Betta Sorority For 40g Breeder!

Wanting to do a Betta Sorority but I really don’t know how many I could have in my 40 gallon Breeder.

Recently just tour it down because my ex-roommate decided to dump Gain detergent in it. Tour it down, cleaned everything and now it is just running with water in it. Going to do a full water change and clean everything again to make sure there is zero residue inside anything.

It’s going to be heavily planted with a piece of giant driftwood in the center and BDBS about 3-4” deep. I have a heater, light, filter and etc. I will be fishless cycling it once I feel comfortable doing so.

Anything that alarms anybody?

 

I've got a sorority in a 29 tall, not the best tank for one, dreaming of a 40 long.

Sounds like the roommate was a piece of work, glad ex is the operative there.

Cycling it with activated carbon/charcoal for a while should ensure your water no longer has that fresh clean scent, that's so great for soft sheets, and so terrible for happy fish!

As far as your girls go, when you start the sorority, I would start with 5 or 7, and not go over 9, though 11 might work. Advice I got going in was keep in odd numbers, so there won't be even teams if they decide to have a street brawl-dance off, a la Westside Story.

 

Wow I can't imagine what kind of person would do that.

I have found 7 girls to be my magic number of ladies in my 36g sorority. Any less and they start to gang up on the weakest one. Any more and I feel they wouldnt have enough territory to get away from any scuffles that break out. A 40 breeder might be different since it has a larger footprint though! Good luck!

 

I'm thinking if they are the only fish in there other than bottom dwellers beings your tank has a good footprint I would say 15 girls. Now if you want a school of fish with them subtract 1 girl per 2 schooling fish. So a school of something like glowlight tetras with 9 or so girls.

 

Crafty Cichlid
Yeah, she was a piece of work. I did not know that cycling with activated carbon/charcoal that takes all the no no stuff out. Thank you. Five seems like a good number to start with. Hahahahah that’s what I’ve heard.

Sleow
Neither could my Fiancé and I. She is crazy. So you would say to start with 7 instead of 5? Thank you for the good luck.

David1978
Yes, they will more than likely be the only fish in there other than some bottom dwellers.

I was very scared I was going to have to replace all my stuff since my ex-roommate pretty much ruined it.

 

I have mine in a 75 gallon tank. I actually only wanted a couple so I got 3. Yea that didn't work so I added 2 more and I calmed down. Once I hit 7 I seemed like a whole different tank. Granted one of the first ones turned out to be male so that might of had something to do with it. The whole odd or even thing I'm not sure of either as I keep adding and sometimes subtracting so ive had both at times.

 

When I was building mine, I actually started with three and then went up by two until I had my seven. I was picky about which girls I got so I broke the "add them all at once" rule. I noticed at seven things calmed down a lot. I had a lost a couple of my bettas after a couple months so my numbers fluctuated for a bit and I had even numbers at times.

I would highly recommend getting a floating breeder box or net. I use a clear floating breeder box to acclimate and introduce my new bettas. They stayed in the box until they no longer flared when another betta swims by. It's taken anywhere from 3 minutes to a full day, depending on their personality. I use a larger mesh breeder net for isolation if a girl is being a brat, or a food hog, or if one gets nipped and needs a break from the others, I stick her in it with some of my floating hornwort for a while.

 

However you do it, remember that bettas are looking for horizontal territory, not vertical.