Female Betta Fish Questions!

[WhiskeyHands]

I got my hands on 3 rather small female bettas today (pictures, there are a lot of them js) and have just acclimated them to a 21 gallon tank but have some questions.Try answering the most you can, thank you :)

Can you tell me what kind of bettas these are?

How old would you say they are?

I have 2 red comet platies and a male crowntail with them. The betta seems to do fine with them but the platies have started nipping their fins ( they never did that to the male and still don't just the females! -_-) The male seems to go after the platies when he notices they nip the female fins.
So question is, why the sudden change in the platies and why do a male betta help 3 female bettas?





































alot because i couldnt take clear pictures, they move too much, i'll try to get better ones and post them again!

[LittleBettaFish]

Please separate your females out from the tank with your male. The horizontal bars on your females are showing that they are extremely stressed out. Males and female bettas should not be kept together in the same tank.

An all-female betta tank is called a sorority. Sorority tanks can be very volatile and you really need to have a proper set-up for them to be successful. There are lots of stickies and posts on sorority tanks so I would recommend reading them.

I just say this as the bettas are liable to be fine for a period of time before suddenly becoming aggressive towards each other. It's very rare that males and females can live together long-term without doing any physical harm to each other.

[DragonFish]

+1, definitely get those girls out of there ASAP. You can scoop them up in their pet store cups or other small clean fish-safe(no soaps or chemicals)container and float them in the tank while you decide what you want to do/set up some other tanks. Its really not a question of IF things will go badly, but WHEN when it comes to this particular species of betta.

[WhiskeyHands]

hmmm okay but wait littlebettafish, can they be stressed since i got them at the lps because i just added them like now and also dragon fish, i'll put them in something else for now, dont have the cups as the guy just gave them to me in a plastic bag all together

[LittleBettaFish]

Right now, they are probably stressed from just being put into the tank. But once they settle in, the presence of a male, plus the other females in what looks like a fairly sparsely decorated tank is also going to cause issues.

I had a male who was brought up in my sorority (purchased as a female and never bothered or harassed them at all) and I added a couple more females to my tank. Everything was fine, until a couple of weeks later came down and found him nearly dead with all his fins torn off. Have no idea what triggered such violence as he'd been in there for over a year. I lost him not long after.

Bettas are just so unpredictable it can be hard to gauge when things are going right and when things are about to implode.

[WhiskeyHands]

oh and also the females arent even half the size of the male, they are all small, and were all housed together before. heres a picture of my tank currently

[DragonFish]

You can use some small plastic/tupperware containers instead since they came in a bag, but get one for EACH of them, don't put them all in one together. Thats just going in end in a bloodbath.

The tank looks fine for a single male OR female(though something floating would probably be good to add in) and some peaceful tank mates, but thats much too sparsely planted/decorated for keeping multiple bettas together.

If you plan on removing the male and starting up a Sorority, you'll want to PACK that tank with plants(live or silk)and caves.....you want it to be a little miniature underwater thick jungle in a way. This will help break up the line of site, give the girls places to hide, and therefore help minimize aggression.
You'd also want to add at least a couple more females if you decide to remove the male and try the Sorority. You want a bare minimum of four, with five or more being better.

[WhiskeyHands]

i think i might make the female float, but how do i take care of them when they float?

[DragonFish]

Assuming the containers are under a gallon, just give them each a 100% change once a day and offer the girls food like you would any other betta.
Floating them in the containers is just a temporary solution, something you can do for a few days until you can sort things out/decide what you want to do however.

[WhiskeyHands]

hmmm okay thanks mate