# 2.5 Gallon, 2 female bettas?



## Moby

Hi guys

I have a 2.5 gallon tank with a filter and heater. In a few months i will be getting a betta, but the last one I had seemed very lonely. Is it possible to have 2 female bettas in the tank if I am careful about water changes, etc? If not, are there any other easy options? Thanks,


----------



## Shirleythebetta

no no no, Even if it is a female only one in a tank that size. You need at least a ten gallon tank and a minimum of 5-6 females for a sorority. Anything under four they will eventually tear each other up. Female are just as territorial as the males in certain setups and will kill each other. If you want to set up a ten that would be great. I want to break the myth on here that sororities are scary and won't work. Always remember too that betta's are solitary fish by nature. They don't care if they are alone and they won't get lonely. If you feel they are lonely you CAN try shrimp. Better yet... just a betta mirror for them to look into. You can buy them at petsmart or online.


----------



## Luimeril

by nature, bettas don't get 'lonely'. that's not to say they're not social, they just don't want any other bettas in THEIR territory. if you want to get two, get two different tanks, or a 5 gallon and divide it. my own bettas live in their own tanks, and three of them are side by side, so they can see another betta whenever they want. even my delta tail doesn't tail bite, and my shy little HMPK's getting some courage by 'scaring off' my delta and female PK(more like old lady Lulu gets tired of his antics and swims away, and Ichi gets bored of watching him show off and goes to rest in his plant. xD).

if you want multiple bettas in teh same tank, as i said, divide a 5 gallon or larger, or get a 10 gallon or larger and start a sorority.


----------



## Moby

Thanks for the help I appreciate your detailed answers


----------



## Rachelk98

*2 females*



Shirleythebetta said:


> no no no, Even if it is a female only one in a tank that size. You need at least a ten gallon tank and a minimum of 5-6 females for a sorority. Anything under four they will eventually tear each other up. Female are just as territorial as the males in certain setups and will kill each other. If you want to set up a ten that would be great. I want to break the myth on here that sororiies are scary and won't work. Always remember too that betta's are solitary fish by nature. They don't care if they are alone and they won't get lonely. If you feel they are lonely you CAN try shrimp. Better yet... just a betta mirror for them to look into. You can buy them at petsmart or online.


i have 2 females in this kind of tank and they have been living there for over a year


----------



## Shirleythebetta

Yea some of us get lucky. Most of the time though females will fight eventually. I have heard of it happening random times after they have lived together a month, 3 months.... so on. It's just generaly not a good idea. There are many horror stories you can search on here to see what I mean. If it's working for you though way-to-go. You are braver than most.


----------



## LittleBettas

A 2.5 gallon is really only big enough for one fish, stuffing to betta fish in it will either result in fight and serious injury or death of one or both, it can also though result in to UNHAPPY fish... don't forget, bettas are territorial, even the females, and if they don't have their own space they will avoid each other and by all means mope around stressed out and uncomfortable.... because of this we HIGHLY do not recommend doing it, creating a sorority in a 10 gallon with at least 5 girls is so much more rewarding and interesting, all of the females can have their own territory AND can be social.


----------



## ANHEL123

i read a lot posts where people have sorority. First i think it not really easy and a lot of work and i think it not for beginners. For sorority it has to be at least 4-5 females. And when you have sorority you always have to have extra tanks for them in case one of them will get aggressive and attach another one. Some of females just aggressive like a male and has to be kept separately.

swimmysmommy i hope you will never have any problem but watch them and i would have hospital tanks in case something happened. I don't know link i might find it but it was the post someone wrote. She had sorority for a year or so and one of female got attacked and died.

Moby for 2.5 gall i would get one betta firs get comfortable with care and then you will see...

Also never put two new bettas together . One can be sick and give it to another ....so i would always quarantine new fish . The same for the live plant .


----------



## Enkil

Others have pointed out some very important things.

A 2.5 gallon is really only big enough for one fish. You have to remember that this is how much water it holds without anything in it.

A sorority is nice, but you do have to be careful. Females should only be housed together if you have 4 or more in a 10 gallon or larger. Heavily planted/decorated. They need a lot of hiding places.

Always QT a new fish before putting it with fish you already have. Same with plants. You don't want anything getting to your fish.


----------



## lilyth88

swimmysmommy said:


> i have 2 females in this kind of tank and they have been living there for over a year


While it may work in some extreme cases, as a general rule, it does not. Please be careful of what you post, because some people will read that and assume it's fine.


----------



## erikapuf

Shirleythebetta said:


> no no no, Even if it is a female only one in a tank that size. You need at least a ten gallon tank and a minimum of 5-6 females for a sorority. Anything under four they will eventually tear each other up. Female are just as territorial as the males in certain setups and will kill each other. If you want to set up a ten that would be great. I want to break the myth on here that sororities are scary and won't work. Always remember too that betta's are solitary fish by nature. They don't care if they are alone and they won't get lonely. If you feel they are lonely you CAN try shrimp. Better yet... just a betta mirror for them to look into. You can buy them at petsmart or online.


