[AquaKai]

Is it true that sororities are really hard?

I have a 12g tank that is very planted and I'm planning on getting more decorations, ie caves. I was wondering if it is really as awful as some have said it is... I've read some really confusing and conflicting articles! I have one female betta that I love and I really would love to have more-together. I've had plenty of male bettas in my life time, and two females.

Any tips or advice? Should I stay away? I'm wanting to dip my toe into the water, so an advice is nice.

 

[LittleBettaFish]

I've had two sororities, one over a year now and the other was around 4-5 months on when I sold it.

Never had any problems that I wouldn't have expected throwing a bunch of semi-aggressive fish together.

I would only say it's hard if you don't know what you are doing. Having a sparsely decorated, uncycled tank overstocked with mature unrelated females is basically setting yourself up for failure.

I have had mature females thrown into the sorority life before and aside from some minor initial aggression, they have been accepted by the others in only a couple of days.

My sorority so far has gone through a tank move, three complete re-scapes and the addition of six new fish. It has never descended into chaos following any of these activities, and I have never witnessed anything that would make me think otherwise.

A heavily decorated, cycled tank stocked with young healthy females is going to give you the least difficulty start-up wise, and is what I would recommend for someone unsure or inexperienced. It's what I did with my first sorority and I have not had anything go wrong to date.

 

[AquaKai]

Ok, thanks! I'll add a ton more decorations and plants! I'll also look for the smallest and youngest bettas I can find. It's great to hear that I can be done successfully!

Also how many would you recommend for a 12g tank?

 

[LittleBettaFish]

Well I currently have 11 in a 10 gallon tank and they are doing fine. But if you want to be conservative I would say 5-7 females.

If your tank isn't cycled and you start a sorority, be very very careful of water quality. Bad water quality in a sorority, can lead to outbreaks of aggression and disease, so it's always best to err on the side of caution.

 

[AquaKai]

I'll go with 5. The tank is cycled. I actually have a male betta and a platy in there. But they'll be moving to a new tank. Thanks for all of the info

 

[Bombalurina]

+1 to everything LittleBettaFish has said. I was scared of trying a sorority because everyone told me it was nigh on impossible, yadeyah, but then I came on here and so many have had success. My sorority is now entering it's 5th(?) month and still going strong, with one unrelated death and one new addition. Heavy planting or decorating is definitely the way to go.