# First Sorority!



## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

Today is the day! I am gonna release my females, after I do a water change. I just have a couple of questions.

First off: How long should I wait to release the next group?

Second: If one bullies should I just cup it for a day or something?


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

Okay the fish are in. The one that I have had for so long is a guy lol. Or at least so I think.

Two of my females were really going at it. So I took the one that was delivering the most hits out. The only problem is the one that was getting the hits turned out to be a guy too! So I am gonna ask my sister if she wants him or if I can have her 5g that she isn't using. Only problem is it doesn't have a sang heater or hood.


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## MandiceP (Jan 7, 2012)

I had this same problem! I bought a "veil tail female" from petco. It turned out to be a CT and when I tried to add her to my sorority she went nuts and started attacking one of the others... I noticed her ventral fins were kind of long compared to my other CT female and that her fins were slightly longer all over and I realized that "she" is really a he.... whoops. Took him out and now I can't wait to see what he grows into cause I suspect he's a CTplakat... which would be awesome!


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## wolfiegreen (Jan 23, 2012)

so I'm not the only one that had the problem lol. I'm running out of room for males to sit DX


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

I ended up having to return him. I have no money to spend on a new tank.

There have been no fights after I took the one out. The alpha is cupped though because she was chasing the new one. They really don't like my snails lol. They like stalk them and kill them. Nice snail control though


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## wolfiegreen (Jan 23, 2012)

Well that sucks  I used to have small animals so ive got a large kirtter keepers and 2 1/2 gallon ones small ones so hes going in one of those till maybe sometime in the middle of the year. I prefer filtered between work and school i dont have the time to clean tanks once a week. Hopefully you have better luck with the girls.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Kfry, you mean Kei was a guy? Or one of your newer girls was a guy? :shock: 

You can try leaving the aggressive one cupped for as little as an hour and then release her again and if that fails, keep her cupped overnight. Sometimes it can take several re-introductions before they get things settled and start to get along. I had to try 3 times with my girls and I almost gave up so don't lose heart.


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

Ah let's see, Kei is a guy. So he needs a new name lol. And the sisters well one is a very young male. The people at Petsmart were trying to tell by the eggspot and fin size but I saw the beard. Before I took the male back I added a bit more stress coat to help with the fins. I feel bad but I had no room.

I cupped them for the night, I know who is alpha, it is the biggest girl and she is red. She actually kicked the males butt, I had to separate them before anything happened though. The small yellow one and Rarity actually sit on the bottom and hunt snails lol. None have tried to snack on the ghost shrimp so that's good. 

Tomorrow when I get home from school I will release them in the order I believe is the pecking order. Hopefully no fights. Besides the male and female fight, there was no nipping. Just a tad of chasing. Hopefully I can get a picture up tomorrow, the tank looks nice, not as dense I would like but nice. Oh and you can't really see the other side thanks to the floating plants roots.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Aww, that's too bad Kei turned out to be a guy. Sounds like you're doing a great job. The first time I put all my girls in, I panicked and yanked them out too soon. Nipping and stuff is okay but it's when you get two who won't back down. Usually, you see one fish beat up another and the loser slinks off. When you get one girl beating on another but the other girl won't give up, then it's time to separate. Have any of your girls done the tail slap yet? I love the tail slap. They turn around and start whapping at each other with their butts.


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## Pitluvs (Jun 22, 2011)

Oh I am so lucky my pet store has their females in a large tank, not individuals. I have never had a she turn into a he lol Crappy! Hope it all settles down for you over there!


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

Yeah, there was actually no real nipping so I am thankful for that. I cupped all of them for the night just so nothing can happen. I would rather be there to supervise them.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Good idea.


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## ravenwinds (Feb 5, 2012)

I have learned so much from all of you on this site. I usually don't even have to ask because most often, if I look around, it has already been asked and answered. I am new here; I have had tropical fish most of my life; fairly new w/ bettas(started w/daughter's first tank and beautiful Iridescence(my avatar)). We now have a 2.5g, a 5g, 10g, 20g, and a 29g. We have 2 males in their own tanks and what I thought were 2 females in the 29g community tank. All the tanks are planted and have lo ts of hiding places. Well...right before going online tonight, my mom and I were admiring the improved, darker blue color and long, 2 tone anal fins on one of the girls. Then I stumble upon this thread...yep, you got if...it's a BOY! Can't wait to see how he turns out. All my bettas were purchased at petco(around here, they have the best).


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

Yeah the problem is they sell them so young that they have no idea what sex they are. My Kei turned put to be a guy. His fines are still growing. And he has the eggspot. One reason why I hate buying bettas from the store.


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

I swear these bettas are making me so mad. If they have a beard does that mean male? If so I can't return them, so I have know idea what to do. I think I am done with bettas after this lol. I will keep one in a 5g, but that is it.


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## Tisia (Mar 15, 2011)

they have smaller girly beards. here's Violet showing off hers and Marilyn's just starting to peek out


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

Omg thank you I was freaking out so much. I still think Kei is a guy, so he is in a 5g. Though I never loved the male crowntail, I have to admit seeing mine grow into one is pretty cool.

There was some fitting on the release today. There is some tension still, I am not sure but the newest one is getting kinda picked on, well just chasing. If it isn't better tomorrow evening should I take them out and redo it? I wouldn't mind rrdoinf it but I would rather not in the first place.


