When it comes to males, it is definitely not recommended to keep them together. They will either kill each other right away for territory, or they will lead very stressed out lives.
Females on the other hand are totally capable of co-existing. They can be very aggressive, but if you keep them in groups of 4 or more, the aggression is spread out and they should be able to live together in a minimum of 10 gallons, with lots of plants and hiding places. I have a female betta fish sorority myself. They fought like hell for maybe the first 24 hours, now they're all for the most part peaceful with eachother... except for Daiquiri... my little dictator... had to remove her for a bit just because she was just that aggressive. Drama. lol... I could probably link you to a couple of helpful forums if you were thinking of starting one up if you're interested!
At first I had integrated a few females into my 20gal (see my tanks) community tank. After a while, I fell in love with the fish. I wound up taking all my community inhabitants to the petshop (except my eels) and buying more females. My sorority was awesome.
Then I got my 125 set up. I lost one eel and about ten female bettas after the first week or so. I was pretty crushed. The 125 is a uniquarium, so I couldn't do anything to minimize the water flow, and I had to add powerheads to keep the water looking clean. I thought I had to give up on my bettas.
I noticed though that the ones that survived were very healthy. All of my betta stock is PetCo bought- and I've noticed that a LOT of their bettas arrive sick or just weak. A few months later I'd find out that they get their bettas from a single breeder, and I talked with the breeder and found out that only the dregs of his spawns get sold to PetCo.
I've added about five or so females to my 125, and they're all doing well. Picking them out is very difficult however, and I did have more than one die on me in the process.
I've spent months watching the females and how they interact with one another. After the first spats over territory- they stop. My tank is moderately planted, but I have a HUGE rock pile with holes throughout. I have rocks in there that you can't even see from the outside, but I knew that my bettas would appreciate the space, so I spared no expense.
I have three red females that have been in the tank at least two months, and they actually school together. It's so neat.
Recently I added three males. That makes ten females, and three males in the same tank. I'll post some more recent pictures soon, as I've just noticed that I don't have any more recent ones.
Of course, these are not the only fish in the tank. I've got a very explicit strategy for picking the fish and setting up the tank for multiples if anyone here is interested in talking/ trying it.
I really feel like my process works, but I won't know unless other people try it and are successful too.
I wish I had the space to set up a tank that size, for now im stuck with my little 20 gal :/ Seems like it would be enough space though for 3 males to co exist....
I was really, really lucky to get that first picture.
My rock pile is huge, but made so that there's tons of space and water that doesn't move inside, since there's so much current throughout the tank. In fact, there's about ten holes in the rocks that all lead to different places. You can see the red Betta has found his home and claimed it, lol.
I have one more that's absolutely beautiful. He's a dark steel color with mustard gas orange/ brown fins and a hard black outline on them. He's staked a claim inside one of the higher, flatter rocks, and doesn't like to come out too often.
I wasn't really trying to get pics of the females, but if you look in the backgrounds, you're bound to see one or five.
Wow, that's incredible.. the males don't attack each other?
At first I read your thread and was like "omg, such a bad idea", but reading your posts and seeing the photos definitely changed my mind! I wish I had the space for a tank like that, that's just fantastic. Keep an eye on them!
The males don't attack, no. They do flare, but only when one gets close to the other's home. When they're freeswimming in the middle of the tank, they're fine. Purple in the first picture hasn't quite found a home yet. Everyone else is housed.
Wow, your tank is beautiful. For quite a while I'll be shying away from multiple males in a tank, but it would be a wonderful thing to accomplish.
I currently keep a single female and male together, and even with that I will get comments that inevitably they'll kill eachother. However, my female is very docile, and I introduced them with a lot of monitoring, and finally they've become good betta friends.
It's really all about personality. Some bettas are simply aggressive by nature, while others do well with others. As long as they can always be separated instantly should something happen, and you have medicine on hand of any injured fins that could occur... well, there's not much of a reason not to keep them together.
Most of my experience comes from the internet, to be quite honest. I had two 40 gallon tanks that I maintained with my dad 15 years ago, which we had for about a year. Simple fish, black gravel, blue light.
I got back into the hobby about nine months ago. Started with a 5 gallon, and did what I knew- simple fish, black gravel, blue light.
Then I started reading about plants, and more complicated setups. I learned about gas exchange, so I figured out that I didn't need bubbles (which I hate). I kept reading and learned about the light demands of different kinds of plants, wattages, and light spectrum.
What I learned was that if I kept reading the same info from one website to another, it was probably pretty accurate. After two months, I moved up to a 20 gallon. After a few months of that (and many small successes with plants and fish), I decided to jump in with both feet and spent about 5k on the tank in the photos.
I've done enough homework to know enough of the basics that all I'm learning now is practical truths from my own experiences.
Actually, reading over this post again, maybe I do fit in the "pretty experienced" group, lol.
Wow, I'm so impressed by your tank, and I'm so jealous!
I really want a set-up like yours now!
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