How Many Females In A 7.5 Gallon?

[Gurglar]

I just bought a 7.5 gallon tank and am wondering if I could house some female bettas in there and how many if I can?

 

[ellena]

Females need to be in a group of 5-6 to spread aggression and 10gall is the min. size recommended for this. So prob. 1 on her own would be best, but then you'd get more colour finnage etc with a male

 

[soph_betta]

From my experence would say 4 would do nicely in there with some nice hidy holes and plants!

Just have a back up plan for if one is overly aggressive, In my LFS the girls are kept in a tank togther so watch the tank for a few mins as you will pick out the ones that are very dominant and just try to avoid those ones when purchasing.

 

[Honeythorn]

You need at least 10 gals for a group of 4 + ( they tend to work better as a group of this or more and will sort out thir own pecking order )

In 7.5 gals you could really only have one.

A single male would work better in that size of tank, it's a decent amount of room and would be best thickly planted, filtered and heated whichever sex you put in it

 

[Amberleaf]

I once had 3 girls in a 6-gallon (then one died of finrot/body rot/bacterial infections, and no medicine I put in there could stop it ), so you could probably have 4 or 5 in a 7.5-gallon tank? I'd say 5 with decent filtration.... ^^; (The Tetra Whisper Internal Filter 10i is good for up to 10 gallons, and is what I use, so it's safe to say that it works right.)

Or, of course, you could get a male and maybe 4 or 5 platies.

 

[Zenandra]

Remember the general rule is 1 inch of fish per gallon of water. so if I full grown female is usually 1.5 inches (sometimes 2) you could only comfortably fit about 4 girls in there and females do much better in larger groups to spread out their natural aggression. I also agree that you would be better off with a male and maybe a snail or a small group of pygmy cories.

 

[Honeythorn]

The inch per gallon rule is well known to be very inconsistent for most fish and it;s better to rely on common sense when stocking a tank. If everyone followed the inch per gallon rule then by that a 10 inch oscar could be kept in a ten gallon tank which we know is incorrect.

 

[GuppyGoddess]

Hi,
In a 7.5 gallon, I wouldn't put more than one female betta because they tend to be a bit agressive toward each other and a small confined space like that may make them fight even more! Also, this is just me, but I'm not a fan of sorority bettas. I think that if you plan to try one out, you should have a back-up plan if the girls try to rip each other to shreds.

 

[Zenandra]

Honeythorn you make a good point, but the rule works well for smaller fish, obviously a person must use common sense when doing most things in life

 

[soph_betta]

I still say you would fit 4 girls in there nicely as long as you have the patience for them to settle in to, as yes there probably will be a fight and some chasing and nipping for the first day of two until they settle in to an order but you cant go whipping them out at the first sign of trouble as this will cause more problems.
Just be prepaired to do a few water changes for the first week or two to help any nipped fins repair.

 

[Zenandra]

If you really want to do a sorority make sure there are LOTS of hiding places for the females to escape from eachother. Make sure they all enter on neutral territory, meaning you add them all at the same time. No more and definitely no less the 4 girls, and be prepared that you may end up with 1 or more girls that are ridiculously aggressive and just can't be with other fish.

Good luck and post pictures!

 

[Assaye]

With female bettas, experience is needed for smaller tanks and smaller groups of girls.

For someone starting their first (or one of their first) sorority tanks, get the biggest tank you can afford (10 gallons +), plant it heavily and try a few girls (6+).

Yes, experienced fish keepers can make sororitys work with fewer females in smaller tanks but it isn't for the faint hearted.

7.5 gallons is great for one betta and at a push could be divided for two if you know what you're doing.

Trying to keep a group of girls in a tank that small could (and probably will) all end in tears.

Even if others have made it work, is it worth risking the fishes' lives?

 

[Gurglar]

ok well I won't go with girls I bought a male betta at the same time as purchasing the 7.5gallon and put him in my already established 5 gallon. Then today I set up the 7.5gallon pulled plants out of the 5 gallon to turn this one into the main planted tank as its a little bigger, moved the light onto it and the filter media from the 5 gallon and moved him into that one.

Now i've just gotta wait for all the plants to fill in for it to look good now is there anything else I could possibly fit in with him? The tank would be to small to have some white clouds in there wouldnt it? I like the pygmy cories aswell so thats always an option if I could fit them in there??

