I'm was planning on buying a 10 gallon tank for my bettas this winter, I have 3 males at the moment and was planning on splitting it three ways but I've kind of been itching to get a female.
I have a 4 way divided 10gal. It's not as small as people think, so if people give you a really hard time about it, my males all have gorgeous color, build bubble nests, and enjoy flaring at each other. So they are perfectly happy and have plenty of swimming space in my 4 way. You should be just fine I also have a 3 way divided. That was my first one I did myself. And I was afraid to go smaller. Now I wish I wasnt but I'm just too lazy to take everything out, re divide and re cycle my tank lol .
I personally don't like dividing my 10 gallons more than 2 ways...I had my 10 gallon into a 3 way for awhile but I think it didn't allow much room for the fish to get out of the view of the other betta...The middle betta became really stressed and started to bite his fins... I now have my 10 gallon divided into a 2 way and both fish are happy and have plenty of space. If you have calm bettas and a well planted tank a 3 way could work though...and it does for several people here...but I don't think I would go 4 ...If you leave the water level low enough so that the bettas wont jump sections they would end up with less than 2 gallons each...Also, consider water changes...The more narrow the section the more annoying it gets to get the gravel vaccum in to clean. I would buy a 20 gallon long if you plan to divide for 4 bettas or get 2 10 gallons.
If you decide to try it, I would make sure to have a"backup plan"..maybe a few critter keepers just incase...Divided tanks sometimes dont work out with some bettas,.
It's really not that bad. Just use plants and good but gentle filtration. My boys actually stopped tail biting once I got them into the divided 10's I have. And I make my dividers tall enough to keep high water level.
I have a 4 way divided ten and honestly once my fish have died off I'm opening it up to 3 sections and then two. 4" of space just leaves a lot to be desired... especially when you're keeping pets and not breeders. Remember to put the pet's interests before your own.
IMO females do better when they are not in the same water as males. I don't like keeping males and females in the same divided tank because they are aware that there is a fish of the opposite sex in the area and tend to stress themselves out more because they're in a constant state of breeding readiness.
That's just my personal opinion/experience though. I know some people do have male/female divided tanks.
I had a 10g divided into four and honestly I didn't like it. The fish just didn't seem like they had a lot of space. Not that they didn't have enough space gallon-wise, but bettas enjoy horizontal space more than vertical, and four divisions makes for a really tall, narrow slot. I really didn't like mine divided into three either because it still doesn't give them room to get away from the others, especially the one in the middle.
I just recently went totally away from divided tanks because it's so easy to lose all fish if one gets sick and you don't catch it fast enough. I lost all the bettas that were in my divided tank. It *is* easier to have a divided tank rather than multiples though, so I can understand the appeal.
But that's just my experience
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