# Max number of female bettas in 10 gallon?



## FishFaceMartin (Mar 24, 2009)

Hey, everybody! I'm Savannah. I'm new to bettafish.com and new to bettas/fish in general, so please bear with me in my newbieness. I've always LOVED fish and have always wanted to get some, but I haven't really gotten the money or the time together to get some until now. Upon searching for my perfect first fish and for other fishy information, I FELL IN LOVE with the Betta fish. I have my 10 gallon tank all set up and everything, and I plan to get some bettas tomorrow.

The question is how many female Bettas can I put in my 10 gallon? Petsmart says 5-6, but on here no one seems to have more than 3 put together at once. Do Bettas get irritated in big crowds? I'm hoping to put only 3 or 4 in there together. Will this work? And if so, is there anything I should be careful of? 

Oh, and if I have 3 or 4 in my ten gallon, how often and of what percentages should I do water changes? I've read up in this area, but I'm getting varying answers and am confused. 

Answers will be much appreciated!


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Hello and welcome to FishForum. You can have 4 females in a ten gallon tank. The tank should have plenty of hiding places. Females can be aggressive so you need to have places for them to hide to get away from each other. There may be some nipping and fighting for the first few days or so, then they will estalish a pecking orderYou'll have to keep an eye on them at this time to make sure things don't get too rough. .Someone else will have to advise you on the water changes. I don't have a 10 gallon myself so I have no idea.


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## Kim (Apr 30, 2008)

Welcome to fishforum!

Do you know how to cycle your tank? Is is cycled already? If not you'll need to wait before you get fish unfortunately, but trust me that it is worth it in the end to do a fishless cycle (much kinder to the fish and you won't loose any of them). A cycled tank should get around 20-25% changes weekly, but this can change depending on the # of fish and the amount of waste that they produce.

Actually, more bettas mean that aggression will be spread out better. You never want to put only a few bettas together because the more dominant one will bully the other to an unhealthy and sometimes deadly level. I'd say 5 should be good for a 10 gallon. Keeping a sorority is tricky though, so you'll need to be very careful for some time and read up about it a LOT. You'll also need separate containers for the girls should one end up being too aggressive and need to be separated or one become sick or injured. These containers should be able to be heated.

When you do buy your fish, watch out for plakat (short finned bettas) males, which are sometimes mislabeled as females.

Feel free to ask more questions. I hope this helps


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## fishyinpa (Dec 25, 2008)

haha i wrote this long post (basically what kim said) and i hit a button by accident,gone! Anyways,welcome to the forum. Um yeah read up on cycling. If you dont have the bettas already,do the fishless cycling. Be alot easier in the long run. Does take awhile to get there,but its totally worth it! 

Umm i know nothing of female bettas,but i do want one! Watch me end up with a plakat like Kim says haha. This is a great place,so enjoy your stay!


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

If I ever get a 10 gallon, I'd like to try a sorority. And I will cycle it! lol


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## Cody (Dec 22, 2007)

IMO, 4 females in a 10G. Do a WC once a week, 20-25%, or as needed.

And a Tip: Never listen to any LFS, nonetheless a LPS like Petsmart. Ever.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Unless you know for a fact that the person knows what they're talking about.


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## Cody (Dec 22, 2007)

Not even then. I am good friends with both owners of my LFS, but would NEVER take their word on anything. Period. They just want a sale. It's business.


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## Kim (Apr 30, 2008)

Oh, and I forgot to add that you will want to heavily plant/decorate your tank. You'll also want lots of hiding places and caves. This is so you can break up sight lines, let them establish their territories, and give them a place to hide. If you want to add a new female to an established sorority you will need to completely redecorate the tank to break up territories that can cause extreme cases of aggression beyond the normal bickering over postition in the hierachy.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I have had a person at my Petsmart that could have sold me all kinds of meds for a sick betta but they told me not to buy meds but to keep the water very clean and that would be better than medicine.So I don't think they are ALL just interested in sales.


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## fishyinpa (Dec 25, 2008)

Yah I agree,there are SOME people at fish stores or fish depts that actually know something. But even then, Id still go look it up or ask on here if thats right. The LFS down the road from me seems pretty knowledgeable,but the other one well not so. And for what they are called they sure dont have alot fish! Baffles me. They told me all kinds of wrong stuff. Plus most stuff is way overpriced there. LOL


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

One person that I THOUGHT knew a lot did say something that I didn't agree with. He said that even the little cups the bettas are in will cycle. I don't think so!


