Females acting funny?

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Missklw

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Hi!

Iā€™ve had 6 female bettas for around 4 months. They where fine but unfortunately 3 have died ( old age for one and swim bladder for the others 2)

I know have 3 left, however 2 are displaying mating kind of tendencies? Is this normal? I noticed yesterday a bible next sort of thing forming and thought nothing of it. Then this morning Iā€™ve caught them repeatedly in an ā€˜embraceā€™ !! Iā€™m so confused ! I was sold all these as females and as you can see I have one that does drop eggs but nothing ever comes of it sheā€™s usually eats them.

Iā€™m so confused As to what to do? Theyā€™ve e been together for months as I say but is this behaviour now becuase there is only 3 of them? Are they trying and failing to mate ? Do I need to separate them for a while? My other one seems to have been pushed to the bottom of the pecking order and I hardly see her anymore

Please help!
 

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I have now isolated what potentially could be a male (red) in a box net in the tank. ā€˜Sheā€™ was constantly embracing my blue female as you can see from photos and her tail fin is now damaged.
My other little white betta female was being chased anytime she came anywhere near the surface by the red ā€˜femaleā€™ so Iā€™ve isolated ā€˜herā€™ to
Give the other 2 a break!!

Someone please help Iā€™m so lost! Theyā€™ve been together so long now Iā€™m so baffled as to what to do!
 

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One of the local stores once told me that up to 40% of the female only Betta splendens bags they received were short finned males.
Oh god! Well Iā€™m really starting to believe it is male as itā€™s building another bubble nest in the net box itā€™s in šŸ¤¦ā€ā™€ļø I now have 1 male and 2 females in a 135lt tank :( looks like Iā€™m gonna have to take the male back !
 
I think the red guy is a male...
Personally, I'd get three separate 5-10 gallon tanks. Keep them all in their tanks, separately.

It's super risky and difficult to have a sorority of female bettas - even experienced fish keepers struggle to maintain them, because this ISN'T how bettas live in the wild. They don't share territory, males OR females, once grown.

I hate that the betta sorority trend took off. The only reason people do it, is because usually the young females won't attack their siblings, since they've hatched from eggs and grown together in the same area. But once they reach maturity, they leave that area. They don't have that fighting/territorial instinct when immature, and they're all from the same batch, so if you get a bunch of sister female bettas while young, you technically can keep them together, and they're less likely to fight.

But sororities rarely ever work. Haven't heard of one that's lasted more than a year, because by then, the fish are fully matured and adult, and that instinct to be solitary and leave to search for mates has kicked in. They fight for dominance, often kill each other, or a lower ranked female is picked on and so stressed that they die.

This isn't how bettas are supposed to live, and you're forcing them to live in an un-natural way that leads to incredible stress, fighting, and even more issues like this when one turns out to be a male!

Bettas are called fighting fish for a reason. They've evolved to be solitary. It's natural for fry born in the same batch to not have the urge to fight their siblings since they all need to mature before venturing off to find their own way. But if you introduced an unrelated fish? It would be attacked. If you separate young females or males from the same batch while growing, then re-introduce them, they will fight. They lose that "hey, don't beat up your brothers and sisters" instinct once the other fish becomes a stranger.

As the young, wild batch of fry mature, they sort out a pecking order, and begin to get that urge to leave their hatching place, and to be territorial/defensive. They don't stay together for life.
Males leave to find their own patch of territory, and fiercely defend it. In contrast to popular opinion, bettas don't live in tiny puddles. They live in huge interconnected waterways, often with very large territories.

Females are solo travellers. They move around the waterways and find males that are acceptable to them. Once a pair mate, as you've seen, the male defends the bubble nest and drives the female away. He doesn't want any other fish near his eggs; that's his instinct, how they've evolved to survive in their environment. In a tank, the female has nowhere to escape to! Hence her ragged fins, and the fish you've lost/the one that's hiding. The male will kill another fish if he can't drive it away.

In the wild, the females would be driven away, so no need to fight. They leave and carry on their solo travels, finding food and other males to mate with. They don't live together in sororities, or establish their own girl gangs.
You committed to these fish, so personally I would get individual betta tanks for them. Minimum of 2.5g -5g, not those silly little "betta trio" shared water decoration things that only give the fish a half gallon of water.
If this is your first time keeping fish, I'm sorry that it turned out to be so rough! I don't mean to sound critical of you personally. It just makes me sad/mad that so many people promote betta sororities as easy and do-able, and post pretty photos, and too many beginners up in your shoes as a result :(

If you can't do the individual tanks, then please set up a quarantine temp tank for the male, or keep him in the breeder net for now, and find him a good home rather than returning him to the store. I'm sure someone close to you would be willing to take him! Gumtree has been useful for me for that, since you can talk to the person and find out if he'd be going to a suitable home, rather than just returning him. Then hopefully your two remaining female bettas can manage living together in your current tank.
 
