# female bettas in a 55g community tank



## sschreiner5

I am in the research stages of starting up a 55 gallon planted tank. I wanted a bunch of dwarf gouramis because of their colors but it sounds like that wont work so I am wondering about bettas. How many female bettas can I put in a planted 55 gallon community tank?


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## Hawk1018

I tried to do a sorority tank and it did not turn out well for me...all my female bettas died. My errors were:

not enough hiding places and plants (my plants had not grown large enough to block the line of sight ) 

not enough bettas, I tried to do it with 5 and from what I have read successful ones have 10+ ( the more you have the more spread out the aggression is)

I had too small of a tank to start out with (10gallons) and was not fast enough getting larger tank, so I lost a few that way as well. 


It was very stressful because they get more aggressive as the mature and it is possible for tank to work fine for months and then one or two have a bad day and all hell breaks lose. However I don't want you to get discouraged ....they are wonderful fish that are beautiful and full of personality and there are people that have made the sororities work....I just wasn't one of them.


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## whitetiger61

Majerah1 or chipmunk1210 would be the best 2 to answer that question for you. I am also interested in doing this but i already have neons in my bigger tank and i dont think that would work out to well.. Also the trick is to find females.

Rick


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## Tralyn

I currently have a betta sorority in a 15g that I started a few weeks ago. It has 6 girls and truth be told, it looks kind of empty fishwise, I have plenty of hidy places. I started with 8 but those two died (don't think they were healthy to begin with). I'm actually thinking about doing some rearranging and adding a few more. I'm not much for live plants so I agree with whitetiger61, Majerah1 or chipmunk1210 would be the best people to ask.


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## whitetiger61

I think i would be a little iffy on putting that many in a 15 gallon tank..im hesitant on putting that many in a 50 breeder tank

Rick


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## Auban

the only way i have been able to stock a lot of female bettas in a single tank is to plant it so heavily you hardly ever see the fish. if you cant see them, they likely cant see each other most of the time. if you cant se more than an inch into the tank, they likely cant see more than an inch away from them either. plus, the ammonia will get sucked up by the plants(given you keep the plants healthy). the biggest problem with keeping a lot of female bettas in the same tank is that they can become agressive toward each other. 

i do the same thing in my Elassoma gilberti tanks. an emty ten gallon will have only one dominant male, so only one male fish to breed the females. stocking it heavily with plants so the fish cant rarely ever see each other allows two or three more males to establish territories and morph into their dominant male colors. that way, i can breed three or times as many fish in the same tank.

the only down side is, like i said, you cant see your fish most of the time. if one of them dies, you may not know.


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## majerah1

As many said you will need to heavily plant it and fill it with tons of hides. More hides than fish. The females can get very moody as mentioned.Be prepared to have tanks and filters for all the girls if they decide they want to eat each other,


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## NeonShark666

You can put lots of female Bettas in a 55G tank. They don't fight and love flightless fruit flies. They tend to stay near the surface and like floating plants. A good Gouramii for a 55 is the Lace Gourmai. They get large but don't get territorial. One of my favorite fish for a large, long tank is the Congo Tetra. They need lots of swimmimg room and love Crickets floating on the top.


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## chipmunk1210

NeonShark666 said:


> You can put lots of female Bettas in a 55G tank. They don't fight and love flightless fruit flies. They tend to stay near the surface and like floating plants. A good Gouramii for a 55 is the Lace Gourmai. They get large but don't get territorial. One of my favorite fish for a large, long tank is the Congo Tetra. They need lots of swimmimg room and love Crickets floating on the top.



Not sure where you have gotten your information. Bettas of both sexes are very aggressive and fight about 90% of the time. They don't stay near the surface either although they do have to make trips to the surface to breathe. They do however like floating plants and flightless fruitflies. Gourami and Bettas are very different fish.

OP-

Some people will probably disagree with me when I tell you that in a 55 gallon you "could" reasonably have around 50 female bettas. Now in saying that I do not believe that you "should" have that many together ESPECIALLY since this will be your first sorority. (they do better a little "crowded") In your tank, starting (t, I would do 20 at most. You will have to get lots of plants and decor (terracotta pots, caves, basically anything that blocks view) at all levels of the tank because they swim at all levels on a regular basis. You HAVE to be able to see your fish IMO because you need to be able to check on them AT LEAST twice a day to make sure everyone is accounted for and doing well. I agree with Majerah1--have a backup plan for the girls in case they don't work out being together. 

Ok so I have made this long enough for now. Feel free to PM me or find me in chat(I am normally in there in the evening hours from 6pm-11pm) with any questions you may have with betta sororitys.

Just for info on myself: I currently have a 20 gallon long that houses a 16 female betta sorority that has been running really well for at least 4 months. Before that, I started out with a 10 gallon that housed a 7 female betta sorority that worked out very well for a couple of months-then I upgraded them to the 20 gallon long-added more girls to end up at 11-went well for another month or so-then one girl caught the dreaded columnaris-the whole tank was gone in less than 48 hours. So I have had multiple betta sororities to back my answers on.


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## sschreiner5

Ok thanks everyone. I am going to go another route. I dont think this is for me.


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