[scrap]

I walked into petsmart this Sunday planning to get the 2 cories I still need and possibly a new betta (ended up getting neither, sadly). While looking at bettas I saw their new display piece : one of the lee's double betta keepers, undivided and shared by a pair of female bettas in cold blue water. the tank had writing on it claiming only female bettas can be kept together... neither girl looked very aggressive but with as much as I've heard on how difficult sorority keeping is...and how poorly many bettas are kept, it's worrying. thoughts?


sidenote: I considered removing the cories and starting a sorority of my own...except there were only 4 females for sale...

 

[ZergyMonster]

I would expect those two females to die fairly quickly. They probably not killing each other right now because they are being held in cold water making them more lethargic and less likely to do much of anything. I feel bad for them.

 

[styggian]

I would expect those two females to die fairly quickly. They probably not killing each other right now because they are being held in cold water making them more lethargic and less likely to do much of anything. I feel bad for them.

Yep :-? I have 8 girls in a 15gal and they are very active and nippy, they like to chase each other. Having only two would stress them so badly from bullying one or both would die.

 

[Olympia]

Wait till no ones looking, find an extra cup, scoop a girl out, and with a permanent marker change the writing to cannot, lol
Seriously I'd go talk to the manager about that though.

 

[Jrf456]

Wait till no ones looking, find an extra cup, scoop a girl out, and with a permanent marker change the writing to cannot, lol
Seriously I'd go talk to the manager about that though.

+1

 

[Tikibirds]

Oh good lord....

I saw an aquarium book that said a male and female can live together :shock:

 

[freemike]

I honestly think in their eyes this is just another way to make money quicker. Instead of selling one Betta to go and most likely die... lets send two at time. We'll make money quicker that way.

 

[Draug Isilme]

You should definitely talk to a manager; try to convince him/her that while you can keep more than one female betta together, you need the right conditions (like a heater and at least a 10g, heavy foliage and/or hidey places) and the minimum of 6 femmie bettas so you can distribute aggression as evenly as possible AND give some of the girls to hide and rest..... My sience teacher in the sixth grade had a 10g, if not smaller... but she only put in four females and day by day I'd sit there and watch the females kill each other off... It was very depressing, and a very poor example of fish keeping but I didn't know then what I do now- stores need to start dishing out the right information and while I somewhat give them props for knowing about sororities, it's hindered 10 fold by their poor conditions and obviously misleading poor excuse of a display.... If anything, bring up how much money they WOULD make if someone decided to do a sorority! All the foliage and hidey holes! A 10g+ tank instead of a dinkey glass bowl along with maybe a filter and heater! Conditioners, food, all the female bettas that would fly out of the store.... JUST from showing a proper display and giving out RIGHT information on how to do a sorority.... oh, AND they wouldn't piss anybody off 'cause obviously after the first purchase of a failed attempt, customers become discourage and start saying "Hey! Those bastards at PetSmart SAID I could do this, but all my fish died! ;__; I'm NEVER shopping there again!!!" So you'd end up losing customers in the process and making less money than you would if you did things right in the first place!!!....... >.>;;;;;; Sorry, I just.. got a little irritable is all...

 

[jaela]

I bought my girl from a shop that had her in a 2.5 gal with two other females -- when I asked about it I was told that they didn't fight because they were sisters. But I'm not so sure, because I know after keeping her for a while that she's pretty darn aggressive, and when I got her home I noticed she had what may have been a tiny, tiny tear in one of her fins. I don't know who's been giving this information to pet shops, but I don't feel too good about it =\

 

[Bombalurina]

Even sisters will fight. They are just slightly less likely too. I suspect that the reason they weren't fighting is that they were simply too stressed.

The reason I bought Circe was because she was the smallest (though not by much) and most miserable looking of - I kid you not - SIX girls in a tank that was a gallon as most, most likely less. Ok, they were tiny, but that's no excuse.

 

[Ayane Hajinmon]

dam...that sound horrible...im speechless

 

[jaela]

Even sisters will fight. They are just slightly less likely too. I suspect that the reason they weren't fighting is that they were simply too stressed.

The reason I bought Circe was because she was the smallest (though not by much) and most miserable looking of - I kid you not - SIX girls in a tank that was a gallon as most, most likely less. Ok, they were tiny, but that's no excuse.

Ughhhhhh, six is even worse. D: And yeah, you may be right about them not fighting because they were stressed. I hadn't thought of that but it's a valid point.

Posting again to add that I went back today and the shop had separated out the remaining two females, so at least they have that going for them. It's possible they did this because they fought or something, but both of the girls look pretty healthy and have their fins intact and everything. So I'm not really sure.

 

[littlemermaid]

My wal mart has started keeping their females in a collective tank no caves plants or hidey holes and plenty of dead bettas I grabbed the last 2 the last time I was there they are now enjoying a 10 gallon tank with lots of plants along with the rest of my sorority. I wish I could save them all!

 

[XxBettaLoverxX]

I have my 3 girls in a 9-10gl tank. At first they were real fiesty so i put them in cups and floated them for about a day and they were forced to look at eachother the whole day. Then at night I put them in together at the same time and they were ok, not a single flare since

My sorority: