Betta Sorority Community experienced hobbyists

Hello,
I have been considering getting 5 betta females for my community tank and wanted to know if anyone has experience with establishing one? My set up is 100 gallon cube tank with lots of live plants. I currently have 20 guppies, 3 zebra danios, 6 panda corys, and 2 baby Plecos. I’m hoping to add 15 neon tetras, 9 rainbow fish, 6 more danios and 6 more corys. I’ve been researching on this for a couple of days and found a decent amount of information on betta sorority in a community tank but a lot of it is also conflicting. As an example one website will say Cherry Barbs are compatible with Bettas and Guppies and a different website will say they are not. If anyone here has any experience on establishing a betta sorority community tank please share your experience. What were the steps taken to make sure it worked out? Any problems? Did you add the community fish first before adding in the bettas? My plan is to get young bettas 3 - 6 months old as I read they do better in a community at that age. Fact or myth?

 

Here are two threads that recently discussed this same thing:

Thinking About Female Betta Sorority Tank... Question - | Betta Fish 439610

Betta fish help Question - | Freshwater Beginners 439471

What I told each of them was:
"“Just a heads up, not everyone supports sororities on here.

Anywho, assuming you mean Betta splendens, you want 4-6 females minimum, 4 is the absolute minimum, 6 or more is better. When you're selecting these in the store, hold them next to each other and pick the most docile ones for your sorority. Chances are if they're similar colors/tail types and in the same store at the same time, they might be related, and females from the same hatch often grew up together, so may get along better. (This is good).

(2 females = 1 bullies the other [to death], 3 females = 2 bully the other [to death], 4 females = more equal distribution of aggression, etc)

Elephant ear females often don't do as well in sororities, as their pectoral fins are flappy and may offend some of the other females. I have one female that will specifically stalk and hunt down elephant ear females. The fins are also more delicate and can be hurt easily.

Make sure your tank has lots of hides and plants to break up sight lines. I also recommend some floating plants for this (Like Dwarf water lettuce), my females love it.

When you get your females, place them in cups next to each other (So they can all see one another) for ~24 hours. This will help teach them that aggression is fruitless. I'd also recommend complete water changes every 6-12 hours while in the cups so they don't die of ammonia poisoning. When adding them to the tank, (temperature acclimate first of course) add them all at the same time, I usually dump out in the order of least aggressive to most (One after the other). Watch them for a good long while and keep an eye on aggression.

I usually add some kind of live bearer or barb to help break up aggression”


Edit 2: when discussing ditherfish on the other thread, someone else said that more peaceful fish work better as ditherfish. This kind of comes down to preference. I like the barbs because they are rambunctious and a little aggressive. They do a good job of putting some of my females in their place. But they can sometimes nip fins. I like the larger Livebearers too because they are very active but not prone to nipping. They’ll just wander right through displays of aggression being like “What? “ lol. Sometimes my females will try to intimidate them at first but they like actually honestly don’t understand it. Some platys and Mollys can be really flashy too, and to me, sororities are so beautiful already, adding a pretty ditherfish only adds to it"


I currently have one sorority with 4 female bettas and 6 platys, and one community tank with barbs/rams/a tetra/and two female bettas (Not recommended but they're both lazy old coots)

Answering your questions specifically:
What were the steps taken to make sure it worked out?
---I detailed that above - 24hrs cupped next to each other, lots of hides and plants, ditherfish

Any problems?
---There is usually some aggression no matter what so you need to keep an eye on them

Did you add the community fish first before adding in the bettas?
---In my sorority, I added the females first, simply because the platys had not arrived yet. The community tank was all over the place adding-order-wise

My plan is to get young bettas 3 - 6 months old as I read they do better in a community at that age. Fact or myth?
---Younger bettas are less agressive, generally, and having them grow up together means it's more likely they'll get along better. However, all of my fish were purchased/placed together as adults

 

Rainbow fish don't mix with bettas. Barbs don't really mix either.
100 gallons is a lot of space so I wouldn't say it is 100% a problem but why make the odds worse for yourself.

1. Skip any territorial and aggressive fish and fish that tend to nip in the set-up (see above).The fish you already have atm. sound perfectly good.
2. Get more bettas. 5 is a minimum, odds are usually better with more. Try 8 or 10.
3. Add 5 in one go at first as a minimum. Adding all at once is good too but not necessary. When adding new girls, adding 2 or more at a time is better than adding just one.
4. You are may run into one or more girls that just won't play nice. Some are little terrors. So pay close attention to your girls in the first two weeks or so. If there are any that just won't stop nipping and chasing other girls constantly (especially one particular one), give them a time-out in a floating cup. If they still won't play nice after being re-added, you may have to rehome them and try a different girl. You may feel unsure about what is 'too much', but once you've had them for a week or two you'll see most mellow out and only chase on occasion, and so you'll notice if one is not relaxing at all.

