# Sorority of baby bettas?



## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

I may or may not want to set up a betta sorority in my 54 gallon tank. There are no fish in it currently - it is cycling. I haven't decided yet because I am not sure if I have it in me to handle the fighting. 

However, what if I set up a sorority of babies? Are they more likely to get along if they "grow up" together? I have 3-4 Petco stores within a reasonable distance of me, and some of the babies look big enough to determine the gender if I knew what to look for. I could probably come away with a dozen or so females. And I do have 2 spare, empty tanks if I ended up with a male I could pull him out. Is that a really bad idea?


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## Joey Fish (Jan 26, 2014)

I have no idea. Growing up together would probably benefit, but in a 54, you may lose the babies


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## Rana (Apr 27, 2013)

If you feel confident telling gender, it's a great idea to start with young bettas. They're more likely to get along if they're younger, though when they start getting grown-up they might become more territorial and aggressive anyway.

Do you have enough space to quarantine them all? Babies are more delicate than adults and sororities are more stressful than living alone, so I would make sure they all are healthy before releasing them.

As for fighting, I must say that my sorority doesn't have a lot when my trouble-maker is gone. They'll chase each other but rarely do they actually nip or do damage. With enough plants and hiding spaces it shouldn't be a big problem. :3


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

Yeah I didn't put that much thought into quarantine. . . I could probably quarantine about 8 at a time comfortably but that's a gigantic hassle. Anyone have a recommendation for a breeder who might sell a dozen or so young females together? If they're already raised/housed together then I shouldn't have to worry about quarantine tanks.


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

I don't know anything about keeping bettas together but I don't think that quarantining 8 bettas together is going to produce the results you want. Quarantine needs to be a low stress environment, and 8 bettas together is probably going to be a high stress environment. I don't know how people who keep these tanks do it, but that's a big red flag from my point of view. But, quarantining is one of the few things that I take seriously.


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## Rana (Apr 27, 2013)

If you're talking about eight separate containers then eight is an okay number to start, I had to quarantine mine in ones and two before I had enough to start a sorority. With eight you could start as soon as they're healthy, and continue adding later if you wanted.

Otherwise I agree with jaysee, it's not a good idea to quarantine them all in one tank, even if they're divided up.

I don't think that breeders tend to sell fry as young as Petco does, but there are several breeders on here who have females for sale that have grown up together. There's a lovely marble group on the classifieds section now, and with marbles you won't end up with identical fish (The only reason I dislike sibling sororities).


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

It would be 8 separate containers. Would kind of defeat the purpose to quarantine them together!

I don't necessarily *want* young fry, I just thought it might be easier to raise them together. I'll check out the classifieds - thanks!


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

If they're all females then they can live together. Would they be purchased separately, meaning not all from the same tank?


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