when I was talking about jarring, I meant the current female - you only do that long enough to rearrange the tank, then you put her and your other 3 in at the same time.

 

[Raechal]

That wasn't what I recommended. If you want a female community tank, you need to add a minimum of 3 fish to the one you already have. That means you need to put them all in at the same time. NOT two for now, then add more later. You are setting yourself up for injured fish if you do it that way.

Also, when I was talking about jarring, I meant the current female - you only do that long enough to rearrange the tank, then you put her and your other 3 in at the same time.

Sorry I read it wrong. )

So after planting up the tank well go out and buy 3-4 females and put my curent female in a jar while I go to the store and pick up the fish. Then slowly introduce the new bettas into the 10 gallon and then release the old betta into the 10 gallon with the other females?

 

[cation]

Here's what I would do. Go to the lfs. Buy plants and your female bettas. Come home, jar up the female that's in the tank (or bag her up, or whatever - she won't be in whatever you put her in for very long).

Then , while everybody is in bags (or jars, or whatever! ), put the plants in your tank, and any other decorations you want (drift/bogwood, smooth stones, pvc pipe, whatever ). float your bags/jars to acclimate the ladies to the temp in the tank, and let them free.

The idea here is that you want the tank to be newly "redecorated" when everyone goes in. This should eliminate any territory your original female has established, and make all the girls feel like they're in a new home, even the one who was there before. This allows them to develop thier own territories and pecking order.

 

[Raechal]

Okay I just added some rocks and caves and plants just now but I can't go to the LFS as my mom's car is in the shop and I don't know when she will be home with it. But if I have to, I'll re-arrange everything again. I might not even be able to get them today but I will try. The LFS I go to now rarely carries them and the other LPS I went to to get my current female always has sick fish or "bad" batches.

 

[cation]

Yeah, rearranging it when you get the other girlies sounds like a great plan! If you're going to do that, you don't have to be in a big hurry to get your girlies. Sometime in the next week or two would be good.

Enjoy! I love my female community tank!

 

[Raechal]

Yeah, rearranging it when you get the other girlies sounds like a great plan! If you're going to do that, you don't have to be in a big hurry to get your girlies. Sometime in the next week or two would be good.

Enjoy! I love my female community tank!

Okie dokie. I will probably get them this weekend! Should I try to get them the same size? I don't want a larger one attacking any smaller ones.

 

[Raechal]

I am proud to say my female betta is doing 100% better! Her horizontal stress bars are totally gone! I got a look at her underbelly and there is a white spot where her poo should come out. I don't know if it is EXACTLY where her poo should come out or if it is right next to it. I haven't seen her poo lately so I didn't know if it was white and internal parasites or what. I dropped two shelled peas in the tank and she dove for them! She LOVES them. She likes them more than bloodworms! I've been monitoring her for hours but still no poo.

Now I can see why you guys like bettas so much. I am thinking about just dividing my 120 gallon for bettas!

She is like my little baby. I've been watching her for hours. She sure loves that large marble I have in there. She likes playing with her reflection. I have 2 live java ferns and one moneywort (don't know if it will make it with such low light but I'm giving it a shot) and one soft fake plant. I dug a pit in the gravel to bury the fake plant in the gravel and there is a small "cave" where the gravel is still burrowed out and she goes in there ands hides from me. Scares me half to death when I look in the tank and can't find her.

 

[BettaMomma]

Hi!
Are you opposed to dividing the tank, and giving 2 betta GIRLS each a nice big 2.5G home??

 

[Raechal]

Hi!
Are you opposed to dividing the tank, and giving 2 betta GIRLS each a nice big 2.5G home??

yea...but I'd rather give the whole tank to my sweet little girl. She deserves it.

 

[littlefishie]

The white dot you're talking about is her ovipositor, or egg tube.
Not white poo.

It's normal, she'll be fine.