Oh and almost forgot: decor! hardscape! The more hiding spots, plants, caves, etc., the better and more peaceful will the co-habiting be.

 

Rainbow fish don't mix with bettas. Barbs don't really mix either.
100 gallons is a lot of space so I wouldn't say it is 100% a problem but why make the odds worse for yourself.

1. Skip any territorial and aggressive fish and fish that tend to nip in the set-up (see above).The fish you already have atm. sound perfectly good.
2. Get more bettas. 5 is a minimum, odds are usually better with more. Try 8 or 10.
3. Add 5 in one go at first as a minimum. Adding all at once is good too but not necessary. When adding new girls, adding 2 or more at a time is better than adding just one.
4. You are may run into one or more girls that just won't play nice. Some are little terrors. So pay close attention to your girls in the first two weeks or so. If there are any that just won't stop nipping and chasing other girls constantly (especially one particular one), give them a time-out in a floating cup. If they still won't play nice after being re-added, you may have to rehome them and try a different girl. You may feel unsure about what is 'too much', but once you've had them for a week or two you'll see most mellow out and only chase on occasion, and so you'll notice if one is not relaxing at all.

Oh and almost forgot: decor! hardscape! The more hiding spots, plants, caves, etc., the better and more peaceful will the co-habiting be.

I agree with everything here, though personally I like barbs with bettas, but *shrug*
My other input after reading #4 - if you're buying from a local chain store or a LFS (if it accepts returns) hang onto your receipts in case someone dies or there's one that doesn't fit in so you can return it. (Or rehome it as suggested)

 

Wow, thank you so much guys. Very good information from everyone. I want to do this correctly and have this succeed. The last thing I want is a stressed, injured or dead fish. I have lots of plants, background tall to foreground chain sword and a large spiderwood tree with java moss. I also have a Hornwort as a floater, actually tied to a spiderwood branch It’s growing rapidly so I can probably add it to other areas of the tank. So maybe I should go with 6 bettas with the neon tetras and see how it goes before adding more species. This should provide plenty of space for everyone. My local fish store is petco, pet smart and a mom and pop aquarium shop. I checked all three and I think they only have half moon bettas. I could try asking them about their age and if they are related to each other. I’m afraid that some of these pet store employees just say whatever to sell you the fish. I’m also looking into ordering online. Anyone have experience ordering from liveaquaria? I’ve also asked them a few questions on bettas and they seem to be pretty honest in their answers. I’m definitely going to try the cup method and buy from the stores first.

 

I have 2 sorority tanks, 5 fish each. Both are 10 gallon and heavily plants with decor that helps set up boundary areas for retreat.

tank 1 is larger fish ( older) and I added 2 fish late as previous occupants had passed. 1 had been an elephant ear that never thrived even when in her own tank by herself. The other died from accidental overfeeding. I thought I removed enough food form a spill.

IMO size matters more than age

when I started my 2nd sorority tank, 1 female died ( she climbed into a seashell & got stuck while I was at work) so I got a 2 Kio. But the Koi immediately bullied my less mature females. within 5 minutes, I move the 2 Koi to the large tank and moved a smaller female ( Sunkist, orange veiltail - who had settled in nicely in the older tank) to the smaller tank.

They do chase each other occasionally but break off. I haven't had any real violence.

you will need females who are strong swimmers imo for a cube because they need to air breath.

I am moving my large females to my 20 gallon tall this spring. if I had to do it all over again, I'd buy a 20 long, not tall for Bettas. But a 20 gallon isn't that much taller.

How tall is your 100 cube? they need that surface for breathing.

 

This is the coolest betta video I have ever seen.

I have 19 of them in a 55 with glowlight tetras and cories.

 

I have 2 sorority tanks, 5 fish each. Both are 10 gallon and heavily plants with decor that helps set up boundary areas for retreat.

tank 1 is larger fish ( older) and I added 2 fish late as previous occupants had passed. 1 had been an elephant ear that never thrived even when in her own tank by herself. The other died from accidental overfeeding. I thought I removed enough food form a spill.

IMO size matters more than age

when I started my 2nd sorority tank, 1 female died ( she climbed into a seashell & got stuck while I was at work) so I got a 2 Kio. But the Koi immediately bullied my less mature females. within 5 minutes, I move the 2 Koi to the large tank and moved a smaller female ( Sunkist, orange veiltail - who had settled in nicely in the older tank) to the smaller tank.

They do chase each other occasionally but break off. I haven't had any real violence.

you will need females who are strong swimmers imo for a cube because they need to air breath.

I am moving my large females to my 20 gallon tall this spring. if I had to do it all over again, I'd buy a 20 long, not tall for Bettas. But a 20 gallon isn't that much taller.

How tall is your 100 cube? they need that surface for breathing.

It’s 27 inch long and 30 x 30. I have corys and guppies that run up and down the glass so hopefully a betta can handle it.

 

Some gouramis need to get to the surface to breath. Betta do not in a properly oxygenated aquarium.