Yeah, I just looked at the photos again, and that red one is definitely a male! The mating kinda gives it away, lol! But also that photo of him in the breeder box? Look at that flare! That there is a boy who has reached maturity and wants to breed! They were okay together for months because the ones you buy at the store are juveniles. Now they've fully matured and especially since you wound up with a male, the whole dynamic has changed and they need separating. At least the male does, and keep an eye on the remaining females for signs of fighting, stress, or injuries.

It's very unlikely that the ones you lost died from old age, or random illness I'm afraid. As I said, the store sells juveniles, they weren't old enough to die from old age, and all kinds of things can cause swim bladder issues - especially something like an injury from fighting. Likely, the male or a more dominant female killed the others I'm afraid. :(

You did the right thing by separating the male when you did! Again, I'm sorry if you were given bad advice! Happens to so many people who join the hobby, and they end up upset and disappointed, and leave the hobby. We don't want that. Please do stick around, seek advice about future tank stocking etc. So many helpful and knowledgable people here! Helped me so much when I began this hobby, and still does!
 
Yeah, I just looked at the photos again, and that red one is definitely a male! The mating kinda gives it away, lol! But also that photo of him in the breeder box? Look at that flare! That there is a boy who has reached maturity and wants to breed! They were okay together for months because the ones you buy at the store are juveniles. Now they've fully matured and especially since you wound up with a male, the whole dynamic has changed and they need separating. At least the male does, and keep an eye on the remaining females for signs of fighting, stress, or injuries.

It's very unlikely that the ones you lost died from old age, or random illness I'm afraid. As I said, the store sells juveniles, they weren't old enough to die from old age, and all kinds of things can cause swim bladder issues - especially something like an injury from fighting. Likely, the male or a more dominant female killed the others I'm afraid. :(

You did the right thing by separating the male when you did! Again, I'm sorry if you were given bad advice! Happens to so many people who join the hobby, and they end up upset and disappointed, and leave the hobby. We don't want that. Please do stick around, seek advice about future tank stocking etc. So many helpful and knowledgable people here! Helped me so much when I began this hobby, and still does!
Thankyou for your advice! Iā€™m keeping him in the breeder box for now as I cant afford to get 3 separate tanks. My 2 remaining females hardly bother one another and never really have. They both stay at opposite ends of my tank and only come together to be fed!

Iā€™m trying to find someone to rehome him for free but Iā€™m a little worried as to how long he can stay in the breeders net! I really donā€™t want to take him back to the store! Iā€™ve posted on a couple sites so fingers crossed someone can come collect him and give him a fab home! Thatā€™s all I want for him now :)
 
Thankyou for your advice! Iā€™m keeping him in the breeder box for now as I cant afford to get 3 separate tanks. My 2 remaining females hardly bother one another and never really have. They both stay at opposite ends of my tank and only come together to be fed!

Iā€™m trying to find someone to rehome him for free but Iā€™m a little worried as to how long he can stay in the breeders net! I really donā€™t want to take him back to the store! Iā€™ve posted on a couple sites so fingers crossed someone can come collect him and give him a fab home! Thatā€™s all I want for him now :)
That's great! He'll be fine in the breeder box, don't stress about that. :) People keep bettas in tiny containers and they can manage for a long time, they're pretty adaptable fish. It's only temporary, and it's for all of their safety - he'd be fine in there for a week or so while you find a new home.
Could move the box to a quiet back corner of the tank and keep the lights dim to reduce stress if he seems to get stressed out, but he'll likely occupy himself making more bubble nests. ;)
Oh, I forgot to mention! When you said the female ate the eggs she released? She probably wasn't eating them. The male usually collects the eggs in his mouth and places them in the bubble nest, and sometimes the female helps. She could have eaten them, especially young fish in their first few spawnings, but you might have just seen her collecting eggs for the nest. :)

He's a beauty, if I lived closer, I'd take him! I'm sure someone will want him. But if no one does, then you could return him and at least know that you tried. :)
 
The red one with its fins flared out is a male

You can sex Betta splendens by looking at the ovipositor (egg laying tube). It's where they poop from. Females have a white ovipositor, males have a dark one.

Males build a bubble nest, females don't.
 

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