Females for a Sorority

[metalbetta]

Since I'm all moved in, and actually have room, I've been considering starting up a sorority... Probably sometime this winter. My goal is December. At the moment I don't have nearly enough money to purchase all that is needed, but soon enough I will. (crossing my fingers for a raise... and another job. ;) )
I read through the sticky, and am pretty sure I know what I want to do.
A couple of questions that I have are:
How long do they need to be QT'd before adding them together? and if I see a female let's say... tomorrow... that catches my eye, would it be safe to purchase it now, and add it to a sorority this winter? Any other advice would be appreciated! I want to be as informed as possible before my boyfriend sends me to the loony bin for even considering this. :)

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

Originally Posted by metalbetta

How long do they need to be QT'd before adding them together? and if I see a female let's say... tomorrow... that catches my eye, would it be safe to purchase it now, and add it to a sorority this winter? Any other advice would be appreciated! I want to be as informed as possible before my boyfriend sends me to the loony bin for even considering this. :)

As long as you would normally quaranteen (spelling lol) a normal fish. I didn't quaranteen my fish cos the first bunch came from the same tank in the shop.

If you get a girl now and she is alone, she might get too used to being alone and not take to other girls (I dont know this; but I was advised buying some girls from a breeder as they'd been alone for too long).

[newfishmom]

I don't think buying a girl now and waiting would be much of a problem. You just never know about females though. My oldest "Peep" does fine in my sorority. She is the top dog though. Pretty much no one bothers her. Every once and a while, one will sneek up on her but for the most part she is "IT" I bought Peep on Easter weekend. I started my sorority June 14th. Now that some of my girls are getting bigger they have started challenging the others. As of last night I have had to take two out to let there fins heal some. They were looking pretty bad. I rearranged the tank and put the other 4 back in. So far so good. Figure I will let my other 2 girls heal for a bit, then rearrange the tank again and see how it goes.

You just never know with females. They can turn on each other at the drop of a hat. Some just get along with everything. The ones that started out being a bit shy are now coming out of there shell and pecking to the top. One of my smallest "Chirp" is now huge and has made her way from the very bottom to the second in command. But, my most timid fish in the beginning "Tweet" has started really going after anything that moves! Guess my point in this lengthy, wordy, going on and on, is ......you just never know what is going to happen with the girls. They may get along just fine for the rest of there lives, or....they may not get along from the beginning, or....they may get along at the start then not get along...or who knows?

[metalbetta]

We women are catty. lol.

[WillowTree]

I started a sorority last month and so far so good minus the ripped up fins!

I quarantined my girls for 2 weeks. If you buy your girls one at a time maybe you can keep their tanks right next to each other so that they can see each other and get used to each other that way. That's what I did and I think it helped. As others have mentioned though, even if you take every precaution, sororities are still unpredictable.

Good luck!

[Welsh]

What I do with my females is when theres a newbie I take them all out, let the newbie settle in for an hour or so and then re-arrange the deco and plants before adding all the others back but with my last 3 I just put them in without doing anything and everyone is fine and dandy but as you probably already know make sure there are a lot of hiding places, tall and short plants,etc

[1fish2fish]

I didn't read all the posts so excuse me if I'm repeating information.

I quarantine all fish for 3-4 weeks prior to adding them to a community tank (whether a sorority or a divided male tank). If the fish looks really healthy I do 3 weeks but if his (or her) health looks questionable I QT for 4 weeks. Remember that EVERY fish has to be QT'd prior to putting the sorority together.

Try to pick females that look kind of mellow. It can be very hard to figure out who is aggressive and who isn't but use your best judgement.

Cycle the tank prior to adding the sorority. That will make your life SO much easier. Get bushy and tall plants so the girls have plenty of places to hide as well as caves, etc.

My only tip would be to only feed 1 time a day instead of 2 times. Especially when feeding pellets you'll find that some girls get more to eat than others. By only feeding once a day you have room for error so if one girl gets 3 or 4 pellets accidentally your less likely to have problems with bloat because she's not getting two meals a day and has more time to fully digest before her next meal. I find feeding frozen food much easier because you can regulate how much each fish gets.

I don't know if it's still on there but the_K has/had an auction for a sorority on Aquabid (he's in the US too). Getting all the girls at the same time and having sisters would make the first days easier because they would be used to being together. Only problem is I don't think you can pick which girls you want.

[metalbetta]

You guys rock. Thanks for all the info! I was considering adding Nina... I've had her since March of this year, and everywhere her tank has been she's been able to see my other guys (try as I might to hide her)... But I don't think I'd trust her in a tank full of smaller fish. She's pretty big on flaring, and as far as I've seen she can get pretty aggressive. Especially around feeding time... she acts like some imaginary fish is going to beat her to the pellets. Oddly enough my males are much calmer about it... Damian waits patiently in the corner where he gets fed. SO CUTE. Eh, I think I'll just start fresh with 4 or 5 new girls.

1fish2fish, I've been thinking about getting my girls from aquabid, but the second I said anything about it the boyfriend did his little "Oh my god my girlfriend is insane" head shake... I'll probably do it anyway. XD

[afishpond]

got a bout 15 in one tank thing is to have lot of plants i think that why i like live ones you can do more with them guppy grass and java moss a must for me also like vals and forgbite,

[doggyhog]

Now, this isn't always true, but in most cases realize that you will probably have 1 girl that will not work in a sorority. No matter where you get them. That is the way it works, I've found.

A good investment is a clear breeders trap to put your mean girl in. That way they can get used to each other without bickering.