Going To Attempt A Sorority!

[LyraGuppi]

I have researched bettas and sorority tanks and I think I may attempt one. I have had experience with fish; I'm probably a Beginner- Intermediate. I was thinking of a 25 or 30 gallon tank housing about 9 females. Would this setup be okay?
Also, I can't decide what plants to use! I have a few in mind (Anubias, Amazon and Oriental Swords) but they are pretty short. Would having these alone in the tank with driftwood and such be enough cover?
Finally, I was wondering if any of you have attempted or have a sorority. How did you do it? Please don't carry on about how "bad of an idea" a sorority can be. I have taken this into consideration, and am willing to take the risk.

Thank you!
 

 

[Ninjouzata]

I -think- you can do more females than that in those sized tanks.
 
I -think- you'll want more plants than that. You want a super jungle going on.
 
Easy plants are watersprite, wisteria, bacopa, camboba, anacharis, swords, anubias, java fern, cryptocorynes, vallisneria, and java moss.
The java fern & anubias you'll want to attach to driftwood or rocks, and the swords & crypts would benefit from root tabs.
 
Some aponogetons are easy too, I had ulvaceus and it totally took over my 20g. Banana plants are cute and easy too IMO.
 
Sororities are doable but you need to be able to recognize betta behavior.
 
I will try to point people I know that have/had them to this thread!

 

[attibones]

I started my twenty gallon with sixteen females. So with a 25, you could have no more than twenty. You want these females to be overstocked. It's sort of like keeping cichlids. For a thirty, I'd still keep twenty since these are not very long tanks. Longer tanks, of course, do better for bettas.

You don't want to be able to see your substrate. You should be densely planted. Amazon swords are tall enough and are great choices for the females. Mine like napping in them. I also have a ton of ferns in there because they are easy reproducers and they fill out the space above your driftwood quite nicely. The more plants you can get, the better. Look for tall, broad plants. Don't worry about placing them only in the background. Your girls will need them in the front too.

My sorority started out great. I only lost one or two to aggression but there were a series of unfortunate events which caused me to lose ten of my girls. Now I am considering slowly increasing my stock, but I'm not ready yet. You're going to want to change the tank around every once in a while, especially if you add new girls. I also recommend getting sisters from a breeder who have been raised together as this keeps things calmer in the tank. I used basement bettas and she was really swell.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I started my twenty gallon with sixteen females. So with a 25, you could have no more than twenty. You want these females to be overstocked. It's sort of like keeping cichlids. For a thirty, I'd still keep twenty since these are not very long tanks. Longer tanks, of course, do better for bettas.

You don't want to be able to see your substrate. You should be densely planted. Amazon swords are tall enough and are great choices for the females. Mine like napping in them. I also have a ton of ferns in there because they are easy reproducers and they fill out the space above your driftwood quite nicely. The more plants you can get, the better. Look for tall, broad plants. Don't worry about placing them only in the background. Your girls will need them in the front too.

My sorority started out great. I only lost one or two to aggression but there were a series of unfortunate events which caused me to lose ten of my girls. Now I am considering slowly increasing my stock, but I'm not ready yet. You're going to want to change the tank around every once in a while, especially if you add new girls. I also recommend getting sisters from a breeder who have been raised together as this keeps things calmer in the tank.  I used basement bettas and she was really swell.

 
I agree with that completely.
 
 
More plants is better - more than you think you need.   The plants need to be everywhere in the tank, front - back- sides - middle... everywhere.  They will spend a good amount of the time at the front of the tank begging for food, especially if they can see you.
 
And you need to keep a very close watch on overly aggressive behavior.  I'm extremely new to the sorority game, about 2 months now. Everything is going very well, and I only had one incident where two bettas got involved in a bit of a true scrap.  Fortunately, after a period of lights out and the addition of a few new plants, the aggression between those two ended and everything is as calm as you can expect.

 

[LyraGuppi]

Thank you everybody!

 

 

[attibones]

Have you ever had bettas before? If you haven't, it's okay, but you really should read up on betta body language to help you understand the different types of aggression. I haven't looked, but I'm sure there are tons of videos on the youtube which should help.
 
Some nipping is normal, especially when you first introduce the fish. You're going to see this kind of behavior when they are establishing their hierarchy. You'll be able to tell pretty quickly who is your top fish. 
 
Relentless chasing of one specific fish is not usual. You'll want to break up territories at that point, make sure you didn't get a juvie male, or even move the chased fish. You'll never want to remove the top fish because doing this breaks down the hierarchy. It's easier to remove the weakest one because it doesn't throw off the whole tank structure. 
 
Also, keep a hospital tank handy. I've had a few occasions where my alpha female got into a nasty scrape with another of the little ones (she killed the other fish), but I had to hospitalize her immediately because she was badly wounded. After that, we never had any more rows. I keep two filters on my sorority so I can move one to the hospital tank if I need to, or I'll move the air over. I've got enough plants and wood in my tank that the flow doesn't bother these girls. 

 

[LyraGuppi]

Have you ever had bettas before? If you haven't, it's okay, but you really should read up on betta body language to help you understand the different types of aggression. I haven't looked, but I'm sure there are tons of videos on the youtube which should help.
 
Some nipping is normal, especially when you first introduce the fish. You're going to see this kind of behavior when they are establishing their hierarchy. You'll be able to tell pretty quickly who is your top fish. 
 
Relentless chasing of one specific fish is not usual. You'll want to break up territories at that point, make sure you didn't get a juvie male, or even move the chased fish. You'll never want to remove the top fish because doing this breaks down the hierarchy. It's easier to remove the weakest one because it doesn't throw off the whole tank structure. 
 
Also, keep a hospital tank handy. I've had a few occasions where my alpha female got into a nasty scrape with another of the little ones (she killed the other fish), but I had to hospitalize her immediately because she was badly wounded. After that, we never had any more rows. I keep two filters on my sorority so I can move one to the hospital tank if I need to, or I'll move the air over. I've got enough plants and wood in my tank that the flow doesn't bother these girls. 

I've had many male bettas, but never females. I found this web page called "Let's Talk Female Betta Fish" and it has a lot of info. I'm planning to get another small tank as a hospital tank, as soon as I go back to the store.

 

[attibones]

Good good! Sounds like you are doing your homework then. You will post pictures for us, right~

 

[LyraGuppi]

Okay, I have decided that I am going to get a new 15 gal for my male betta and put him in with some black neon or plain neon tetras. Any suggestions?
His old 5 gal will be used as a ghost shrimp/ q tank, and my 20 gal community tank will stay as is. If my stock in the 20 gal gets wiped out or I start over, that 20 gal with be my sorority tank.
So sadly, my dreams of a sorority tank may be far off unless my male betta dies before I get a 15 gal. If that happens, my sorority tank shall begin!
Oh, and I will, for certain, most definately make a journal with alot of photos when I get this plan started.
Thank you all for the great help!

 

[Ninjouzata]

Do you know if your male is okay with other fish? That may stress him out a lot. I've also heard of neons being notoriously nippy with bettas, so I'd choose something else.
If going for other fish with a betta I'd lean towards bottom dwellers like cories or khuli loaches.