[LucyTraci]

I currently have 5 betta females housed in separate aquariums. I have one crowntail female in a 30 gallon aquarium that it moderately planted with anubias and java fern. There is also a UV sterilizer, heater, and hiding vases and one zebra nerite snail. I had originally tried to house a sorority with the other female bettas, but it did not work out and went horribly wrong in fact with lots of fighting and fin nipping that resulting in a scramble to separate everyone. I keep reading that there are many who have had success so maybe it was just my fish. I have also been reading that many have success with schools of neon tetras. I do want to try it but don't want the horrible situation that occurred before. I would of course have to quarantine the tetras before I tried adding them to the tank with Virginia, the veil tail. How successful are these attempts? Do they end of stressing the betta fish? Should I just forget this and leave Virginia to her happy tank as the probability of success is so low?

 

[cjconcepcion]

You could try again, but add them all at the same time so no individuals get picked on, and rearrange the decor in the tank you plan to put them in so the betta who currently lives there dosent recognize it as "her territory", and all the betta will be in unfamiliar surroundings. you will have to keep a close eye on them, as they will fight for the first one or two weeks. assuming there are enough hiding places in the tank they should be able to calm down and develop a pecking order within a few weeks. but if one does end up being a bully to the rest, then you will probably have to keep her separate from the rest. just be careful, because every time you add/remove a fish. the fighting will resume again to reestablish the pecking order

 

[LucyTraci]

Thank you for the advice. I do not even want to try adding the females again as it was such a horrible experience the first time. We had torn fins and fish locked on each other with their mouths. I did add them all at once to the tank after I did fishless cycling. I removed all but one fish when the fighting was so intense. Virginia is the one that stayed in the tank as she was not aggressive at all and spent her time hiding in the plants while the fighting was going on. So as my husband and I were separating them we were grabbing the fighting fish first. How do you feel about adding neon tetras in with the Virginia in the 30 gallon tank? Do I have to still rearrange the decor?

 

[cjconcepcion]

you could try it, ive never had neon tetras before, but they seem to be friendly and do well in community tanks, and if you think she isnt very aggressive or territorial then you should be fine as far as decor goes. if she does get a little protective it probably wont be a problem because the tetras probably can swim away from her a lot faster than she can catch them and i think theyre much too small to cause her any harm