I'm glad you mentioned the aggression & when it's time to intervene. The best advice is to not stress out & let the fish establish a pecking order as long as none of the girls gets severely injured. A flaring contest or a tail slap here & there is part of the process. I personally don't think (just from my experience) there's an ideal number of girls, size, or color that should be in a tank, but there is ideal personalities for a sorority.
Vote for it to be a sticky too.
Thanks, you made it simple and stress free for me reading this as a female, hahaha, seriously, I am looking forward to starting my first sorority and this helps in addition to the sticky on this topic.
Just wanted to share a so far successful strategy I've had to introduce my new girls to the sorority tank. After you have made sure the new girl is healthy through a time in quarantine, put her back in the cup she came in and float that in the tank. Do the normal water change routine to get her used to the water temperature and chemistry. (this would consist of me periodically tipping some water out and then refilling with tank water - after a few rounds she'll be in mostly tank water) Float like this, with *frequent* water changes into the cup to keep it fresh, for two days. Feed and make sure to clean out leftover food/poops regularly (turkey basters have a new life as tank supplies!). During that time, your existing girls can see their new addition and she can see her soon to be home and tankmates.
I found that if there was going to be showing off/intimidation attempts, getting it out of the way while no one can touch the new girl really helped. usually after the first day, the girls in the tank would have had their time of puffery and gotten back to normal business. I normally have half the sorority swimming into the new girls' cup to investigate IT while the new girl wanders out to explore the tank when it's release time.
That's essentially what I do, but I leave them longer and use a breeding net/box. I've found it's the best method of introducing mature or slightly more aggressive females into the sorority. By the time I release her, the other females are such a non-event that there's rarely any fighting.
I think a lot of people panic and start pulling females when one comes up with tattered fins or missing scales. As long as one fish isn't being attacked by the others or it isn't prolonged aggression between two females, then just let them be. If your water quality is good and you are feeding a high-quality diet, any fin damage should grow back quickly.
I only intervene if two females are really going at it to the exclusion of any others, and serious damage is being done in a very small space of time.
I tend to be more blase with aggression and bettas. It's very rare that that you aren't going to see some physical damage at some point, when housing bettas together. It's just part of their nature and something you have to accept.
Hadn't thought of that. Once the water acclimitization is complete, I *do* have my breeder/timeout box. Little roomier than the cup and has slits for actual water circulation! But at 11 girls in the tank, I think I'm done for now...unless I find a green or EE girl in the fishstore. Highly unlikely tho.
I should be getting my girls and my live plants for my ten gallon tank this week. I will have 6 girls in total, and I have 6 separate one gallon QT tanks that will all fit in the ten gallon for warmth. I've been setting this tank up since the beginning of January... I really don't want to do anything wrong. I find this thread a little reassuring just because I already know they will probably fight a little, but it will still probably freak me out anyways, lol.
How does everyone feed their girls? Is there any way besides cupping them that I can make sure they are getting relatively equal amounts of food? I don't want to overfeed them but I don't want to underfeed them, either.
I should be getting my girls and my live plants for my ten gallon tank this week. I will have 6 girls in total, and I have 6 separate one gallon QT tanks that will all fit in the ten gallon for warmth. I've been setting this tank up since the beginning of January... I really don't want to do anything wrong. I find this thread a little reassuring just because I already know they will probably fight a little, but it will still probably freak me out anyways, lol.
How does everyone feed their girls? Is there any way besides cupping them that I can make sure they are getting relatively equal amounts of food? I don't want to overfeed them but I don't want to underfeed them, either.
I spread the food around the top so they all get some & then I push some down for my one girl who refuses to come to the top for food. She scrounges on the bottom all day long like it's her only mission in life is to find food in the sand, lol.
Don't stress too much. Once you get to know your girls you'll be fine. Spend time with them & interact as much as you can because it's a distraction from being territorial. I just released two new girls without any problems. There was a whole lotta of chasing, but no nipped fins & things are already settling down. I just spent the last half hour playing with a few of them & teaching them to swim through a hoop. So cute!
I had a member tell me that he found introducing them worked best 15 minutes before lights out, but I was concerned that they would fight when I turned the lights out and I can't observe them? Or is it too dark for them to see each other at all?
Honestly, I think a lot of people over think sororities. I just used to put my females all in and if anyone fought too much they got separated out into a breeding net.
I have had at least 50 odd females and only around five or so could not cope in a sorority environment.
When introducing a new female to an existing sorority, I would just feed everyone else up the front and release the newcomer up at the back of the tank. I never bothered with rearranging everything or letting fish out one at a time.
I had a member tell me that he found introducing them worked best 15 minutes before lights out, but I was concerned that they would fight when I turned the lights out and I can't observe them? Or is it too dark for them to see each other at all?
I don't really know because I've never done that. I think you'll be fine whatever you choose to do. You have hospital tanks, a plan, & a cycled tank so your very prepared.
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