# advice for 29 gal. female betta tank



## Kim (Apr 30, 2008)

So, I was going to do a community tank in my new 29 gal., and just last night I realized that now I have the space to do the female betta setup that I always wanted. I like other fish, but I love bettas for their personalities. I would like to hear from people who have done this. Any advice or tips that you could offer. I was planning on doing a large pile of smooth rocks that would provide caves, and planting the tank especially covering the bottom with some sort of grass. Is this tank big enough? Also, when looking on aquabid I often see multiple females in small glass containers floating in tanks. Would these bettas be a better choice than some of the pet store ones because they are more used to companions? Also, my tap water has a pH of 7.6 just wanted to make sure that the girls would still be happy in this. Thanks.


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## nav2008 (Jul 17, 2008)

i have a 30 glllon that i use for my female tank, i have 3 silk plants and 2 large caves. they seem ok but my ph is 6.8-7.0 just watch them for the first few days carefully  good luck


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## craig+pearl (Aug 11, 2008)

that is close to a normal ph for tap water but the neutral levell is 7


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## s72450 (Sep 15, 2008)

I have a female tank that's doing well, just be careful and watch them the first couple of days, make sure one of them isn't being the bully. I would highly recommend starting this when you had a few days where you could stay home and observe.

Making sure they have places to hide is key and lots of decor so they can section off because at first they will do this. Mine have just now started to swim around without nipping at one another.

Another key thing to do is put them all in at the same time so nobody gets a bigger head thinking the tank was theirs, this provides less stress.

Good luck, my female tank is a big source of fun for me, I love the female bettas and adore watching them! Let us know how it turns out.


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## Kim (Apr 30, 2008)

Thanks for the replys. I was planning on doing a community tank with loaches, rasboras, and a couple of pearl gouramis. Then I thought of the betta thing again after talking to my male betta for a couple minutes. It was then that I realized that none of my other fish are anywhere near so social. And, since I already have a 15 gal. community tank going that will have 6 corys, 2 guppies, and 2 sparkling gouramis it it when it is fully stocked, I realized that maybe I would be more happy with the female betta setup. I still haven't decided for sure though. 

I was going to set up the tank with a sand botton, a large pile of rocks that will form many caves one one half of the tank, tapering off to a clear swimming area on the other side. I am going to plant the tank with cabomba, crypts, micro sword(which will cover the bottom creating a lawn) and one other type of tall plant. I am also going to be going with DIY CO2. 

s72450- since you have a similar setup, I was wondering if you could help me out filter wise. How strong of swimmers are female bettas? My last tank I tried to keep the filtration down to a minimum, but ended up needing another filter because of the plants. This made me unable to put my male betta in because there was too much current. So, with this tank I was going to get the penguin bio wheel filter rated for up to 50 gal. tanks. Sound good to you? Also, what kind of role does stocking play on aggression?

Thanks!


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## Kim (Apr 30, 2008)

Ok, so I signed up on another forum specifically for bettas this evening (this one wasn't up and I had some time to kill) and posted a thread asking for tips on a sorority tank. I am now a little scared. I really don't want to wake up one day to a bunch of dead bettas, so can anyone tell me anything about their setup? I read that it can all be fine for months, and then out of the blue one betta will just go crazy and kill or injure her tank mates. What is the actual chance of death/injury, and how often would fighting occur?

If this is the case, how are the female bettas that you see on aquabid all staying together peacefully in those little floating containers that they have them in? I also saw a tank with tons of females in it just the other day on there. Why the inconsistancies?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.


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## s72450 (Sep 15, 2008)

Kim, I think with Bettas you just have to hope for the best. I've had my girls in a tank together for nearly a month now and so far there are no problems, but before I had these gals in a tank, I had two together and Juliet killed Rose, it was horrible and I felt bad, but I learned from this experience that I needed more information. 

I think if you've done your research then you should just take a leap of faith and closely monitor your girls, the first week or so they will nip at one another until they get an order set up in the tank, this happened in my tank. Just make sure you have several places for your girls to hide and heal up, I would recommend getting some BettaFix in case the nipping gets too severe. Just keep an eye on them and try to figure out if you need to remove one from the group, but keep in mind that they will fight and as long as they still appear to be okay then it's best to just let nature take it's course and an order will come about.

As far as a filter goes, I have one, the tank came with it, and the girls seem to be decent swimmers, in fact one or two of them play in the filter stream and go up and down in all day, so far it doesn't seem to be hurting them, but I have heard that it's best to not have alot of water movement, I figure it's a personal thing, some might like the movement and others might not.

Keep us updated and try to not be scared, sometimes our fishy friends don't make it, I've been through it and it sucks, but that's just the way it is and we can only do so much.


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## 1077 (Apr 16, 2008)

IMHO Lot's of Plants will help stem any aggression before it becomes too severe. My expieriences with other fish have shown that fish that cannot avoid each other in the tank are more prone to disputes over territory and are generally more fussy with each other. I would think plants would help break up their line of sight.


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## Kim (Apr 30, 2008)

Well, I decided to go with my origional plan. I really don't want to have to worry about my fish all the time. 

But...I'm thinking about moving my remaining 6 female guppies into the 29 gal. when it is up (they are really small and the other fish won't be full sized yet anyway) and turning the 10 gal. that they were in into another betta tank. Then I would treat myself to a really gorgeous betta from aquabid!


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