# Trouble acquaintancing Females



## ShrimpDiver (Sep 28, 2011)

Gr. I have set up a sorority tank yesterday and had the females acquaintanced before hand. But now that they are actually in the vicinity to bother each other one of my females will not leave the others alone. The other 2 just ignore her and do not retaliate but she just follows them around and flares her gills. She is stressing herself out and I am extremely worried.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

Are you talking about Bettas? How many do you have? A sorority with at least 5 is the best, some people say 3 works but others say that almost always causes problems. It also depends a bit on personality, once in a while a female betta just won't accept others and has to be kept in her own tank. It will take a while for them to settle in while they establish a pecking order. Having plants and decor so they have places to get away from each other might help. If they are getting to stressed out maybe a temporary tank divider would help them get used to each other and the tank.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

You need to increase the numbers and heavily plant/decorate the tank foir them.Introduce the smallest most docile female first and wait about an hour.Then keep epeating this until the most dominant biggest girl is added last.If she keeps on bullying place her in a livebearer trap for a day or so.

Bettas are bred for aggression and sororities rarely work for long periods of time unless they are siblings raised up together.Just keep an eye out for lip locking and slamming to the ground or side walls.


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## ShrimpDiver (Sep 28, 2011)

Well so far it seems to be working. I added to new females bringing my total to 5. They all seem to be getting along none of them flare anymore and they don't seem to have their stress stripes flashing. Pearl (the follower) just seems interested in the other ones. Like she hovers along behind them as they swim around. When they stop swimming she just swims ahead of them. Also I have it heavily planted in the front with Java fern and in the back with Anacharis and have a lot of little caves. Hope I can get it to last for a long time.


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