# Betta sorority plus Dalmation Molly?



## RackinRocky (Feb 11, 2012)

Hi -- I'm new here, and am learning so much from this board! I have a lone female betta in 20 gallon high. She has bottom dwellers, but no other "fish" so to speak. (3 Kuhli loaches, 2 Otos and a Mystery snail). She loves to dart from one end of the tank to the other, so even though I'd love to divide the tank and put a male on the other side, I truly think she'd be upset with half of her space gone.

I really want a sorority of 5 or 6 girls. But I've read horror stories of bully females attacking and even killing other girls in their sorority. I am so attached to this sweet, gentle little girl and would never forgive myself if another betta hurt her. So. . . I was thinking of getting a Dalmation Molly to see what her reaction is, before taking the big risk of introducing more girls. Mollies are supposed to be good community fish, am I right? If they do all right together, I was thinking of getting more girl bettas, then putting them all in my 10 gallon at the same time so there won't be territorial issues. That means moving my male betta into the 20 and putting the girls in the 10. If everything works out, I'll switch them back again. This way, maybe my current girl won't attack the newcomers coming into her space? What do you think? And if one of the new girls is a bully, I'm hoping Petsmart will take her back, as I don't have another tank set up.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

I find mollies should be in brackish water... Plus they are bullies. They'd have to be in a group of 3 females, or 3 females to one male... 

Actually, I recommend having the females in a 20 rather than 10 to even out space and territory. When you add, you can remove her to a cup and float her with the new ones (please PLEASE quarantine everyone first off) and add together, after a water change  It is normal for torn fins to be here and there... It's to say "hey! I'M boss! ranking :lol: there has to be an alpha.. and they gotta figure it out!

I have 10 in a 40, and there were torn fins, a booboo here and there... and there, done  You also have to pack the tank full of silk, fabric, live plants and hidey holes... >< So they do not see each other 24/7.

Try with a low number, like 4, after you stock that tank full o' plants  you shouldn't see one side of the tank from the other, basically.

Petsmart I think has a 7-14 day policy for live fish...


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## MaisyDawgThirteen (Dec 7, 2011)

I Sena has given you some good advice there.  

I think before you make it into a sorority you may want to bump up your number of otos and kuhli loaches as they are schooling fish. Same with the albino cories in your 10 gallon. ;D


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Yeah what (just realized your "location" maisy xDDD)....... yeah what they said :lol:


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## MaisyDawgThirteen (Dec 7, 2011)

I know. I'm a liar. >


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

:lol:


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## MaisyDawgThirteen (Dec 7, 2011)

I apologize for Sena and I spamming your thread. :/ lol


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

lol.

But, back on the subject... I don't recommned brackish water fish in a fresh water tank  and bettas do not do good in brackish water lol


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

Hey! Bottom dwellers are fish too! I'm really jealous that you have loaches!
Bump up their numbers, and if she's fine with your other fish, you could start a sorority. Read up on some threads about them first though.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

agreed


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## RackinRocky (Feb 11, 2012)

Wow, lots of replies so quickly! I'm liking this board! Well, if mollies are bullies, I definitely don't want to go there. I always thought mollies were so quiet and peaceful with other fish. At least that was my experience in the past. I think I'll just get three more girl bettas, as suggested, and try that. As for wall-to-wall plants, I have some coming, but it won't be enough, I don't think. And my options are limited because my tank has LEDs and as we all know, they are only good for low light plants. Plus, the plants will only be 6-10" tall, and that won't reach the top of the tank, which is 16" high. So that may be a problem. I saw some bamboo stuff at Petsmart. Is that an option? I do have two small caves. But of course the loaches are in there a lot.

If I up the number of loaches I have, I'll not be able to add 3-4 more girls, as I'll be over my limit. Or at least close to it. I'm loving those loaches. They are adorable! The Otos too.

Now, about the brackish water. Why is it I read that Mollies can adapt just fine to water with no salt in it? I actually read that in a few places online. I think the balloon Mollies are adorable, but hubby likes the common type. Now I really don't know what to do. I suppose I could try the mollie, then take it back right away if they start bickering. But what a pain--the nearest Petsmart is half an hour away.

With the albino cories, I was thinking of adding a Julii cory, as they have them right now at Petsmart. I've always loved spotted cories. I'm hoping it will school with my albinos.

I'll let you guys know how the girls do. But if they go into the death roll, I'll know it ain't gonna work! LOL. Thanks for the advice!


