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So I got a betta sorority...


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Huge thank you to Wild Nut, I've inherited a sorority from her. I have plans to house them in a 2ft or 90L Walstad-ish tank but I've got to do a lot of reading of Walstad's book before giving it a go.

I pulled out the empty 50L I had lying around and spent the afternoon setting it up for them. I think they're a mix of splendens and other types of bettas.

The tank as it looks for now:

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It looks like this is the head honcho-ette:

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Feeding:

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Edited by SiameseFightingFist
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Cambodian simply means colour (light body with coloured fins). Those girls are all Betta splendens. The blue one from someone was a plakat tail type while the rest are veiltails. The Cambodians came from Pets Paradise.

Wilds look very different from domesticated splendens. This is a macrostoma:

Betta Macrostoma

They cost more than a couple of hundred for a pair here usually. Just can't find it in me to outlay that kind of money on fish :lol:

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That is really bizarre, I thought all the bettas they have at PP were males, I didn't think they stocked females. Maybe I should take a closer look next time.

A couple of them, but especially the smaller Cambodian, likes to push their way through the mass of floating plants and then lie very very still on top with a part of their body above the water line. It scared the crap out of my girlfriend and I the first few times we saw it, we thought they were stuck and couldn't get out, but as soon as we get closer to give it a nudge, it wiggles away and a minute later they'll do it again just to see us panic, again.

I won't be able to add more females can I, because I assume it'll upset the hierarchy they've set up? Unless I re-arrange the tank so that they would have to re-establish the territorial hierarchy again?

They cost more than a couple of hundred for a pair here usually.

When you say a pair, do you mean a male-female pair?

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Mine were fed NLS community pellets, frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp and live blackworms. I usually fed once a day, although sometimes twice if I took pity on them.

I am a bad sorority starter. Those two big Cambodians were chucked in a month or so after I started the sorority, while the teal one had been living on her own for quite a while beforehand. If I'm adding a new female, I will feed everyone in one corner and then sneakily put the new female in.

There will be some initial fighting once the rest of them realise there is a newcomer, but if the tank is densely enough planted and has enough hiding places they should be fine.

The PP at Doncaster Shoppingtown is the only one I've been to that stocks them. I've seen female bettas at Coburg, Subscape and Boronia if you are looking to add more. They are generally pretty beat up looking in aquariums as they are often housed together with not enough cover.

And yes, when I say pair, I mean a male/female breeding pair.

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Ashlea - how did you used to feed them frozen blood worms?

I tried it last night by putting a cube of the frozen stuff into the tank. It immediately started to thaw but most of them ignored it, they prefered the fish flakes I've been feeding them.

The blood worms sank to the bottom of the tank and I saw the big Cambodian and the teal betta nibble on them a little. I went and had dinner but when I came back to clean up the mess, they blood worms were ALL gone and the Cambodian and teal bettas had HUGE tummies, especially the cambodian. I could not believe how big her tummy was.

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Haha Teal is a big pig. She used to be like a ninja, sneaking up from the bottom and eating the leftovers.

To feed bloodworms, I thaw them in a container of tank water and then feed them using tweezers. That way I could push the fatties away and make sure everyone got fed enough.

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argh! they're all so cute!!!

and well done on the amazing pics! :applaud:

Thanks! There are indeed cute, I can't stand it.

They look great, and fantastic photos!!

Inspired by your epic axolotl threads whereby you take great photos of each of them exhibiting their personalities, accompanied by your equally epic stories of your experiences with them. Makes me want to get a couple of them too ... (if I had space) ... (and more money).

Look at that beautiful tank - you'll have to enter the photoshoot comp!!

xx

Thanks but ahhh the tank is a total mess though, see that floating clump of grass! It's free-floating!

Great looking tank..

Happy that the girls are civilized.

See you at the next meeting.

Roy

Thanks Roy, the betta I got from you is the smallest one of the bunch, how old is she do you know? She was very shy the first couple of days and spent most of her time on her own in a corner of the tank, I fed her by hand since she didn't come out with the others during feeding time. In the past day or so she's come out of her shell and have been mixing and eating with the others.

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