"Companion" for a female betta

[lillyandquigly]

I've heard it should be for a ten gal. like four or five, and the main rule is no to have less then four mfemale I think, if I am wrong someone please correct me, because it spreads out the aggression

[lvandert]

+1 You need 4+ girls and for them you will need tons of plants and caves to escape aggression. To have 4+ girls you need a 10+ gallon aquarium. It just doesn't work with the smaller tanks because the ammonia will build up so fast you'd be doing daily water changes, filter or no filter.

[shellieca]

Originally Posted by Foofykitty

I have a female and have been thinking of getting a larger tank and some more females, so just wondering why you say you can't have them in less than a 10 gallon? And while I'm picking your brain, how many do you recommend having together?

They need to have room to get away from each other so the tank needs to have space, plenty of plants & hidey holes. You can have more than one female but there will be aggression towards each other especially in the beginning when they're establishing a hierarchy. If the tank isn't big enough the aggression will be worse. A rule of thumb, which has flaws, is that you need a minimum of a gallon per inch of fish BUT that rule doesn't take into consideration bio load of the fish, aggression of the fish, width, etc. I have 3 female Bettas in a 46g, soon to add a 4th & soon after that a 5th. As it stands right now, Rosie will periodically chase Violet & because of the size of my tank, the plants & deco's, Violet can easily escape, stay out of her sight & feel safe. I also have 2 males in individual 10g tanks & let me tell you it has made a HUGE difference in their behavior, they were previously in 1g tanks because of my lack of knowledge & experience. I won't keep another Betta in anything less than a 10g long term ever again. I love watching my boys swimming around, being able to really stretch & strut themselves, I feel better & I know they are happier & healthier. But thats me, many people disagree.

[randy84]

I put a snail in with my fry to help keep the tank clean and now i have 2 or 3 lol but the fry are doing great

[KukaaKatchou]

My Otos and my betta get along well :)

[teeneythebetta]

Originally Posted by Foofykitty

I have a female and have been thinking of getting a larger tank and some more females, so just wondering why you say you can't have them in less than a 10 gallon? And while I'm picking your brain, how many do you recommend having together?

They need space to get away from each other. They claim their own teritories and in less than a 10 gallon they are more likely to kill each other if they dont have space.

Minimum of 4 females. The bigger the tank, the better.
You need to quarantine the females for 2 weeks or more to ensure nobody has illnesses. The tank should be cycled completely, and be heated to about 80 degrees.

Some females are more agressive than others and are not suited for sorority life. Sororities are very hard to manage and start, and they can end in disaster if you dont quite know what youre doing. They are not for new fish keepers.
Please read about sororities here :) http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=29402