female bettas

[kaitlin]

okay so i have heard conflicting views on female bettas.. are they okay with each other??? i only have one, and shes in a 5gal.. but there is this pathetic looking one i feel that she needs me!!! i would set her up in a 1 gal, get her healthy looking and wait a while before i put her in the 5, but i do not want to have her live in a 1 gal, no filter, not heater, small tank her whole life!! any thoughts??:confused:

[Irish_Lass]

I've been told on numerous occasions that 2 female bettas is the unluckiest number. They just bicker constantly to establish and maintain top "dog". It results in death normally. As for what a sufficient number of female bettas is - I don't know. I have heard that 5 or 6 is good because it establishs that necessary pecking order. I dare say it won't stop them fighting now and again but that's bettas for ya.

[kaitlin]

haha yeah... i guess ill just stick with my girl, better safe than sorry i suppose, and as for the poor little gal sitting in a tiny cup rotting in her own food as we speak!!.. hopefully some other sap like me will find her and take good care of her.. cant save them all i guess!

[Irish_Lass]

Its horrible when you find yourself in a position like that. You want to be able to help them all but sometimes taking them home means the end result will still be the same. :(

[kaitlin]

i know, i do have an empty 1 gal, but there is no heater small enough, and i have 3 tanks already (20, 5, 2.5) all in my bed room!! there's no more room for any more things to plug in, id feel bad for her, bc i dont know if i could keep up with the cleaning and maintenence of a small tank like that.. ughh why cant they just get along!?!?! i'd have a 55 full of them :) males and females alike

[Irish_Lass]

I'm playing devil's advocate here but would it be an option to put the female in the 5gal into the 55 and then rescue the other for the 5gal? One thing I don't know about bettas is introducing a new one into a gang.

[kaitlin]

i do not have the 55 gal yet.. im in the process of getting my own place, i decided im not going to add any more to the mess until i get out there.. to eliminate the stress of a move if nothing else. haha, but yeah. ive had many many male bettas, this girl's actually my first female.. i found her at petco, went back a month later and she was still sitting in the same cup with her rotting food and poops on the bottom.. its amazing what those little buggers can live through.. shes actually quite an ugly fish, but how could you pass that poor little thing up? haha.. but yes, soon i will try and save them all..muahaha!!

[Irish_Lass]

Ah sorry, I read that wrong. I thought you said you had a 55 up and running with males and females alike. I thought I had just come up with a really genius idea. :-)

[kaitlin]

oo and my big tank now has two big ol gold fish my little cousin won at the fair a year ago.. (golly im a sucker :)) they'd eat her in no time!!

[Irish_Lass]

LOL Anihilate her in seconds!

[kaitlin]

goodness, i feed them these huuuuge frozen krill... they are atleast the size of my girl, and they tear them up in minutes!!

[Irish_Lass]

LOL Goldfish are just starvo's.

[kaitlin]

yes, and thanks to my cousin, i have 2 starving commets in a 20 gal, they are getting too big, i think i need to find them a nice pond to live in, though i feel bad getting rid of them :(

[Irish_Lass]

We're having similar issues. We bought 2 angel fish about 6-8 months ago. They were pretty small when we got them and they seem to have just gotten HUGE so quickly. If they grow much more they'll need their own new tank or will need to go to somebody with the room for them. Luckily we have 3 different sized aquariums in the house to play around with but that will only suit them for so long!

[kaitlin]

haha, i know, and i dont have the money to get them a huge tank they'd do well in.. its sad i think this way.. but i think they'd be happier with more room to swim.

[Macawpower58]

I've seen tanks full of females. I think they usually get along fine. It's the males you have to keep separate. I at one time put a male and female together in a 10 Gallon tank. Even one female couldn't live with him. He chased her relentlessly.