# 20 gallon sorority



## FishCat13 (Jan 7, 2013)

It has finally happened! It's been in the works for a while, and today is release day! Yay!

Over a month ago, I bought a 20 gallon long aquarium and 3 betta females. They have been swimming in quarantine tanks ever since! I didn't think I would ever get this thing ready for then, there were so many speedbumps along the way.

First of all, I bought a stand that had a broken piece and had to order a replacement piece. It took about 2 weeks for the replacement piece to arrive. Then I was in the hospital so it was a little while before I could put together the stand and set up the tank.

Then it took FOREVER for the substrate to settle because I have no hose to rinse it beforehand. Finally I planted the plants and they were not providing a lot of coverage.

I bought 5 peppered cory catfish and had to wait 2 weeks for them to quarantine (because I went ahead and put them in the tank to help speed up the cycle, though I did use SafeStart). I finally put some fake bamboo in to float on the top until the real plants grow taller.

FINALLY I decided that today was the day I would release my girls! I have 8 females now, all different colors, and they are beautiful! I decided to name them after Game of Thrones characters.

Daenerys - white mottled with blue and red crowntail, largest of the group

Margaery - greenish-blue veiltail

Ygritte - copper body, red fins veiltail

Catelyn - dark blue body, reddish fins veiltail

Arya - dark blue body, red fins veiltail (smaller than Catelyn)

Sansa - cambodian with a purplish tint

Shae - green body, red fins crowntail

Lyanna - solid white


I released the girls by floating their plastic cups in the tank and releasing them one by one. It took about 15 minutes for them to explore before they were comfortable enough to start fighting and chasing. So far there have been some surprises from personality, some not so surprising.

Lyanna hasn't fought with anyone. She and Shae are the smallest. Lyanna seems content hiding from others or steering clear of others. And when the other girls swim near her, they seem to just be ignoring her.

Shae is super fast. She's avoiding others for the most part, and when she does get near the other girls, she high tails it in the other direction.

I expected Daenerys to be putting everyone in their place. But she is mostly ignoring everybody else and following around the catfish. She is the largest, though, so it seems like whenever the other girls come near her they just defer to her like "Nope, I'm not messing with that."

Arya was fierce in her cup and is fierce in the tank, and her name is extremely appropriate: small but fierce.

Sansa has chased a little and been chased a little, but it seems like she lost a little skirmish with Arya, so now she's just staying clear of everyone else.

Ygritte got into a skirmish with Catelyn. Not sure who won, but she's just been exploring since then. She's pretty good size, so Sansa, Shae, Lyanna, and Arya seem to be leaving her alone.

Catelyn is in the same boat as Ygritte. She's been in a few skirmishes, but nothing serious.

Margaery is picking fights with everybody. The most significant fights have been between her and Catelyn and her and Arya. I think Margaery won against Catelyn, but I had to break up the fight between her and Arya. They locked lips and were not letting go. I'm not sure who's going to win that battle, but I have a feeling they'll get into a fight again.

Sigh... Oh well, back to monitoring the girls. Pictures to come soon!


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## BettaMummy87 (Jul 26, 2014)

Looking forward to photos. I spent ages watching mine as they settled in, just to be sure.  Quite fascinating to watch.


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## FishCat13 (Jan 7, 2013)

I am fascinated. The girls seem fixated on this one little anubias plant right up front. The roots to the plant won't stay under the sand, so they've made quite the jungle gym. The girls are swimming in and out of the roots and stems and leaves, not fighting but just... playing.

Except Arya. She's either going to be the Alpha of the tank, or she's going to have to be removed for her own safety. She seems to have a size complex. She's picked a fight with everyone buy Lyanna (who is happy to avoid all conflict and just be pretty). She even took a chunk out of Daenerys' tail fin. Arya's fins look very tattered, and if she keeps it up I'm going to put her in a cup for her own safety. She's provoking everyone and starts the fights, usually seems to win the fights, but I'm not sure she can keep it up physically. Little warrior. I definitely gave her the right name.


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## FishCat13 (Jan 7, 2013)

The girls have now been together for 3 days, and it's going pretty well. There are a few bites out of fins, but nothing that looks major.

Ygritte keeps deciding she hates everybody. I've heard it's the red bettas that have a temper.

I actually say Lyanna, the smallest of the group, chasing some others. Not relentlessly, and not really doing any damage, but it shocks me that she's so small and others are running from her.

Catelyn had some bold stress stripes for a couple of days but today they are gone and I think she's settled in.

So far so good. I think this might actually work with all my girls in one tank.


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## BettaMummy87 (Jul 26, 2014)

My smallest (for a while) ended up being the dominat fish (most days). There are still occassional days where my lowest ranking female chases even the most dominant away. Its rare I come in to a bitten fin now. All largely stable in there atm thankfully. Glad yours seems to be going well. Do you have photos of the tank or the girls yet?


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## MissBetta1 (Oct 26, 2014)

Oh wow, reading about your girls make me want a sorority tank! I have a 16 gallon tank which I plan to sort out, but I'm torn between a community and a sorority.

Love their names!


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## BettaMummy87 (Jul 26, 2014)

MissBetta1 said:


> Oh wow, reading about your girls make me want a sorority tank! I have a 16 gallon tank which I plan to sort out, but I'm torn between a community and a sorority.
> 
> Love their names!


They are great if done right, and if the girls are happy together.


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## FishCat13 (Jan 7, 2013)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/

^^ here is a link to my flickr stream which has a lot of pics of the girls!
It's kind of difficult to get a good picture because they swim around so fast!

So far so good with the tank... I think every morning when I go turn the lights on and every evening when I come in from work, I'm freaking out that somebody is going to be beaten up or even dead... Ahh... I wonder if having such a risky set up is worth it, but it's really rewarding to see all the colors and the girls don't seem to bother each other about 90% of the time.


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## Schmoo (Oct 3, 2014)

LOVE what you named your girls. 



FishCat13 said:


> Except Arya. She's either going to be the Alpha of the tank, or she's going to have to be removed for her own safety. She seems to have a size complex. She's picked a fight with everyone...


Bahaha, looks like you named that one appropriately. ;3


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