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## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

RackinRocky said:


> Wow, lots of replies so quickly! I'm liking this board! Well, if mollies are bullies, I definitely don't want to go there. I always thought mollies were so quiet and peaceful with other fish. At least that was my experience in the past. I think I'll just get three more girl bettas, as suggested, and try that. As for wall-to-wall plants, I have some coming, but it won't be enough, I don't think. And my options are limited because my tank has LEDs and as we all know, they are only good for low light plants. Plus, the plants will only be 6-10" tall, and that won't reach the top of the tank, which is 16" high. So that may be a problem. I saw some bamboo stuff at Petsmart. Is that an option? I do have two small caves. But of course the loaches are in there a lot.
> I wouldn't advise bamboo unless you have an open-top tank. The leaves must be above the water or the plant will rot. Of course, that doesn't provide much cover for the girls.
> I have a low-light tank (my light is really old and probably not giving off the good stuff anymore) and my plants have all reached the 18" height of the tank.  Try ludwigia repens, rotala wallachi, anacharis, lacefern, hornwort and wisteria.  Those will all grow nice and tall and you can mix them with java fern and anubias for mid-level cover.
> If they don't cover all the heights yet, don't stress. They'll grow. Also, floating plants like duckweed, frogbit and red root floater will all help.
> ...


Hope it all works out for you!


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

From my experience with molly's they live much longer in brackish water and will fend off disease better. And they are agressive. I have had some attack and kill other fish. They get more agressive if they don't have the correct female to male ratio. You will be better off not doing the molly's. If you decide to then be careful. It sounds like you love this female betta a lot. Personally I wouldn't risk her or the health of a molly.


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

Try platies, fresh water and not mean. 
Also, if you get girl betta, you have to completely rearrange the decor, take old girl out, put new girls in, then put old girl in.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

I personally had mollies. They said it didn't matter if they had salt... They die faster and got disease!!! I moved their babies to their own tank and added salt as recommended, and they lived longer and I had no disease casualties 

The common molly is vry vicious... I had to get rid of mine because they always mauled, maimed and killed my other fish... they are FAST.

Balloon mollies can be large bullies, but their mouths are no harm to anyone  I had a male with some in freshwater, and if they bumped him with their mouth he'd just flare at them in startlement. :lol: They've never done harm, and cleaned my algae up :roll: But they too should be in brackish water. People can claim all they want it's "okay" and yeah they can LIVE in fresh water, but can they really thrive? :/ Same with bettas in a cup... they can LIVE but can they thrive?


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## RackinRocky (Feb 11, 2012)

Gonna try this again. . . . uggggh. My first post didn't go through, said I had to refresh page and log in again after I'd already posted a rather long post. Frustrating!

OK, so it looks like I really messed up. I did* EVERYTHING* wrong! Went to Petsmart early, before reading the posts this morning. Big mistake. I got three female bettas, a Dalmation Molly and a Julii Cory. Yep, I blew it. 

Rearranged the tank somewhat (not much) and took my original girl out so I could release them all together, after the floating routine. Did that, and everything seemed fine at first except for some minor flaring. After a couple of hours though, it became apparent that one of the new girls is a bully (at least only one of them is, lol!) She was chasing my original girl, and then started chasing another one. No serious fighting, just a lot of fast chasing that I knew had to be stressful to the others. The Dalmation Molly just watched calmly, bothering no one, and no one bothering her either. 

I was glad at this point that I'd bought a divider while I was at Petsmart, just in case this happened. But just my luck, it doesn't fit. There is a tiny space on both sides, and those fish have no trouble slipping through it! The bully was out in no time, but at least now my original girl can slip through the mesh a lot faster than the bully (who is quite a bit slower to figure things out) and get away. Found out why the divider doesn't fit. It says it'll fit a 29-55 gallon tank, and the salesgirl said it should fit my 20 high. Well, I just measured my tank, and its 12" deep, and the divider is 11.375." No wonder! So I'm going to take it back to Petsmart tomorrow and see if they'll refund me for it. Won't they just love me? If no refund, then lesson learned--always measure! 

About the bully--what would you do? Would you take her back to Petsmart tomorrow? I feel that's the best thing to do. Would you get another female, or just keep the three? I keep reading you should have at least 4-5 in a sorority, but if these three will get along, I'd rather not take a chance at getting another bully. Know what I mean? And since someone said Mollies are happiest with their own kind, should I get another Mollie for her? Or would that just encourage aggressiveness toward the bettas?

The Julii Cory is stressing a bit tonight, and since he probably isn't as happy as he should be with the albinos, I'm going to get him another Julii while I'm there. If these problems continue, I'm almost tempted to just get some fancy guppies and keep just my originial betta!


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## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

RackinRocky said:


> Gonna try this again. . . . uggggh. My first post didn't go through, said I had to refresh page and log in again after I'd already posted a rather long post. Frustrating!
> 
> OK, so it looks like I really messed up. I did* EVERYTHING* wrong! Went to Petsmart early, before reading the posts this morning. Big mistake. I got three female bettas, a Dalmation Molly and a Julii Cory. Yep, I blew it.
> Don't beat yourself up, you weren't to know we had replied.
> ...


