stocking advice - betta tankmates

[dorabaker]

At the moment my 15 gallon tank only has small shoaling fish living in it, but for some time I've been wanting to add more as the tank looks so lovely and it's sad to have so few fish in it. I'd really like to get a female betta (or even a few of them, if that would be possible) but I'm a bit worried about whether my tank would be suitable for that. These are the reasons:

1) One time I had a female betta living in a smaller separate tank next to my 15 gallon one. I decided to put her into the main tank at short notice and she jumped out a day or two later. I think this was just because of the shock of being suddenly plunged into a much larger and completely different environment with different water parameters, which I really shouldn't have done. But it still worries me.

2) I've kept female bettas before but only in unfiltered tanks. Although the filtration is very gentle in my main tank, it might still be too strong for a small betta. I have a big thing about not subjecting fish to currents that force them to struggle against it, especially if they're new arrivals.

3) I have some glowlight tetras and cherry barbs. They're my only fish at the moment. I used to have 8 tetras and 4 barbs and they were incredibly agressive and nipped each other constantly. A few jumped out of the tank from the stress and since the numbers have been reduced to 5 and 3 they are very peaceful and never fight. I'd really like to have more small shoaling fish - they're so cute. But I'm worried introducing new ones might upset the established hierachy. And of course I'm worried that adding a betta might do the same thing. It would be terrible if the tetras nipped the betta's fins!

So I need some advice. Do you think my tank would be suitable for a female betta and if so could I have more than one? (I really, really like bettas )

[kellyyoungmoney]

i have a sorority in my 10 gallon and i was worried about the filter current being too strong, but my bettas (which are tiny) got used to it and one of my little girls actually likes to hang out on the side with the filter current. they've grown incredibly strong and it doesnt seem to bother them at all anymore!

[3l1zabeth]

If you are going to get a few female bettas then you might want to move the barbs into a different tank because you will be adding fish and be getting a higher ratio of fish. Barbs can be known to nip other fishes fins and they say to not put male bettas in the same tank as them. You could buy a female betta and keep checking up on her and making sure the barbs arent being "rude" to her.

[lilyth88]

Females generally have an easier time with the filter as they aren't forced to carry heavy fins around. Of course, my half-moon male doesn't carry heavy fins around either. He just bites them off. =(

[BeckyFish97]

Originally Posted by lilyth88

Females generally have an easier time with the filter as they aren't forced to carry heavy fins around. Of course, my half-moon male doesn't carry heavy fins around either. He just bites them off. =(

Hmmmmm my boy does that too...maybe its the name :P

[lilyth88]

Originally Posted by BeckyFish97

Hmmmmm my boy does that too...maybe its the name :P

He looks ridiculous right now. Absolutely ridiculous. He bit almost his entire caudal fin off. It had just grown back fully like a week ago too from the last time he did it. He was looking like his gorgeous self again and then WHAM, nope.. not anymore! I went to the store for an HOUR, and came back to that. Horrible. Just horrible.

[BeckyFish97]

I thought gandalfs was fin rot to start with but then I caught the little beggar in the act!
Others informed me it was tailbiting but I couldn't quite digest it...poor guy, when I caught him I screamed-lol not at him just in general!

Also we kinda hijacked the thread...Sorry OP!

[dorabaker]

Originally Posted by 3l1zabeth

If you are going to get a few female bettas then you might want to move the barbs into a different tank because you will be adding fish and be getting a higher ratio of fish. Barbs can be known to nip other fishes fins and they say to not put male bettas in the same tank as them. You could buy a female betta and keep checking up on her and making sure the barbs arent being "rude" to her.

I've actually noticed that my tetras are far more agressive and nippy than the barbs. The barbs are very peaceful so I'm more worried about the tetras!
How many female bettas do you think I could have? Should I introduce them all at once or one by one? I read in the sticky about setting up a sorority that you should introduce the least agressive ones first or something, but I don't see how you can tell what the fish is like until you've seen it interacting with other fish!
I'm going to clean out my 6 gallon tank and set it up in case there's a problem with any of the female bettas, but if I don't end up having to use it I might get a male betta and put it in the 6 gallon. I've never had a male before, mostly because I'm so worried about all the things that could go wrong with its fins!