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## fishyinpa (Dec 25, 2008)

Um what?? Lol. I dont think so either! Well the other fish place told me that bettas are fine in tiny containers (such as the cup). Also told me they dont need a heater or a filter. When i told them i had him in a 10 she stared at me like i had two heads or something. Shes like for one fish?! Im like yeah....shes like you couldve left him in his cup...um...no...Plus they dont like to answer their phones even though they say call anytime. She also has a small kid who shes always chasing around the store while trying to help customers. So i dont go there anymore very much. Once in awhile they have cheap fish food and i check out their traded in fish tanks. Thats where i found my 29 gallon for 18 bucks for my gerbils hehe. So they are good for something but not much haha.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

That would drive me crazy, being in a store trying to talk to someone with a little kid running around. I like my Petsmart. I don't ask them for advise very often. Once in awhile, I'll ask something just to see if they give me any of the same info I got here. One girl I used to talk to is gone now. She had foot surgery this time last year and never came back. She was the one that told me not to medicate my fish. She said it would do more harm than good and it would be best to use a bit of stresscoat and do water changes like every 3 days. That was for fin rot. I think I got good advice from her.


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## fishyinpa (Dec 25, 2008)

Ya that sounds like good advice. It is annoying. Most people give up and leave. They dont seem to care much or know much about fish. So i dont know why they are in the fish business lol. Maybe at one time they did care,but who knows. At least at the one right down the road they seem to care.


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## FishFaceMartin (Mar 24, 2009)

*Thanks!*

Thanks a ton everybody for the great answers! I looked up some stuff about cycling and what I got was that you set up your tank with all of the accessories and then you feed the empty tank fish food in order for the tank to start developing ammonia. I know that you can also do this with fish in the tank. I've had my tank set up with most of the decorations and with the appropriate amount of tap water purifier (something that makes the water healthy for the fishes, i guess), but I have not put any fish food into the tank yet. This has been set up since Sunday, I believe. 

The new question is: what should I do now? Should I get the rest of the foilage and a heater and feed the tank fish food for a while before I get my fishes? And how long should I do that for?

Thanks again to everybody that answered! Especially for that point about supplying the four females with lots of hidey-places, because I wouldn't have known to get more than the one I have!


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

You'll need to get a test kit to test your water parameters while it cycles. The API liquid master test kit is the one that everyone reccommends. The kits with the test strips aren't accurate.


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## fishyinpa (Dec 25, 2008)

Yeah you can set it all up,except for the fishies of course. Not sure how well the food method of cycling works,but im sure it will. LOL. Yes and like DQ said get the liquid test kit. Turn up the heat and turn up the filter,the more heat and airation the better. Of course turn it all down when done! Haha. Now expect this to go on for many many weeks..i dont know if i said it,but mine took 8 weeks. Not that bad really. But some peoples have taken longer,some shorter. So good luck!!


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## FishFaceMartin (Mar 24, 2009)

Hey, thanks again for the answers!

So, I'm definitely going to wait and cycle my tank before I get my fish. Tomorrow I'm going to go out and get a heater, some more decorations, and a test kit. Eight weeks feels like a really long time to have to wait, and I'm really bad at waiting for those kinds of things, but I really want happy and healthy fishies, so I shall wait. 

Thanks for putting up with my newbieness! I guarentee that there will be more to come! lol. :-D


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## fishyinpa (Dec 25, 2008)

No problem anytime! Yes it does feel like forever...and i was getting to the end of my patience with it...but i held out a lil longer...and it was done yay! lol. Good luck!


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Ask any questions you want. Theres always someone around to answer your questions.


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## Kim (Apr 30, 2008)

I use pure ammonia and it works quicker simply because you don't have to wait for the ammonia to build up at all (I tried with fish food and it took forever, then I finally gave in and got ammonia), also it is much less messy  I think I got mine at Hannaford in the cleaning aisle (just make sure it's pure) and I have cycled many tanks with it since then.

As for time frame, I had one that cycled in 10 days and one that took 3 months (I used much more ammonia in this one because of the expected bio load). The others fell somewhere inbetween and I have established betta tanks with just an old filter sponge from a cycled tank and never had any problems.


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## FishFaceMartin (Mar 24, 2009)

Thanks for the tip, Kim. I'll probably use the pure ammonia if I can find it. :-D


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