As I say, two julii won't be enough. I would return him and get a bronze or green cory, if you want some colour.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

I agree with the above post. And yes, remove the molly. They love being social with their own kind, and eventually she WILL snap. And I know this first hand. They get really stressed and tense without other mollies around them :-( Plus you'd have to sex them to make sure you get all females, not accidentally 2 males and a female! I learned to sex them myself because the employee was "guessing".

Bully females is always common. My females right now, only 4 got away without shredded fins or a boo boo. Rose had popeye from being rammed (poor baby didn't do anything!) Savannah and the three bigger gals have shredded fins and missing scales, one has a cut on her lip... :roll: As is the life of a new sorority lol. 

You should get another girl, because 3 can be a dangerous number.


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## RackinRocky (Feb 11, 2012)

Oh, heavens! The drama continues. Went to Petsmart early again, and they had sold out of Julii Cories. Didn't have any type of cories left, for that matter. I could have traded the bully for another betta, but I was just too afraid of either it going after someone, or someone going after* it.* And hubby is getting sick of fish drama, lol. There has been complete peace in the tank today. In fact, two of the girls stay close together, and the other one really doesn't care if they are around her or not. No chasing or nipping, just a little "posturing" this morning once or twice, but it only lasted maybe 10 seconds. Now I don't know what to do with the Molly, as my only other tank has a male betta, and I can only imagine what he'd do to the Molly! Certainly don't want to risk it. And of course I'm already attached to her. So, if the Molly gets testy, I guess I'll just have to divide the tank (if I can find a divider that fits) and get her a buddy or two. 

By the way, I got two more bunches of Hornwort today (already had one bunch, but I felt it wasn't enough for hiding), a Val spiralis, Echinodorus Parviflous 'Tropica' and an Anubia nana 'petite." The anubia and one of the swords went in the 10 gallon, but all the others, along with anacharis, marimo ball and two Java ferns are in the sorority tank. So that, along with a cave and a log with holes in it, I'm hoping will be enough for the bettas to get away from each other. Oh, and I'm waiting to get a Aponogeton Crispus in the mail. So I'm trying really hard to make this work.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

you'll need two buddies for the molly. and I do warn, they do better in brackish water (which I do NOT recommend for bettas)  just get females... that way you won't have constant breeding (any if the females come pregant the babies will be eaten, hide and grow up, or you can feed them to other fish!)

Good luck, however. I hope you won't be shocked when those plants give ya hitchiking snails hehe :3 it's happened so often xD Mine from China came with a curly shelled snail  I'll keep him xD


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## RackinRocky (Feb 11, 2012)

LOL, I found out about snails the hard way. Even though I've always rinsed and rinsed new plants, I always seem to miss a few snails, and then there we go! In a couple of months they start appearing all over the place. I crush an average of 3 a day against the tank glass, and my male betta eats them off my finger!

Well, the female molly will have to be happy with only one companion, as three would be overloading my tank. I sure hope the new one isn't a bully, as I'm getting tired of taking bullies back! "Crosses fingers." And yes, I was planning on getting a female anyway. I read too much about males being mean.

I got the anubia petite, the small sword and the Val Spiralis from Planted Aquariums Central. *WOW!* Now I know where I'll buy any other plants I need in the future. The plants were so obviously bursting with health, and of a good size. I was thrilled. I ordered one small sword, and they sent me two-- and one is getting ready to bloom. They are both 4-5" tall. Plus I ordered one Val spiralis and I got two bunches, with a total of about 20 fronds! And they are 12" tall. The little Anubia was so green, I was shocked. Not one brown leaf on it, just pristine looking, and it looked as if it had never seen a dark box for 3 days! In fact, they all are completely green. I hope I can keep them that way.
-
I do, fortunately, know how to sex mollies. I researched it online before going to the pet store. So I'll be sure to get another female. Those twin fins on the bottom are pretty easy to spot, that is, if the molly isn't swimming around and keeping them tucked up tight. Then, I noticed, its not as easy as I read it would be, because it can look like the oviposter tucked up tight to the belly.

This morning I noticed my original betta girl was chasing the molly, so another good reason to get another Molly as the Molly seems a bit stressed when this happens. But I've been watching all day (they are on my computer desk) and the betta apparently got tired of chasing the molly, as she hasn't done it at all for the last several hours. Things are going so well that it makes me concerned about getting another molly, but if she will feel safer with another one, I feel its the best thing to do for her. Wish me luck in getting another peaceful one tomorrow.


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

You seem to have things handled pretty well.
If your plants start "dissolving" just trim back all the leaves, a lot of plants melt down when they are moved from different areas due to different parameters. Dont throw em out!


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## MaisyDawgThirteen (Dec 7, 2011)

The mollies may live longer in a separate and brackish tank, if time and money permit that would be a good idea.


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