Don't use a mirror. Ever. The beta fish will probably 'puff up' to look aggressive and intimidate it's own reflection. This stresses them out. Every time they do that? Their life span shortens.


----------



## Ramble

Actually, flaring is a natural response for the betta, and as long as they're not constantly flaring, it's not going to cause them harm. You don't want to leave a mirror in the tank for long periods though, as it can stress them out when they see that the intruder is not leaving...
My guys tend to have little flaring contests in the morning, but settle down after a minute or so when they're all sure they won...amazing how many winners I have in my house...heh


----------



## lilyth88

erikapuf said:


> Don't use a mirror. Ever. The beta fish will probably 'puff up' to look aggressive and intimidate it's own reflection. This stresses them out. *Every time they do that? Their life span shortens*.



Not true.


----------



## shadowpony

Yes stress CAN shorten their lifespan. But a flare or two isnt gonna hurt. They have been known to HELP.


----------



## lilyth88

shadowpony said:


> Yes stress CAN shorten their lifespan. But a flare or two isnt gonna hurt. They have been known to HELP.


+1


----------



## MaisyDawgThirteen

How is making an animal angry a good thing?


----------



## Enkil

Having a betta flare is not bad for them. They do this naturally. It is part of their behavior. It would be like saying that having a peacock get territorial and put his tail on display would be bad for his health. The only troubke flaring might cause is that it is possible for a male to cause some tearing in his fins or wxhaust himself should you allow him to flare for too long.


----------



## Shirleythebetta

Thanks for adding only for a few minutes. I forgot to add that. ooopsy.


----------



## lilyth88

But to say that every time they flare their life span shortens is ridiculous.


----------



## Shirleythebetta

Yea that is a little ridiculous but some people just don't know. We are here to educate. I have heard such wild things about betta's and any fish in general and people really believe it. 

Fact is, it is good for a betta to flare but if they flare to big some can get a tear in their fin which is NOT fatal. Those tears can fix in a matter of a couple of days no problem. Usually that happens with Veils. It's good to excercise a semi-agressive or agressive fish because they naturaly need to intimidate. It's genetically part of them. They see another fish in a mirror and they have a flare off for a few minutes. You take the mirror away and they win! Lol. They swim away thinking they scared off the "intruder"


----------



## Moby

thanks, im going to get a single male then.


----------



## ChoclateBetta

A 2.5 is too small for any other fish.


----------



## teeneythebetta

swimmysmommy said:


> i have 2 females in this kind of tank and they have been living there for over a year


I know several people on this website who had multiple bettas improperly situated and about a year after first being placed together, they killed each other. Even though we warned them, they ignored us and the fish are the ones that suffered.


----------



## Bettanewbie60

Shirleythebetta said:


> Yea that is a little ridiculous but some people just don't know. We are here to educate. I have heard such wild things about betta's and any fish in general and people really believe it.
> 
> Fact is, it is good for a betta to flare but if they flare to big some can get a tear in their fin which is NOT fatal. Those tears can fix in a matter of a couple of days no problem. Usually that happens with Veils. It's good to excercise a semi-agressive or agressive fish because they naturaly need to intimidate. It's genetically part of them. They see another fish in a mirror and they have a flare off for a few minutes. You take the mirror away and they win! Lol. They swim away thinking they scared off the "intruder"


+1 this is what I do with my DT...his tank is up against my dresser mirror, and normally covered with a background..but, a couple times a day I remove the background and let him confront the "other fish" and scare him away. I think he has been much happier since I've started doing this!


----------



## bobbik

Shirleythebetta said:


> Yea some of us get lucky. Most of the time though females will fight eventually. I have heard of it happening random times after they have lived together a month, 3 months.... so on. It's just generaly not a good idea. There are many horror stories you can search on here to see what I mean. If it's working for you though way-to-go. You are braver than most.


You are so correct! She is just lucky! I got two females bettas last week, the pet store said they would be fine together, I didn't know better.... I put them in a very large 3 gallon bowl with silk plants and they seemed happy... they came up to eat, so cute... and I fed each one apart and I didn't think anything was wrong. Fast forward, I found the one girl dead today, I was so upset. The other one must have bullied her to death. It was my fault for not doing the research beforehand. And.. I went ahead and bought another female today thinking that the one would be lonely.. and then I found this forum.. thank goodness....because I didn't put the new one in the bowl yet... and now I won't. The only reason I bought those two original girls from the pet store is because they were the last two fish on the shelf.. no one wanted them.... now one is dead because I didn't know better.... really stinks. I definitely won't put this new one in with the other and take a chance, obviously the one girl is a bully and there is not enough room for the two of them together. Thanks for helping me become more educated about female bettas and housing them... you helped save a life!


----------

