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Alright, got me my first two female bettas ever, mainly because I was under the general impression that they are much nicer to each other than the males are.

Well...that theory's been shot all to Hades.

Within 5 minutes after introducing the two to a 2 gallon tank, they were locked in a fight to the death, I mean seriously tearing each other up. So, I've seperated them again (obviously). I'd like to try to get them used to each other, because I've seen tanks at the lfs with multiple females chillin' with each other, but man, they weren't playing around. Both have torn fins. They are both obviously females, not mislabeled males. Suggestions on how to possibly acclimate them would be most appreciated.

John

Females aren't all sweet. A 2 gallon and 2 girls is just asking for trouble. That's not enough space to set up territories, or enough females for any sort of pecking order to evolve. I suggest keeping them apart or getting more and a larger tank.

The reason why the fish are fighting is not that there's too little space, but that there's too much. You could throw two bettas in any size tank and they'd still go at it. What happens at the store is that there are so many fish is such a small tank, the bettas can't set up bountries. There is more than one fish to harass, so the agression is spread out. Instead of having one fish that's getting ripped to pieces, you have about five that have a few scratches. You say the fish are chilling, but I'm sure if you looked hard enough, there would be fighting. I wouldn't suggest more bettas because one fish is hurt already and would be ganged up on. Maybe you could buy a plexyglass divider for your fishtank. Good luck

I recently introduced 2 females in a 29 gal. community tank, with no problems. I agree with both responses that a 2 gal. tank is WAY too small for 2 female Bettas. There are no guarantees that 2 females will get along even with enough room, if for no other reason than their personalities. It's hit or miss, but give them there space and Good Luck

And here I was thinking that they got along better than the boys...

SOME females r sweet, i have a friend that succsesfully has kept 3 female bettas in a 2.5 for i don't remember how long and they only fought a little

I've kept 2 girls in a 2 gal before, but they were spawn sisters.

I currently have about 5 roaming around my bottled boys, and well, i have a few ripped fins. this is just a pecking order thing tho.

I would suggest either dividing the tank, or taking both back and contacting a breeder for spawn sisters that have not been jarred (have always been with other fish in a tank) as you will have better success that way

there are a few breeders that give fish away for the price of postage, there are others who are just starting out who just want good homes, and some who would charge what? $6 a fish? Don't automatically assume breeder means more $ If you want some contact deets, send me a PM

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

the same thing happened to me today, i put my 2 females in the a 5 gallon tank and immediately they starting fighting, after couple seconds of watching i couldnt take it anymore and took one them out. at the momment i thought to myself wow are these boys or girls. i agree with the other replys, that they should be from the same spawn and that they should be kepted together since they were fry. i remeber going to my lfs store and seeing like 7+ females bettas in 10 gallon, it was awful sight, some of the bettas jaws were torn off and the fins were all ripped. i think that females can just be as aggressive as males.

I have a 20 gallon long community tank with nine female bettas in it.

Five are the original girls from one tank in my fav LFS... possibly spawn sisters, or they just got used to each other. I got four at first (Calliope, Clio, Erato, and Thalia), then went back later that same week and found one lone girl left in the tank and brought home Euterpe.

Sixth one came from a cup at Walmart (Polyhymnia - Poly for short)... she went in with no problem.

I tried a seventh from the same LFS as the originals (the original Urania). She was being picked on and was quite raggedy when I got her. She went into quarantine to heal up nicely and then got introduced to the community... at which time she attempted to tear everyone to shreds. She's now in solitary confinement, and I'm STILL not sure if she's actually a SHE. *boggles* She/he has been renamed Jezebel/beau the betrayer.

I saw female bettas for the first time at my local petsmart and dove into the collection... there's limited colors and erratic supply at my fav LFS and these were lovely girls... just come in and so colorful. I brought home two, bringing the total to eight. The next day I said, what the heck... might as well make it nine and brought home another, completing my very own set of the nine Greek Muses (if you hadn't placed the names) with Melpomene (Mel), Terpsichore (Twerp) and the new Urania (Rania).

The three newest arrivals went into my five gallon minibow which was then unoccupied. They did fine there for a few weeks before they decided the space just wasn't big enough for the three of them (they grew quite a bit in those weeks of quarantine) and into the community they went.

There's definitely more scuffles in the community than there was before, but nothing more than a "get your tail out of my face!" type deal. I wish I could upgrade the tank to something bigger (I'd love to give these girls a dream tank), but I have no space and no money. Hehe...

They do make the most amazing tank, though... so curious and lovely. Rather stunning array of colors (I have everything from cambodian pinks and a pink/blue to reds with other colors washed over the red to one that has wild coloring) and they have such personality... If you can find a store that sells them from community tanks or if you can find some docile girls in cups, I would highly suggest making a betta girl community.


~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

All the females that i have had got along just fine until i seprated them for more than a day. When i get them from walmart, there about 1 1/2in. big. And when i get them i put them in my 2 gallon and they get along just fine. But its when they get older, trouble erupts. They start to pick minnie fight s in the beginning, ended up with torn fins but that was it. Then The fights become bigger and more deadly. I lost a female cuz one of the other older females attack her and tore her apart. (they were both big mature females but the oldest died)