Female bettas in a community tank

[Carraig]

I have a community tank of 10 gallons with two neon tetras, a blue tetra, pink tetra, a catfish and a female betta. If I add another female betta, will the two of them fight?

The resident female was aggressive when I put her in there a year ago and she chewed the tail of my male blonde guppy. He regrew it and she left him alone, but he died recently.

I just pity all the poor bettas at Wal Mart and there was a little yellow female I'd have brought home, but I was afraid the two might not get along.

[leslothegreat]

Oh my two females fought each other. I suggest if you are going to get another female get two instead of one. It will help them develop a pecking order which will keep fights to a minimum. With two there can not be a pecking order meaning lots of fights. My mellow male did that to my guppies. Its the tail very tempting.

[Carraig]

So do you think with three that the big female will not pick on either of the others?

[leslothegreat]

No they will form a pecking order. The big one is the boss and they will understand not to mess with her and she wont mess with them. Gosh i get all my answers from books so blame the book. You know you could put them in a big tank and let them have enough room to run.

[FishMomma]

With a 10 gallon tank and the number of fish already in it, I would hesitate to continue to add more. However, tetras are small and don't make water too dirty so that isn't an issue like it is with goldfish. If you are going to add a female to the mix add 2 or 3 more. It will help them not pick on one fish quite so much. I have seen 2 females housed together in a 1 gallon bowl and do fine so it varies greatly on the personality of the fish herself. If you do add more fish, be sure that there are plenty of "covered" areas where each of them can have a home. That will also reduce some of the stress in always seeing another fish. JAVA MOSS works great for this sort of thing and also keeps ammonia and nitrIte levels low (should be 0) when you have a tank with a lot of fish. Since the moss isn't stocked by many local pet shops, you can purchase it at an online store called Aquarium Garden. Make sure that you have a good working filter, are doing weekly 25%-50% water changes, and also some Betafix for torn fins on hand. You may see some nipping at fins early on and if so add the Betafix per the directions. If there is too much nipping and fighting have a backup tank to put the females in if possible. To help with some of the added stress, add about 1/2 teaspoon of aquarium salt per gallon when initially adding the fish. This will help them produce more slime for their slimecoat thus giving them more protection against disease while the added stress of a new fish or two may lower their immune system temporaily.

Hope this helps and good luck!!

[Carraig]

Thanks, I already do the salt additive and I have a number of extras like Stress Coat for them.

I did get a little yellow and a little blue female on Wednesday. (Don't get me started on Walmart.) They were in plastic cups with an inch of water, and had been in the store for a week because fish come in on Thursdays. The cups had algae and the water stunk.

I brought them home and although I know it's not the best idea I took them out of what little dirty water there was and put them into clean jars with water from the tank they were going into. They seemed okay after three days so I put them in the tank.

The numbers is why I was only going to buy one, but two was the best advice. The resident female was not at all happy. I watched them for a couple of hours and was ready to whip her out and into a jar to keep things calm for a bit, but I didn't need to. There are lots of plants and low branches where they can hide if they need to. The yellow one is quite bold but the blue one will slip behind the heater if she feels threatened. So far there have been no fights or fin damage so I'm hoping the balance will work itself out.

[FishMomma]

Congrats on saving 2 bettas! Glad to hear that things are going well so far!! It sounds like everyone is going to get along fine!