He seems to love the room and is non stop swimming around his new tank I guess hes excited to be out of the cup will get some pics up sometime soon my main computer is stuffed so could be a while

 

[Honeythorn]

White clouds are completely unsuitable fpr betta tankmates despite what many would tell you, due to being a sub tropical fish who do better at much lower temps of around 22 degrees.

If your filtration is good then you *might* be able to get away with 4 male endlers or some sort of micro rasboro, also depending on the temperament of your betta.

At least if he doesn't get on with them, you could move them into the 5 gallon.

7.5 gals isn't really big enough for cories, even small ones like pygmies. Because they like to be in a large group, they need more space than 7.5 gals to gaggle about together, putting 2 or 3 in won't make them happy or behave as they should as there won't be enough of them.

Shrimp and snails are usually safe for bettas, Cherry shrimp are pretty hardy and bright, they'll liven the tank up somewhat, shrimp also produce very very little waste indeed so they on't overload your filter the way extra fish would.

 

[theshadowinc]

The inch per gallon rule is well known to be very inconsistent for most fish and it;s better to rely on common sense when stocking a tank. If everyone followed the inch per gallon rule then by that a 10 inch oscar could be kept in a ten gallon tank which we know is incorrect.

Inch per gallon applies to small fish and not big fish, especially scoaling, cichlids, discus etc! the rule of inch per gallon don't work as they have there own requirements, an oscar can live happily in a 30gallon by its self but a 55+ would be recommended only for the simple reason they eat like pigs, feed them feeders and the inch per gallon rule would step in and say it couldn't happen, as well as them being very dirty fish they require huge filtration systems and a really good maintence scedule and backup heaters! Especially if you feed them feeders! thats why the inch per gallon rule don't apply to them, Discus, chiclids <- they are actually recommended to overstock them in a tank putting the inch per gallon rule at shame lol(Meaning you overstock the tank), so its safe to say these fish the inch per gallon rule doesn't apply to them.... these fish require huge filtration and go by there aggresiveness, how they eat, and they still use inch per gallon rule as a guide for stalking them. The inch per gallon still applies to all fish with exceptions
~ 55 gal planted 5 discus, 9 cardinals, 2 pepper corys, 2 Juli cory, 3 Ottos. Thats a tank I own and not overstocked and puts the inch per gallon rule to shame!

Back on topic ~ To OP
depending on specimen, the inch per gallon rule would say 2-3 at most in that tank looking at adult size of females can range up to 2.5-3" this is looking at the splendin and not looking at the smaller specimen the imbella (1.5-2") both are part of the splendin family, both are bubble nest makers, I would say the imbella 3-4 would work fine but if you went with splendin then you might find it difficult to keep them at bay! Imbellas are more peaceful than splendins, so really it depends on specimen that you are going to get. Before thinking of doing a female tank you should be looking at the specimen you want to keep especially being a begginer, and especially attempting a community of females.

Splending family consists of

Betta Imbellis
Betta Mahachai
Betta Smaraagdina
Betta Splenden(LFS common betta)
Betta Stiktos

Betta Rubra (Plaket)

Smaraagdiana can be housed in pairs or specie only tanks, they are not aggresive as the others and might be a good recommendation for you in that 7.5gal tank.
Mahachai can be housed in that tank to, they do require brakish water though, and grow to 2" and look like a orca don't really resemble a betta, the males can be housed together cept 1 problem they are terrified of humans I don't really know how many of these in that 7.5gal but guessing 3-4
Stiktos is kinda new to the hobby, and not alot of information on this kind of betta, they where only discovered in 2005 I believe
Imbellis is a hit or miss, as us humans breed them with other specimen we are uncertain about behaviour, the pure Imbellis are peaceful and a community tank of these females would work for sure, if mixed with splenden I am not sure, not enough reports on them being housed together, weather it be male or female, they come in short and long fin
Rubra is a run off of the Imbellis but with the more aggresive behaviour, and is known more commonly as Plaket! Its a mix of 2 and not sure what ones
Splendin most commonly kept betta and wiki has information on it if you are interested in this kind, as well as members views experiences, these are more aggresive

First decide specimen then decide if it will work in your tank would be the easier route, not all specimens are the same, especially splen and imbellis or a mixed breed of them!