Females Bettas As A Community Fish

[Bandi]

I was at a LFS the other day and saw a sight I thought was beautiful. If was a tank stocked full of gorgious female bettas. Their colors were magnificent and I got to thinking that they could look great in a community tank with guppys and swords and such.

I am totally new to bettas, I don't even own one at this time, so just picking the experts brains right now.

Can bettas thrive in a community tank with guppys and swords and tetras etc?

Can many female bettas live peacefully together?

Thanks for any advice.

[ty_s]

i know they can live in a tank with other fish but i do not know about 20 in the same tank

[ridethespiral]

I think they need to be kept in larger groups so that the aggression is spread amongst them.

Having only two is a bad idea, vs having 20 females which makes things a little more stable. Betta's are funny creatures, while one may be completely timid towards other fish, another could be a flare bot who won't leave a single fish alone.

[nanmer]

I had a group of 5 and they got along really well and were quite friendly. I had an internal filter and it was so funny to watch them "stick" themselves to the intake.

[Wingin' It]

Yep...they can. I've got a couple dozen females in a community tank...only one is a PITA...but it does work.

[BettaFishMommy]

easily done if you get the temperaments of the lady bettas matched up right. they can be just like the males sometimes, ready to kill anything that moves. that being said, i've kept a male betta in a community tank with no issue up until recently (he was starting to get picked on so he has a 20 long just about to himself now).

best thing to do is start out with very young lady bettas, and have them grow up in the same tank together. lots of hiding spots, and enough room for everyone to have their own space. i wouldn't do anything less than a 20 long for 3 females, and as mentioned, a pair usually doesn't work out too well.

[fishclubgirl]

Yes, you're betta to start with young fish or even spawn mates. Plakats seem to be more peaceful and I keep about 20 in one tank. As they have shorter fins, there seems to be not much damage. Personally I wouldn't keep CT girls together as I think they look like crap when they're missing rays.

[tetras_corys_loaches_oh_my]

The only thing I found with bettas as community fish (and I have had males in community tanks too, they did quite well with tetras and whatnot) is the tanks cannot be too large or sparsely decorated/planted. They get hyper stressed and will go into shock. remember, natural habitat is akin to a puddle so too big a spaxce is agorophobia. 33 gallons max seemed to be the limit. anything larger and i had betta shutdown. i never had more than 1 male/3 females in a tank though so no clue on a 20 girlie tank... if ya do, i so wanna see pics!

[BettaFishMommy]

i recently had my male betta in a planted 55 with no issue at all. he loved all the space! and didn't have an issue whatsoever with the flow from the aquaclear 110 or the biowheel 350b (both move a lot of water). i actually felt kinda bad moving him to the 20 long, lol, but his fins were getting pretty abused by the bigger fish in the 55 (rainbows). toying with the idea of moving some danios over so he has some buddies to hang out with and chase, because the three L010a catfish in there are pretty much invisible to Thim the betta, lol.

i think there is a big misconception with bettas not enjoying larger tanks. think about it, the bettas we find in stores are so far removed from the wild bettas that do live in the rice paddies and puddles, that they probably don't even know what their 'natural habitat' is supposed to be!

i also had a few bettas back in my early fishkeeping days that i moved from 0.5, 1, and 2 gallon bowls into 10 gallon tanks for each of them, and those 10 gallons were pretty sparsely decorated. those three betta boys were extremely happy with their bigger homes.