[aquaticanimals]

Hi! My name is Olivia and I just joined- I'm a senior in high school and in an aquatic animals class (we've got loads of fish- plecos, axolotls, crawfish, piranhas, yellow-bellied slider turtles, other fish, and 1 million snails). For my semester project, I chose to set up a fully functioning betta sorority! I know they're controversial, so I wanted to put all my effort in to set up a happy home for the girls and then collect data and research on their behavior, size, apatite, and pecking order to determine what the steps are in setting up a sorority (what works best and what was successful), and hopefully, what benefits the plants, snails, fish, and overall tank environment receives from the sorority! I will take any tips you've got (so long as you're nice). I've got 5 bettas (still looking for names though) and lord-knows-how-many snails (I think there's 10 in there right now but I have no idea).

 

[NoodleTheMysteryBetta]

Hi, welcome to the forum. I majored in biology & had an emphasis on animal behavior so I figure it would be a good idea to chime in. I’m curious, does this experiment have multiple trials or will it be based on one tank? Bettas’ have such strong and variable personalities so from a purely scientific standpoint, I’d be curious to see multiple tanks with the exact same conditions (same level of planting, hide locations and numbers, etc), just with different individuals. For me, extremely variable results would be a reason to not recommend sororities as their personalities are too variable. I’m also curious how long this will go on for & if you have the means to separate them if absolutely necessary, as well as how often you can check on them (personally I’d be nervous leaving them on weekends).

As for advice, I’d find some plants that grow quickly (water lettuce for the nice long roots & guppy grass, as well as water Wisteria and other stem plants that grow rapidly) and start growing them ASAP so you can have it as densely planted as possible. I’ve never tried a sorority and absolutely never will but if I were to, I would make it as heavily planted as possible. I’d love to hear more about your experiment and please keep us updated.

 

[aquaticanimals]

Hi, welcome to the forum. I majored in biology & had an emphasis on animal behavior so I figure it would be a good idea to chime in. I’m curious, does this experiment have multiple trials or will it be based on one tank? Bettas’ have such strong and variable personalities so from a purely scientific standpoint, I’d be curious to see multiple tanks with the exact same conditions (same level of planting, hide locations and numbers, etc), just with different individuals. For me, extremely variable results would be a reason to not recommend sororities as their personalities are too variable. I’m also curious how long this will go on for & if you have the means to separate them if absolutely necessary, as well as how often you can check on them (personally I’d be nervous leaving them on weekends).

As for advice, I’d find some plants that grow quickly (water lettuce for the nice long roots & guppy grass, as well as water Wisteria and other stem plants that grow rapidly) and start growing them ASAP so you can have it as densely planted as possible. I’ve never tried a sorority and absolutely never will but if I were to, I would make it as heavily planted as possible. I’d love to hear more about your experiment and please keep us updated.

h! thank you! These are some of the girls in the tank- they’re all doing well so far, only one occasion of gill flaring but they’re loving the hiding spots and plants we have. I added some water wisteria and sprites as well as duckweed at the top to help keep them more hidden when they eat. It’s a 30-gal with 5 females and 10-ish snails, and are going to replace the plastic plants with real ones as they keep growing. I come in to check on them every day to keep posted. We’re trying to first focus on setting up the betta and making sure all of the fish are happy and healthy, as well as tracking their growth and coloration. So long as we’re successful there, we want to keep adding more plants until it’s fully planted. Originally, we wanted to put a female in a tank by herself to compare to the sorority but we don’t have the funds/resources sadly. Do you have any other thoughts as to what else we could observe/measure?

 

[NoodleTheMysteryBetta]

Cute girls! For tracking behavioral traits, I would make a list of behaviors that you are likely to observe: swimming together but ignoring each other, flaring, chasing, fleeing, hiding, the presence of stress stripes (for colorations that can exhibit them), and other behaviors that you may observe. I would then do 15 minutes of observations a day and within that period, tally up the behaviors you observe and any relevant notes. What is your hypothesis and research question? You bring up a lot, behavior, ecological impacts, etc.

Also, how long will this experiment go on for?

 

[aquaticanimals]

Cute girls! For tracking behavioral traits, I would make a list of behaviors that you are likely to observe: swimming together but ignoring each other, flaring, chasing, fleeing, hiding, the presence of stress stripes (for colorations that can exhibit them), and other behaviors that you may observe. I would them do 15 minutes of observations a day and within that period, tally up the behaviors you observe and any relevant notes. What is your hypothesis and research question? You bring up a lot, behavior, ecological impacts, etc.

Also, how long will this experiment go on for?

This will go until I graduate, so until June. I’ve been watching them since 9:00 this morning after I acclimated them and put them in the tank. I’m starting to see a little chasing and one occasion of stress stripes so tallying behavior is definitely a cold idea. I also check the PH, ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite levels 1-2 times weekly as well as temperature. We don’t really have a formal hypothesis, but our research question is “Is a betta sorority possible, and if so, how does it affect the behavior and stress level of the fish?” As you can tell, I’m not really a science kid. LOL.

 

[betta4ever!]

Welcome to the forum! Following!! Love your girls!!

 

[Feanor]

Although it‘s just one trial at the moment I would mention wether the females are from 1 spawn (and haven‘t been separated before) or are not related to each other.

 

[KatieMR]

Welcome to the forum! This looks like an interesting experiment. I am also not an science person, so can't comment on that aspect of the study, but I am very interested to see what you learn!