Room For A Sorority?

[Flute]

Hey all, was wondering if someone could give me the thumbs up or down to an idea that's been playing around my head for a while now please?

I currently have 2 betta- a male in a 5 gallon, and a female in a 16 gallon. In the next few months or so a lot of my fish in the other tanks around my house are going be moved around. This would leave me with 3 albino cory, 2 female guppies, 2 black widows, and my current female in the 16 gallon. I will eventually be able to move either the guppies or the black widows to another tank too, but that might be a good while before that happens.

I'd love to have a group of girls, but am I right in thinking that any more fish at the moment would over stock my tank? If so, what about after either the black widows or guppies are moved?

Freya, my female, often shows what I think are stress stripes, even though the tank conditions are fine, she has plenty of places to hide, etc. and I'm wondering if it's because she's the only female in there. Or would that not really bother her? I know there is the potential for females to bicker, but as Freya is concerned, she's really laid back with the other fish.

Any ideas would be really much apprecaited, and of course I want to do whats best for my fish, so if I get the answer I think I'm going to get, I won't do anything more with the tank until there's room.

Cheers :3

 

[silverrabbit]

I do not think you would overstocked in the 16gal if you were to add more girls. I think you'd be better off without the 2 black widows and maybe have a bigger group of them elsewhere if poss. It might be that they are nipping at her and causing stress, because in such a small number they get quite nippy IMO.

I'd say that the min number of girls is 5-6, this will spread the aggression so no one will get bullied to the point of stress/death.

Good luck with your sorority

 

[Flute]

Really? That's great I wont get them until I come home from uni for Summer at the end of May, just so I can keep an eye on them.

Are there any good ways to introduce the girls to each other? For example, should I bag Freya up, re-arrange the tank, and then release them? And when I buy them, do I need to ask if they can be bagged seperatly?

Thanks for answering silverrabbit, I really appreciate it ^^

 

[silverrabbit]

You can bring all the new girls home in the same bag

The best way for me has been to bag up the original girl as soon as i'm home and let her float in the tank whilst I rearrange the decor a fair bit and float the new girls. Then after you've released the new girls, you can release Freya. Hopefully she won't feel that they're invading her territory that way, lol.

With girls, it's better to "overstock" the tank as it spreads out aggression, so you could probably have a nice group in that sized tank

 

[Flute]

Once again, thank you for the advice I'm hoping to get another 5 girls then, as I want to reduce the risk of them fighting as much as possible.

Forgot to mention in my last post that the Black Widow tetra leave her alone, which is strange. When they were in a bigger group they were much more nippy, but they've quietened down a lot since. Eventually I'd really like to be able to get them in another tank and get more so those two aren't by themselves, but unfortunatly I'll have to wait for space.

I'll update with pictures once I get the new females

Thanks again!

 

[silverrabbit]

Very welcome look forward to pics