The Sister Problem

[timmystood]

Hello Guys - Not often I find myself posting in the Betta section so hello!

Right, i've got a problem. About 6 months ago I purchased 3 female sister bettas from an aquatics shop. They got on fine for roughly 5 months, then aggression began. It was at this time that I noticed that it was in fact 2 females and 1 male. I instantly removed the male and the more aggressive female out of the tank and placed them in seperate 1.5 Gallon tanks, where they have been ever since. The other female has had her tail repaired and is now in full helth in a tropical community tank. I don't like keeping betta's in betta tanks, I prefer them to be in community tanks or at least tanks with other fish. This has lead me to wonder, would I be able to re-introduce the two sisters. As to my knowledge the two females weren't aggressive to each other when the trio was together, it was simply the male who was fiesty. Obviously I can't put the male back in with the female but just wandered if the two females could be re-introduced together in the community tank... hope that all makes sense!

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Many Thanks
TIM

 

[t1tanrush]

Depends on the size of the tank, if they are legit sisters they shouldn't fight in the community tank, as long as there are enough hides in case they do. If they aren't 100% sisters, then I would recommend getting another 2-3 females. 5 females in a 10g tank work nicely and even out the bullying/fighting.

 

[zoekin8yg]

Girls really need to be in larger groups, about 5 or 6 to even out the aggression. Adding one back to just one will probably cause agression over territories. If you move everything around it might be ok.

 

[t1tanrush]

Not always true, sometimes genetically bonded fish that have been together most of their lives can usually do fine, especially if its a good sized tank..

 

[zoekin8yg]

mm it does depend on the fish, but often once they have been seperated they will at least fight over heirarchy

 

[timmystood]

OK thanks for your help.

They are, to my knowledge, 100% sisters, so hopefully this will play on my side.
The tank is 16UK Gallons, with plenty of hiding places and territories.
I'll try it today and let you know how they get on.

Thanks Again
TIM

 

[willtang3000]

since you seperated them the sister in either tank will most likely of forgotten and when you reintroduce them there will be a pecking order on which female is more dominant usually the larger one so i would insist on adding a few more females to lessen this agression

 

[t1tanrush]

A few more females would also brighten the tank and make it look nice along with help with aggression should it arise!

 

[timmystood]

Yeah, I mean I will add a few more females should I be able to find them.

I have added the second sister back to the tank today and everything went ok. So far (now about 7 hours) there has been very little aggression, if any. Finger's crossed for the future!

 

[zoekin8yg]

You should easily be able to find some more females, there is a list of places on in the faq somwhere