Sorority Tank Finally Has Inhabitants...

[Channti]

After months of debating, research, and arguing with myself in pet stores, I loaded my 15 gallon up with plants (cryptocoryne lutea, cryptocoryne wendtii, corckscrew vals, amazon sword, cabomba, java fern, hygrophila polysperma), and bought 4 females to start today. The tank also houses 6 corys and 2 otos, and a few pest snails. I plan to add 3 more females next week.

3 of my females are pretty passive, swimming around, doing their own thing, ignoring each other.
But female number 1 is flaring.... a LOT. Chasing down the other girls. Really pushing them around, and I'm concerned as she's also very very colourful. Can someone post a picture of what a female flaring would look like? I think she might be a he... but I don't know what females gills are supposed to look like when they flare....

Thanks!

 

[lilfishie]

try holding a mirror upto 'it' and see if it has a full flare, a female flare is hardly noticable in comparison to a males.

could just be the dominant female although a picture would probably be your best shot.

 

[Channti]

false alarm.
I spotted her white ovi spot. She's a she alright.

She's just the gorgeous (and dominant) fish in the tank. the other 3 are all pretty easy going. I can't wait to get the rest of the bettas for that tank.

 

[lilfishie]

some young males have that too, mine did

 

[Channti]

AGH! really?!

Does anyone have a picture head-on of a female flaring? That'd really help with IDing this ...lady?

 

[lilfishie]

females shouldn't have a beard, could you prehaps seperate it into say a breeder trap until sure, might even start building if male

 

[aly_starh]

can we see some pics???

 

[krista522]

Sounds to me like you might have a male, but if she has an eggspot I wouldn't be too worried unless you don't see her drop any eggs when the rest do. Do you have a plan for introducing the new females? It has to be done in a way that the original females feel safe as well as the new ones.

 

[Channti]

As for adding new females, I'd planned to take out all the current females, do a re-scape on the tank, and then add everyone at the same time. Put everyone on the same level, no territories.

The tank needs a re-scape anyway. My plants and I have been having a bit of a disagreement... The driftwood gets in the way of gravel vac's, the vallis needs to be trimmed, the cryptocoryne lutea needs to be divided and replanted, and my corys have dug up half of my cryptocoryne wendtii plantlets.

Watching Cara (the betta I talked about in this thread), I've decided she is most likely a she. She's definitely calmed down a lot. Scrappy has taken over as Alpha in the tank (originally at the bottom of the pecking order), with Cara as second in command, and the final two, Sasha and Scarlet at the bottom of the order. For the most part though, the only injuries in the tank are a couple tears in Scrappy's anal and dorsal fins, which I believe were inflicted in her battle for position as Alpha.

Once i get my essays handed in Thursday, I plan to hit the mall for groceries and batteries, and get some pictures up in an introduction thread. I've really got betta fever... I went from two Bettas at the beginning of september, to 1 betta when my Male VT had to be euthanized, to 6 bettas (5 additions last week, 1 male, 4 females, obviously not in the same tank; Ladies are Scrappy, Cara, Scarlet, Sasha <in their pecking order>, and Nyx, my new CT black/red/silver boy).