# Sorority Journal



## Artemis (Mar 9, 2013)

I'm starting up a sorority and wanted to post and talk (er type?) all about my updates here. I'll back a few days first and then try to post everyday if anything interesting happens.

*Day 1 (Yesterday, Friday)*

10 gal set up with live gravel from cycled goldfish tank. Filled with tap water treated with Prime. Filter had dead algae that had dried so I cleaned it and scrubbed it off before adding in the algae covered sponge from Rossi's filter and gave him a clean one. Purchased a plakat female named Persephone kept in separate tank to get sorority started.

*Day 2 (Today)*

Added in a piece of driftwood, a bunch of Java Fern, some floating plants, and some plastic plants to fill up tank. *Might* get some females today but likely tomorrow or sometime next week.


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## Artemis (Mar 9, 2013)

Would it be okay to get babies and try for females but if there are males let them be? I know some people have raised fry for long periods of time with he dad, up until one of the fry bred with him and it started again in one case.


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## AyalaCookiejar (Nov 20, 2012)

I would not try it. You could get fry but I would rehome any males.

It is best to get younger females, but from what I have seen here on the forum, leaving a male in the tank can end up in disaster. Some members have had success with leaving a male in with the girls, yes. BUT, I have heard stories of sororities with one male in the tank that went OK for a year or so, then suddenly all the girls ganged up on the male and killed him, or other serious injury occurred.

You won't hear a lot of stories like that, but I think its because most members remove males when they find out that one or more of the fish is indeed male. They do that for obvious reasons.

A sorority, when established properly, can work out just fine, but it is my personal opinion that not removing males is not a properly established sorority. If you are open to rehoming males, it would be fine to let both sexes grow up together as fry. If you are also open to shipping them and have the necessary supplies, I don't think it would be difficult to find other members here who are willing to take the males.

I think that your tank plan so far sounds good. You have live plants and are establishing a cycle which is very important. I would make sure you have something to feed ammonia to the filter so the cycle you've started does not crash. If you've got ramshorn snails that came on your live plants, that would work. However, the filter itself if cycled that way will not be able to handle the bioload of 4-7 females added all at once. I would use pure ammonia or stock up on plants.

I still think that it would be best to purchase your girls from a breeder and not a pet store, but of course both will work. I just think that pet store girls will require longer QT time and will be more likely to get sick/already be sick. Breeder females will be in good care, will be more socialized, and by contrast, will probably be stronger and have stronger genetics than pet store girls.

I think that its pretty much impossible to over-plan a sorority. I do not think they are as complicated as people may make them sound BUT I do think its worth not taking extra risks. If that makes sense?

I would definitely get another girl to QT next to your current one to get them used to the presence of other fish. Something like VitaChem or IAL and very high quality food will help strengthen them up and boost their immune system. For the first two days, my sorority (with a filter and live plants) did not handle the sudden bioload and I saw ammonia and nitrites but I haven't since then. I test daily and will until I'm 100% sure the tank is keeping the water parameters perfect.


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## Artemis (Mar 9, 2013)

Thank's for the opinion and info. I agree it would be stupid to get a male after thinking it through. And I do not want any random spawns, I thought about that last night and 40 baby bettas would not be allowed here. I would get breeder fish but I have a 10 dollar allowance and not enough money for any. Of course I would be very careful about not getting sick fish though. I don't have the room for quarantine. I have about 5 MTS in the tank but that's more because I need a little crew to bust through the gravel for the plants. 

The tank is cycled with live gravel from 5 goldfish and an algae covered filter sponge from Rossi's tank. I also scraped some algae from my sisters tank and put it in there. It works very well if you shake it to get greenwater as that attaches to the glass and rocks and starts up. 

Our PetCo has older babies sometimes and that's what I would look at first to sex them however when we got Rossi there was one who was marked as baby with a X in sharpie marked over it and Female something wirtten next to it. She had been there her whole life almost but was clean and healthy. Go figure.


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## Artemis (Mar 9, 2013)

Getting the fish tomorrow!!


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