Set It Up! Yay!

[Paradise3]

So i now have my 15 gallon tank cycling for however many female fighters is alright in 15 gallons. The filter in the tank was running in my 12 gallon tank for ages so there must be bacteria on it? I have put 5 guppies in the 15 gallon to carry on feeding the bacteria on the filter. Is this alright until i can get the plants to plant it for the females and then get the females about 2 weeks after putting the plants in?

Please tell me how i can set-up a nicely planted tank for my females?
How many females can i have?

Alessa x.

 

[krista522]

So i now have my 15 gallon tank cycling for however many female fighters is alright in 15 gallons. The filter in the tank was running in my 12 gallon tank for ages so there must be bacteria on it? I have put 5 guppies in the 15 gallon to carry on feeding the bacteria on the filter. Is this alright until i can get the plants to plant it for the females and then get the females about 2 weeks after putting the plants in?

Please tell me how i can set-up a nicely planted tank for my females?
How many females can i have?

Alessa x.

You could easily fit 7-10 female betta's in a 15 us gallon tank. I don't know the difference between US and UK but in US gallons 7-10 would fit fine.

 

[BethK]

7 - 1o would be fine in there. Lots of plants,high, low, moss balls, 4 hiding places i.e. coconut huts, slate caves etc and you'll be fine x

 

[Paradise3]

Sorry forgot to mention it's UK gallons.

Alessa x.

 

[Assaye]

So i now have my 15 gallon tank cycling for however many female fighters is alright in 15 gallons. The filter in the tank was running in my 12 gallon tank for ages so there must be bacteria on it? I have put 5 guppies in the 15 gallon to carry on feeding the bacteria on the filter. Is this alright until i can get the plants to plant it for the females and then get the females about 2 weeks after putting the plants in?

Please tell me how i can set-up a nicely planted tank for my females?
How many females can i have?

Alessa x.

This will be fine as long as you test the water daily for a week or so to make sure the ammonia doesn't spike

I'd recommend 6-9 females in a 15 gallon. Lots of plants and hiding places!

Definitely want to see pictures when it is sorted.

 

[Paradise3]

I am testing the water and the ammonia has stayed at 0ppm so far but i will test after i add the females like you say to make sure it doesn't spike.
6-9 females is the number i was hoping for. I can't add them all at once so would i be ok adding about 4 then adding the other 5 about 1 week later? If i can do this i will rearrange a few things that are in the tank so they think it's a completely different place.

Alessa x.

 

[BethK]

Yeah that's fine; I wouldn't bother with taking the first girls out, then moving plants about as it would mean a reshuffle in territory,the girls are more likely to fight more. So , let their bags float in the water, which you should do to acclimatize them but leave them like that for 30 mins, let the girls get use to it all. Then let them out 1 by 1, 5 mins apart. Once all girls are out, keep an eye on them, if they are fighting too aggressively, add food in, to break it all up. Chasing and flaring is normal but if they get into lip locking and fin nipping, try to calm it down

 

[Paradise3]

Thanks for all the advice from the betta lovers.
I'll do what everyone's said.

Alessa x.

 

[Assaye]

If you've just got guppies in there, 4 female bettas at once could lead to an ammonia spike unless they're only tiddly ones. Some of my girls are the size of heavy weight boxers so I'd be wary of adding too many all at once unless you're prepared for a mini-cycle.

Personally I've never re-arranged decor and taken the other females out when adding new fish. They're in a planted tank and I refuse to uproot loads of established plants! I've never had problems with aggression or bullying between the girls. However, loads of people find that unless you shake things up a bit the more established females will fight off the newcomers.

 

[Paradise3]

Well my guppies that are in there are about 1 1/2" long and the females at my LFS generally sell very quickly at this size, maybe 2" but not very big.

Alessa x.