So, my ex-girlfriend got me into Betta fish. I havta say, they are prolly some of the coolest pet fish you could ask for; complete with a built-in personality 
My ex and I bought me 3 females (Calypso, Athena, and Hera), Hera got sick within 2-3 weeks (she's still alive, mostly blind tho - about 3-4 months later)...a few weeks after the Hera got sick, I bought another small tank and a male Crowntail Betta - Ares ....
Anyway...my ex and I, not being Betta experts by any means, knew just the basics. Such as; "females aren't as aggressive as males, and you can get away with putting multiple females in one tank." .... :icon_eek: not three in a one gallon though! We had to seperate them fast! ....okay okay...fast forwarding...after doing a bunch of research, reading a bunch of experiences from other Betta peeps, I had a theory... If the following conditions were met, I should be able to put multiple females in one tank with little to no problems;
1) Tank should be at least 10 gallons (rule of thumb: about 1.5-2 gallons per 1-inch of adult fish...the rule is technical 1gal/inch ... but fudge it a little to account for decorations)
2) Bettas should be young - recently leaving their brood, causing them to possibly still be okay being around other Bettas (PetSmart was receiving VERY TINY (thus young) bettas lately)
3) There should be plenty of hiding space for the fish inside the tank
4) The bettas get along decently when their jars are next to each other - they're not being overly aggressive towards one another
5) At Least 4 bettas if not more (2 - either they would constantly be going at it, or one would bully the other to death...3- has potential for a "2 on 1" situation)
..that being said, it worked! ...so far I've got a beautiful 10gallon tank with 4 beautiful female (baby) Bettas swimming around. A "sorority" (which I've named: Zeta Alpha Betta ) They tolerate each other very well too! The only thing remotely close to a scuffle, has been when one basically said: "This is my spot, get away and quit looking at me like that" - and shoved the other. ... they "follow" each other (no real chasing), and they kinda nudge each other around...but I would say there isn't really any real aggression (not compared to what I've seen with my other Bettas). most of the time, 2 or 3 of them are swimming with / near each other. I'll post some pictures later (not awake enough to deal with uploading stuff, sorry).
**WARNING**
For those that don't know much about Bettas, what I did was technically pretty risky - some would say not to do such a thing, but based on the criteria I made above, it was hard to argue against it. There are lots of people that will tell you that you should give your ONE betta a 5-10gallon home (all to himself - or maybe with a different species, but as the only betta); I will *never* argue against that - if it's a typical male betta anyway. Once you have decorations in there, it gets closed off and you don't have the full space anymore. Yes, Bettas can live in small jars. But how would you like to live in your bathroom? (not to mention without being able to flush?? lol). These guys really do like to swim (between my crowntail and my females, that's what i've observed). Anyway, back to my "warning" - Bettas are very aggressive by nature, towards each other especially. They are territorial. Placing Bettas with other Bettas is asking for trouble - males should ALWAYS be by themselves (unless they are to mate with a female, and that's a whole different ballgame). They're good with a few other fishes, but not many (and some other fish aren't good with Bettas). Bettas are, for the most part, solo creatures, but could use a "roommate" in the "tank next door" to keep them company <-- that's MY opinion! They are semi sociable, at least with their owner (as i've found out). Mine more or less greet me when I get home
So i could easily go on ranting and raving about my lovely Bettas, and my experiences, etc... but i'll give it a stop here. I hope people are entertainmed / educated in some degree Bettas really are wonderful and easy to take care of - but they still have to be taken care of
----
the fish themselves were hard to get a decent picture of all of them once in the tank. These guys are soo small, about 1-inch at max. They make even my smallest adult betta look huge (and my biggest adult looks like Nessie compared to them)
Getting my babies acclimated to the temperature
most of the tank, and the 4 of em swimmin' around (the blue (purplish) and reddish one seem to pal around a lot..
