20 Gallon Tank Betta sorority, lone female?

Hi, I just bought a sorority of Betta females, there's 5 total in the group in my 20 gallon aquarium. I also have 3 male guppies and 3 corydoras in the tank with them that were previous inhabs.

I spent quite awhile in the store looking over the options for the females, originally just planned to buy one female. But.. The dumbo's were too pretty.. So I swindled myself into buying 2 dumbos and 3 standards.. One of the standard females, that I've named John Hammond has sat herself on the bottom of the tank since release 2 hours ago. I'm not as familiar with Bettas, I'm still learning about them but I do know they will sit on the bottom of the tank at times. I've checked on her a few times to ensure she's breathing still, and she does scoot around it seems. But I can't directly tell if her dorsal fins are there? Or partially there? She's cream toned in the body with red/purple on her fins. None of the other fish are picking on her or biting her. One of the other ones actually went and laid next to her for a moment before swimming off.

I wasn't sure if it's normal or not for them to sit for long periods of time like that. In the store she was also sitting, but when the employee went to net her she did swim off a bit. So I know she has the ability to do that. I did try to see if I could get her to move, using my own net, but she wasn't very interested in moving far from it, mostly just a bit of a wiggle and then she went back to laying. Is this normal? I wasn't sure if I just needed to give her extra care until her fins re-grew if maybe they're missing/gone or if I should just take her back to the store for a refund?
Thanks in advance.

 

Betta sorority dont always work, its best to buy them if they were from the same batch or grew up together (often breeders are best place to buy these), if you have bought 5 random bettas in a 20gal this may not end well, i suggest watching aggression over the coming days, please if there isnt already add some plants, and fill in the tank so you can break the line of sight between bettas.

A tank photo would be helpful and cool!

best of luck

 

Betta sorority dont always work, its best to buy them if they were from the same batch or grew up together (often breeders are best place to buy these), if you have bought 5 random bettas in a 20gal this may not end well, i suggest watching aggression over the coming days, please if there isnt already add some plants, and fill in the tank so you can break the line of sight between bettas.

A tank photo would be helpful and cool!

best of luck

I'll try to get a photo here soon. The 3 standards came from the same tank at the store, and the dumbo delta's were in a tank together as well. So far I haven't seen any aggression as of yet, but I did go into it knowing there was that possibility. I've noticed the blue one I got likes to come sit next to JH.

Do you know if JH sitting on the bottom this long is okay?

 

Perhaps she is stressed how long ago did you add them to the tank. Good that they were in the same tanks but they may have only been there a few hours or days not nessacarily long enough for them to form a bond.

I encourage you to set up a qt tank / hospital tank incase something goes wrong and you need to tank betta/s out of the tank, ring up your LFS u got them from and see if they are able to allow you to return betta/s if aggression issues come up.

Best of luck

 

Perhaps she is stressed how long ago did you add them to the tank. Good that they were in the same tanks but they may have only been there a few hours or days not nessacarily long enough for them to form a bond.

I encourage you to set up a qt tank / hospital tank incase something goes wrong and you need to tank betta/s out of the tank, ring up your LFS u got them from and see if they are able to allow you to return betta/s if aggression issues come up.

Best of luck

I bought them around 4ish my time, got them home and let them acclimate for about an hour, released them and now it's 10pm where I am. She did finally get up and swim around, not too long though and went back down to the bottom. I'm going to keep an eye on her for a few days. The store I got them at has a 3-day return policy. For dead fish I have to bring in the deceased body, and a water sample as well. Beyond that they don't take any back even if they're living with the proof of purchase to my knowledge.
My usual store I go to has a smaller selection of fish, and doesn't carry any bettas in store or I would have gone there to get them. The store I usually go to does take in fish that need re-homed so long as you give them a call and discuss it beforehand. I have done that once before with a common pleco that came with a tank I bought 2nd hand. He was massive and just was not going to fit in the tank long-term. He picked on my other fish, and kept trying to jump out. I was sad to see him go, he was a cool fish but 60 gallons just is not big enough for a fish that size.

 

That is interesting that the females were in a tank together instead of in cups. That makes a huge difference in the chances of them getting along. It would have been best to get them all from the same tank, and 7-8 of them instead of 5, but so fat you have not complained of aggression, so good luck!

As for sitting on the gravel, I don't like it, it's not what you want to see. But the fish are not going to settle and act normal for a few days to a week at least.

 

That is interesting that the females were in a tank together instead of in cups. That makes a huge difference in the chances of them getting along. It would have been best to get them all from the same tank, and 7-8 of them instead of 5, but so fat you have not complained of aggression, so good luck!

As for sitting on the gravel, I don't like it, it's not what you want to see. But the fish are not going to settle and act normal for a few days to a week at least.

I didn't know I could keep that many in a sorority. In all honesty I went in for 1 and really fell in love eith the Dumbo deltas. They were pretty expensive so I just settled on the 2 I really loved the look of and picked the others to go with because it was more cost effective. JH finally is swimming around normally. Still less active than the others but the fact she isn't laying anymore is better.
Photos of the fishies with their names. They don't all have names yet, I don't have names for my Cory's yet, had them a little bit now but still have no idea what to call them.
Photos of the fishies with their names. They don't all have names yet, I don't have names for my Cory's yet, had them a little bit now but still have no idea what to call them.

 

Update:

Unfortunately, John Hammond (The white fish pictured above, and who this post was originally about) has just died. She was looking/behaving much better, and then when I just checked on them she was gone. I'll have to return to that store tomorrow since they're closed today, everyone else though looks healthy, and continues to move in healthy mannerisms. I'm thinking she just had problems when I bought her, and her passing wasn't anything I could have changed in the very short time I had her. Thank you to those that did respond.

 

Sorry about your fish, you are right, sometimes a fish is just not healthy, there are 1,000 things that can go wrong that we can not identify, especially when fish don't see a vet regularly.

So how are the others? you now have fewer fish than you need to have a proper sorority, and they might become aggressive. They might not, there's a 50/50 chance. And if you add more, the new fish may be seen as threats, and more than ordinary sparring to decide the order could happen. Its another 50/50 chance.
So how long has it been? if it is less than one week, then I think I might risk adding more. I would get 3-5 more from the same store, and the same tank. You can also re arrange the decorations right before adding them and add some new deco, to break up territories.

 

Sorry about your fish, you are right, sometimes a fish is just not healthy, there are 1,000 things that can go wrong that we can not identify, especially when fish don't see a vet regularly.

So how are the others? you now have fewer fish than you need to have a proper sorority, and they might become aggressive. They might not, there's a 50/50 chance. And if you add more, the new fish may be seen as threats, and more than ordinary sparring to decide the order could happen. Its another 50/50 chance.
So how long has it been? if it is less than one week, then I think I might risk adding more. I would get 3-5 more from the same store, and the same tank. You can also re arrange the decorations right before adding them and add some new deco, to break up territories.

What I initially heard from some aquatic channels and from google was a sorority was anywhere from 4 to 6 females, and the store I got them from listed specifically 5 for a group in a 20, which is what I was bringing them home to. I did just get them yesterday (6/12/22) so getting another, or a pair more shouldn't be a problem with introducing them. However I don't know what the stock days are too well in that store, as I don't go to it nearly as often. Depending on if they get stock in tomorrow then none of the fish will be the same as the ones from before and I'm not sure where they source from, I'm always concerned about bringing home a sick fish. I'll have to take a look around and talk to the staff to see if anyone can give me some information.
As far as the other females go, and fish in general in the tank everyone is moving around fine. I had my suspicions about JH which was why I posted initially. So I wasn't surprised when I found her. Everyone else though is happily swimming around they ate not too long ago and no one is displaying any aggression or fighting. It has only been a little over 24 hours though so they're still getting adjusted themselves and may not show their full personality until they are settled in.