Starting a female betta sorority tank, need advice

i have a 10 g tank with two aquatech 5-15 filter and heated to 76 F. the tank is planted with anubias and one amazon sword that reaches to the surface. i also have a hollowed out pice of wood (fake) as a hiding place for the female and a bunch of floating plant and duckweeds on the surface. currently the tank holds 3 neon tetra and 1 cardinal tetra (they are what is left of my previous neon/cardinals tank) i don't want to get anymore and they are happy healthy and schooling and 1 male guppy that was given to me. i was thinking about adding 5 female betta to the 10 gallon tank. will the female be okay with the neon and the guppy? do you have any advice in keeping a sorority tank?
PS the male guppy can be move to my other 2.5 gallon tank if nesscecary.

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by sonia on September 28, 2012 at 6:25pm

It might be a little late to help you with this, but in case you haven't started yet with your tank, this is my advice. In the first place I wouldn't recommend housing the male guppy with the bettas because his long colorful tail might attract too much attention. Tetras should do fine with bettas. I have a female betta with around 20 cardinal tetras, and everybody is fine. About having 5 females in a 10 gallon tank, I just don't have enough experience. Some people will tell you that the more females per gallon the better and others that they need a lot more space. I would recommend to have a lot more plants, wisteria is good because it grows fast and covers all levels in the tank, and adding more hiding places for the girls. Watch them closely and be prepare to separate them if needed.

Another recommendation is to get them as young as possible. The risk is that you'll get males instead of females. I got 5 juveniles at Petco and one of them turned to be a male. So if you decide to go this route, be prepare.

I only have my sorority since June, and they are house in a 12 gallo tank by themselves. I'm keeping a blog of my experience (http:/atriumbetae.tumblr.com) in case it can be of any help to you. Good luck.