Pretty much full view of tank and 3 of the bettas (barely see the 3rd one - top of the tall bonzai)
All 4 of 'em around the top of the tall bonzai ... i've noticed them in groups like this a lot (with no aggression that i could see)
My ex and I bought me 3 females (Calypso, Athena, and Hera), Hera got sick within 2-3 weeks (she's still alive, mostly blind tho - about 3-4 months later)...a few weeks after the Hera got sick, I bought another small tank and a male Crowntail Betta - Ares
....Anyway...my ex and I, not being Betta experts by any means, knew just the basics. Such as; "females aren't as aggressive as males, and you can get away with putting multiple females in one tank." .... :icon_eek: not three in a one gallon though! We had to seperate them fast! ....okay okay...fast forwarding...after doing a bunch of research, reading a bunch of experiences from other Betta peeps, I had a theory... If the following conditions were met, I should be able to put multiple females in one tank with little to no problems;
1) Tank should be at least 10 gallons (rule of thumb: about 1.5-2 gallons per 1-inch of adult fish...the rule is technical 1gal/inch ... but fudge it a little to account for decorations)
2) Bettas should be young - recently leaving their brood, causing them to possibly still be okay being around other Bettas (PetSmart was receiving VERY TINY (thus young) bettas lately)
3) There should be plenty of hiding space for the fish inside the tank
4) The bettas get along decently when their jars are next to each other - they're not being overly aggressive towards one another
5) At Least 4 bettas if not more (2 - either they would constantly be going at it, or one would bully the other to death...3- has potential for a "2 on 1" situation)
..that being said, it worked! ...so far
I've got a beautiful 10gallon tank with 4 beautiful female (baby) Bettas swimming around. A "sorority" (which I've named: Zeta Alpha Betta ) They tolerate each other very well too! The only thing remotely close to a scuffle, has been when one basically said: "This is my spot, get away and quit looking at me like that" - and shoved the other. ... they "follow" each other (no real chasing), and they kinda nudge each other around...but I would say there isn't really any real aggression (not compared to what I've seen with my other Bettas). most of the time, 2 or 3 of them are swimming with / near each other. I'll post some pictures later (not awake enough to deal with uploading stuff, sorry).**WARNING**
For those that don't know much about Bettas, what I did was technically pretty risky - some would say not to do such a thing, but based on the criteria I made above, it was hard to argue against it. There are lots of people that will tell you that you should give your ONE betta a 5-10gallon home (all to himself - or maybe with a different species, but as the only betta); I will *never* argue against that - if it's a typical male betta anyway. Once you have decorations in there, it gets closed off and you don't have the full space anymore. Yes, Bettas can live in small jars. But how would you like to live in your bathroom? (not to mention without being able to flush?? lol). These guys really do like to swim (between my crowntail and my females, that's what i've observed). Anyway, back to my "warning" - Bettas are very aggressive by nature, towards each other especially. They are territorial. Placing Bettas with other Bettas is asking for trouble - males should ALWAYS be by themselves (unless they are to mate with a female, and that's a whole different ballgame). They're good with a few other fishes, but not many (and some other fish aren't good with Bettas). Bettas are, for the most part, solo creatures, but could use a "roommate" in the "tank next door" to keep them company <-- that's MY opinion! They are semi sociable, at least with their owner (as i've found out). Mine more or less greet me when I get home
So i could easily go on ranting and raving about my lovely Bettas, and my experiences, etc... but i'll give it a stop here. I hope people are entertainmed / educated in some degree
Bettas really are wonderful and easy to take care of - but they still have to be taken care of ----
the fish themselves were hard to get a decent picture of all of them once in the tank. These guys are soo small, about 1-inch at max. They make even my smallest adult betta look huge (and my biggest adult looks like Nessie compared to them)
Getting my babies acclimated to the temperature
most of the tank, and the 4 of em swimmin' around (the blue (purplish) and reddish one seem to pal around a lot..
Pretty much full view of tank and 3 of the bettas (barely see the 3rd one - top of the tall bonzai)
All 4 of 'em around the top of the tall bonzai ... i've noticed them in groups like this a lot (with no aggression that i could see)
Last edited:
