One male and two female Bettas in 20 gallon?

I have a question another group I am on for fw fish has been throwing animosity my way since starting a 20 gallon betta tank with one male and 2 females. Has anyone else done this without problems if your providing enough sight blockers? And I'm planning on having it heavily planted but the plants haven't arrived yet.

 

I don't see it working. Things didn't calm down until I got to 5 and my tank is much larger.

 

I have heavy filtration on my 20 gallon enough for a 55 gallon I could stock heavy if needed be, just need other opinions of people who have done it. You know what I'm saying. Just seems like everyone on the other page I'm on know everything and half the stuff they are saying is wrong.

 

I have a question another group I am on for fw fish has been throwing animosity my way since starting a 20 gallon betta tank with one male and 2 females. Has anyone else done this without problems if your providing enough sight blockers? And I'm planning on having it heavily planted but the plants haven't arrived yet.

You don’t know for sure until you put them together. They might be fine ( a 20 long would be optimal). The male might get eat up, yes the male.
Chances are the Male will get a little of his tail torn off after he bullies the females for a while then they turn on him, but he might learn his lesson and keep his distance after that, maybe not. The females are faster in the wAter usually.

 

Filtration is irrelevant in this situation and I feel that most betta communities fall apart due to overstocking.

 

Okay, what suggestions do you have that could help them thrive as a community? I do plan on adding live plants and driftwood. The bottom is decorated I just need the driftwood and live plants.

 

More girls and a bigger tank. If your wondering were I'm getting this check my stocking on my profile. It can be done but I don't feel it can be done with that number in that size tank.

 

I appreciate your guys advice. David I will let you know how it goes. What top floating plants do you suggest for bettas? I'm still unsure of what I want to do for the top layer. Preferably low light plants.

 

Actually, I'm trying a betta in a community myself. I've read countless threads on the topic. From what I can tell, it comes down to the individual fish itself. Some adapt and live happily together, others don't and eventually have to be separated. I have read that bettas seek our caves or rock enclosures to make their "home" and defend from others. So maybe having a few cave like structures would help. Definitely as much sight blockers as you can fit nicely. The betta I added to the community of cories and tetras was initially aggressive, but has calmed down and treats the other fish with mild neglect and disinterest now. We'll see how that goes.

 

I have a 20 tall with 4 females. I've been told I need to have more than 3 bettas (so 2 can't gang up on one), and odd numbers are best. But 5 bettas didn't work out in my tank, so I'm sticking with 4 and it's going great. It's been 8 months since set up, so I think it's pretty stable.

You can try the male if you want, but I don't think it'll work very well. Males are more territoria than females, and the females will fight over the male *in most cases*

For floating plants, I'm using Amazon frog bit, salvinia (might be illigal in your area), and hornwort makes a really nice planted or floating plant. I like hornwort alot. Also, my girls LOVE their driftwood. It's a flat peice laying on the bottom of the tank and they tunnel under it in the sand. It's so funny, they take turns playing queen of the tunnel!

I hoped this helped a bit! Good luck!

 

From what I’ve read as well as my personal experience, much more often than not, it doesn’t work out. It’s up to the individual betta fish’s personality though

I tried putting my Betta in my heavily planted 20 gallon. He never killed anybody but he would briefly give chase to my tetras, & I knew there’d always be that chance I come home to find a massacre in my tank. So I opt’d to take him out

 

+1 on hornwort.
I think it’s the best plant for my betta sorority because they can swim up in it and hide in it.

In a 20 long, I think it’s too small to house a male with females.
The females can’t retreat if a male starts harassing them.
I would only try this in a heavily planted tank 55g+.

You could do a female betta sorority like mentioned above.
In a 20 long, 5-7 seems like the sweet spot.