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## Tisia (Mar 15, 2011)

if one is being a huge bully or one is looking super stressed or hiding a lot I'd probably at least cup them for a while but otherwise I think it's better to let them bicker a bit and sort stuff out. redoing things might just end up with them deciding they need to duke it out again since it seems like different territories. 
here's the aftermath of that flarefest between Violet and Marilyn. it looks pretty bad but Violet was still acting normally so I just left them alone, and they're doing great now. pretty sure she was the one that started it so maybe that has something to do with it, lol








there's still some occasional chasing and nips in fins but nothing that bad since.


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## MistersMom (Aug 9, 2011)

pictures??


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

Dang those are some messed up fins. So should I cup the alpha? There are only 4 in there because one died today, know idea why, never got chased or anything. So is that fine?

I guess a picture is needed lol, ill take it and get on the computer. I am usually on here via phone lol.


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## MistersMom (Aug 9, 2011)

oh okay and thanks lol


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## Tisia (Mar 15, 2011)

what is she doing? if she's just chasing and nipping a bit she's probably just making sure the other girls know their place. if she's attacking anyone that tries to come up for air or looking like she may seriously injure someone then she may need a time out


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

As promised! I think the totem pole is like this: the big red one, Rarity (cellophane marbel), the little yellow one and the newest the steel blue. Oh and in two of the pictures you can see one of three pregnant ghost shrimp.


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## MistersMom (Aug 9, 2011)

pretty


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

They look like they're doing pretty good, Kfry. Which one died?


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

Oh, it was the one that had the delta tail. I noticed her eggspot was like out about a millimeter. I would like to have more girls in there but it seems 5 has been a terrible number.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Poor thing. She might have just been sick to begin with. Or weak or something. I'm sorry you lost her though.

You can start out with 4 and then add another later. I didn't add all 6 of my girls at once.


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

That's good, I will get some later on. I just don't want to rush things yet. They are just getting settled. Still chasing with the newest one though. Hopefully they will be fine. It will be the first night in the tank.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

They'll be okay. Your tank is definitely heavily planted now so they have lots of places to hide.


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

The blue one must be thankful. The red one still chases her a bit.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

They're still working it out. You might get some shredded fins but it sounds like things are settling down a little.


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

Yeah, thats what I figured. 

Funny thing just happened, I turn the tank light on for a few moments after the room was lit a bit, just because would you like to go from absolute darkness to plant growth light in a second? Well back to my point the steel blue was on the Buddha head (where the crown is) and was motionless! I immediately grap my planting tongs and put them by her but not touching her. She wakes up, I felt so bad, she was sleeping so peacefully.


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## MistersMom (Aug 9, 2011)

kfryman said:


> Yeah, thats what I figured.
> 
> Funny thing just happened, I turn the tank light on for a few moments after the room was lit a bit, just because would you like to go from absolute darkness to plant growth light in a second? Well back to my point the steel blue was on the Buddha head (where the crown is) and was motionless! I immediately grap my planting tongs and put them by her but not touching her. She wakes up, I felt so bad, she was sleeping so peacefully.



thats funny...


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

Is that suppose to be a thats funny! Or like a thats funny (Haha I really dont think so funny?) The ... kinda throw me off lol.

My tank is still going strong, maybe in a couple of weeks I will buy two more girls.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

I did that the other night. One of my girls usually sleeps in the betta log (which isn't fair 'cause no other girls can use it, haha). Well, the other night I checked and she was on the bottom of the tank so I panicked. I reached in and tapped her and she shot off with a wild look on her face. Poor thing, she was probably dreaming a nice dream too.

Sleeping bettas always scare me.


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

I had a heart attack.... well not really, but yeah I got so freaked out. Feeding them is actually pretty easy, I thought it would be harder since they are such fatties and will always keep eating.

How long do fins take to regrow, on average?


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

For fins? Anywhere from a day to weeks. Gill flaps . . . no idea. Small tears can start to show growth within a day but if they're missing most of their dorsal or anal fin, that can take two weeks. At least, that's about how long it took for Anju's dorsal to grow back. Right in time for someone to take a chunk out of her tail. Poor thing.


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

Alright thanks. I still have the missing gill flap girl in the aquarium salt, I am gonna have to start weening her back to freshwater.


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## MistersMom (Aug 9, 2011)

kfryman said:


> Is that suppose to be a thats funny! Or like a thats funny (Haha I really dont think so funny?) The ... kinda throw me off lol.
> 
> My tank is still going strong, maybe in a couple of weeks I will buy two more girls.


 no no no no it was ACTUALLY funny.... like a cute funny....


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

Oh okay lol. Tripping now has me one my A game lol.

The small yellow one got nipped which split her tail.

I saw so many nice nuptial today at Petco! There was two or more that were red, white, and blue. And such a cute hamster...


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## MistersMom (Aug 9, 2011)

i want a hamster..... but i mom won't let me have 1.... it makes me angry.


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

Same here!

Grrrrrrrr I had to toss a couple plants that I bought a bit ago. They completely melted, I managed to save some but they are super small and are now floating. Anyone have any plants to recommend? No Anubias unless I find a rock to tie it down.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

I had my Brazilian Pennywort melt on me. Now my Bacopa Carolinia is melting, making a mess. So I feel your pain.


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

Hehe I just checked my water! I am happy with the results as you can tell. So here they are: ammonia 0, nitrite 0, and nitrate 5... The best part, I haven't changed my water in two weeks lol. I am one happy camper


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## callistra (Jun 29, 2010)

Still.strongly suggest you do weekly water changes. Other things.build up that you cant test for. Glad.things are.goigng good. Pretty tank!


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## Silverfang (Mar 25, 2011)

I have nothing but good things to say about brazillian pennywort. Two complaints, my snails enjoy the too, and two, it's so darn hard to see the girls at times! I've got three big bunches just floating on the top, I've got three who really like to nap and hide in it.


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