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I would like an all female betta set up is such a thing possible?

I have two females in a liverbearer tank and really think they are lovely fish. I would like to make them their own tank, I have a slow moving 20 G hex tank - would that be any good? There is hardly any disturbance on the surface which has been a problem fo my other fish would it be a problem for the bettas?

I would want to plant it heavily and maybe theme it with sand and a sort (probably naff looking )beach theme. At the moment it has gravel and is hard to keep clean - unless normal gravel would be better?

I have had trouble stabilsing my ph - i have a problem with carbonate hardness so nothing is happening immediately.

cheers fo any input
GFG





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Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey S. Firestone

that sound like a very nice tank, i am getting a 100 gallon, and seeing how the person im getting it from wants a bit more for the filter and hood, it will not be filtered for the time being ,i will rig up a hood, somehow seeing how my bettas just bred i will have a good number to start with but if u get a few more feales, and maybe add some ghost shrimp for some hunting

Okay, first off, an entirely female betta tank is completely possible. I have one which I use to house females that I am not breeding at the present time. Generally, the average petstore betta is not that sensitive to minor sways in PH and carbonate hardness. I have never used sand in a betta tank, but I don't see any reason for it to hurt. The only possible problem I see with your tank is that it is most likely tall rather than long. Bettas are constantly swimming to the top of the water for air, so this may tire them out a bit. Other than that, I say go for it. Any further questions I will answer as soon as I can.

i've got a female betta in my 46 gallon tank.

you'd be amazed at how much of that space she uses. hangs out mostly at the top, but pretty often she swims down to the bottom, hides in the plants, chases the loaches etc. i guess each fish is different, and im obviously no betta expert, but i dont think depth would be a problem.

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Back in the saddle!

A female betta set up would be very easy to do. I believe Kitten has a nice one.

I personally don't like hex tanks though- they don't have a lot of surface area as they tend to be really tall. This is especially bad for bettas, because being labyrinth fish as I'm sure you know, they need access to the surface to breathe.

A better betta tank IMO would be a 20 long, and I think you could easily keep 6, possibly more in there.

Remember, female bettas are *usually* compatable. Your best bet on getting girls who don't fight is to buy sisters from the same "batch" to be raised together. Introducing them seperately from different tanks often results in war wounds.

Keeping the tank heavily planted will help sort out occasional aggression, and benefit the water quality as well.

The substrate doesn't really matter too much to them I don't think. Just make sure to keep the current down, and filtration as gentle as possible. I'm thinking maybe the lowest setting on an AquaClear might even be a little rough. Seeing as they like fresh water anyway, I think you could get away with underfiltering the tank if you keep up with WC's.

Well considering I'm in AP biology I'm just kinda bored and rambling on. Hope this helped a little...

-Ferret

Last edited by Ferretfish at 08-Feb-2005 09:58

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

wow people thanks for the replies! woo hoo!

Am glad I can do it,I am not entirely sold on the Hex either, i sort of think it was a mistake. it was certainly am impluse buy cos my old 20 long leaked and i needed a new tank in a hurry. as a piece of furniture it is lovely - great to look at interesting view of the fish but as a fish home not so much.

I think i will investigate the upgrading of the light and see what "grass" type plants they have. have decided to stick to gravel for the bottom since i realised i have some laying around in the "fish cupboard" - as in i opened the door and the bag split so it really is laying around.

I have a week off work next week and fingers are itching to get started, i hope my water tests come good tonight cos then i shall go reserving although after what you said about the water Daniel!!!........no i will reserve only promise.

I can't think of any other question at the moment,except how many bettas would fit? just the two i have? or could i fit more in?

if anyone wants to add anything else any pitfalls? good plants?

thanks people

GFG


I am so happy i can do i really need to get out more

_______________________________________
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey S. Firestone

How many bettas will fit depends on which tank we're talking about.

Are you sticking with the hex...or using something else?

Can't help you with the plants...you're better off making a thread in the Plant forum. Sawwy.

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

You could fit more than two in that hex. Plants I would look at would be amazon swords, and maybe some java moss. Other than that, the pitfall would be that they girls will form a "colony" and will experience some fin nipping while establishing a pecking order.

Guess my girls are famous. I have a 20 long with eight girls in it. And yes, you will most likely have squabbles when you start out. After a while they'll figure out the pecking order (hopefully!) and things will settle. My alpha female died recently and ugh... you should see the state of fins in the tank now. *sigh* I hope they settle down before I have to start splitting them up. There's no really bad damage, just some pretty ragged fins as they try to figure out who's dominant now.

I think the hex would actually work out well, depending on the height of it. Just plan to understock and overplant and things should work out fine. Cories make a good compliment to the bettas, if you want tankmates. The girls will wander throughout most of the tank, though they do tend to stay mid-to-upper levels. However, I'll never stop getting a laugh when my girls come face to face with a cory and they both have this half-startled, half-curious look on their face. It's like, "hello! who are you?" *grins*

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

I had 6 females in my 125 gal for a long time..with assorted other fish, including guppies/gouramies/cories. They got pretty big and fat in there. Mine stayed around the bottom though, although well fed..they were always "searching". Sometimes they'd hang around the top. I also kept one male betta at a time with them (as long as he wasn't too aggressive or too shy..seems like some males hate that much space)..The males always tended to stay in the plants more..the females were the outgoing ones.