Peta Posted September 13, 2008 Report Share Posted September 13, 2008 Was wondering.... what is a good size for a 'community' tank? Today I was got catught by the naughty fishing love bug.... and somehow found three new fish coming home with me from the pet store (damn that pet city and their great collection of bettas ) along with quite a few other bits and pieces for my ever growing fishy stuff collection... So. I now have Eric in his 10L tank swimming around quite fine. And the girls housed in a three divided tank - not sure on size though (not as big as Eric's). I did try to set it up so the girls where all together in the 10L tank - but I got way to nervous about them fighting. The two 'bigger' girls where picking on the little one and she's my favourite... so I didn't want her getting hurt.. so I changed them over to the smaller tank which actually came as a three divided tank with the blue clips and precut sides etc.... And so Eric came out of his sick bed into the big tank.... I'd like to eventually get the girls into just one tank. But guessing that 10L is a bit to small for them to play nicely together.... So was wondering if anyone had any tips on what would be a better 'reasonable' size? Will have to get pictures of the girls tomorrow. I'm having trouble naming two of them (both of which are Split tails) .... but some how my Delta has ended up with the name Rosey and try as I might I just can't call her anything else. I was going to call them all after the Golden Girls - Rose, Blanch and Dorathey... Rose stuck- but the others haven't LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anasfire Posted September 13, 2008 Report Share Posted September 13, 2008 I wouldn't put more than 2 girls in a 10L together. Ideally a 2ft is good for say up to 10 girls IMO. I've had as many as 25 in a 3.4ft without too many issues but most of them grew up together (spawn sisters) so I think that was the reason for all the harmony. The most important thing is hiding spots. The more hiding places there are for a picked on fish to retreat to the happier they will be. Achieve this by using ornaments, driftwood, plants etc. As for names I've no idea without photos lol. Only names I can think of a Heather and Tayla, off the top of my head. But i'm not one to talk, most of my fish (if they even have names) are from TV programs eg Neon Genesis, Battlestar Galactica and Veronica Mars so at the moment I have fish named: Asuka Rei Misato Robin Veronica Logan Starbuck Helo Boomer Mr Divy and last but not least Duncan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peta Posted September 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2008 LOL - love the veronica mars names!!!! {i brought season two the other day on dvd - but had it stolen soon after } When I get into a bigger place (currently in share accom. where just rent 'by the room' haha) I'll definately have to get a nice big tank for the girls (and add in more hehe) ..... I think I might have to wait for a few days to name the other two and see what their personalities are like. Woke up to some pretty colourful young ladies this morning - while I knew the two split tails where a bit colourful (geen/blue) had only seen a slight lavander tone to Rosey ..... she's currently changed and has very royal blue looking fins with red in them One of the split tails seems to have a very gold look to her - but waiting to see how that develops. I don't think I've seen many split (double) tails around the forum - might have to look into getting myself a boy to go with the girls. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peta Posted October 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2008 wow I finally got my girls tank up and running.... finally put the girls in.... wouldn't you know it the one that I thought would get beaten up the most - was actually so aggressive I had to take her out!!! (Rosie) The two DT's seem to be playing reasonable well together .... I thought they might gang up on Rosie (Vt) .. but nope, she had them both cowering in the corners of the tank!! So Rosie's been banished back to her little betta cube! Naughty girl. Did I add them into the tank wrong? - I added the DT girls first - one at a time (with Luna first as I thought she was the most 'dominate' of the three) ... then added in Rosie last.... should it have been the other way around? I guess Hidie and Luna are going to be having a 22L tank all to them selves now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted October 12, 2008 Report Share Posted October 12, 2008 Float her in a transparent container or put her in a chimney in the tank for about an hour and then release her. Do that whenever any female is very aggressive. Very aggressive means actually biting her tank mates. A bit of flaring and chasing is fine. But actual contact results in a time out in the naughty corner. How many girls have you got in there? Sometimes three or fewer can cause problems. Five seems to be a good number. But then some girls will just never get along and need to be kept permanently apart. But give the naughty corner a go first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peta Posted October 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2008 she was flaring which I have never seen her do, the chaseing I could deal with - it was when she tail wacked Luna untill she cowered that I intervined ... she was also biting - sadley both DT's are missing bits out of their tails now. hehe... maybe I should of brought those other two girlies today :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y2jdaze Posted October 12, 2008 Report Share Posted October 12, 2008 the more the merrier! this actually seems to be the case with betta girlies in my experience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peta Posted October 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2008 well I actually tried to float her (rosie) in a coke bottle so she could be in the tank and hopefully behave herself... .but nope she went MENTAL still - tail whipping the hell out of the bottle trying to get to Luna on the other side ... didn't help matters that Luna was flaring off at Rosie. Guess those two aren't going to get along. Luna's the queen of the tank it would seem, she flares and chases Hidie who is very quick to get away from her - but they aren't 'fighting' - hopefully that is still true little worried being away from home and all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted October 13, 2008 Report Share Posted October 13, 2008 If that's their behaviour while in the tank then I'd expect it to continue when one of them is in the bottle. The point of the bottle is to make them think they can't get at each other. How long did you leave her in the bottle? If she's still aggressive after an hour you might have to try leaving in there for the whole day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghengis Posted October 13, 2008 Report Share Posted October 13, 2008 Had to take one of my girls out of the community for a week, due to a gill scale injury (see related Thread). She seemed to enjoy the time by herself. I watched the dynamic in the main tank between the three remaining girls over the week. The other larger girl really started to take dominance of the tank, behaving very nastily. I also noticed any time there was excessive agression/chasing going on, the quarentined girl (in a tank right beside the main tank) would start to swim erratically around her tank and along the glass, watching the proceedings with an eagle eye. I think she could see her position being usurped in her absence. When she was returned after the week, she went straight at the aggressive girl and showed her just who is boss of that tank. No real biting or such, just swimming alongside, flaring, vibrating (which I had never seen before) and generally standing over her. She hardly even paid any attention to the other, submissive, pair. It was just all about "I'm the centrepiece fish, here, get back in yer box, b*tch!" Really interesting to watch, actually. Now the status quo is restored and everyone is happy...as happy as a bunch of girls trapped together in a glass box can be, at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peta Posted October 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2008 Well the girls tank has been pulled apart. Rosie and Sharkie (new girl) have been jared (or is that boxed) Have left Luna and Hidie in the big tank - with Hidie floated in a bottel. Poor Hidie's had a LOT of damage done to her fins while I was at work. I think Luna and Hidie will be safe in the tank eventually on their own... but no way is rosie ever going anywhere near them again. (as she's the only one with out any damage I'm guessing safte to say it was her being the nasty one). So now I have two new girls to house along side of Rosie Sharkie and Jaffa joined the family as the extra additions to round out the girls tank to a nice five... but I don't think I'll be adding them at any point. Sharkie - is because she looks like a shark (very pointed head lol) and Jaffa - becasue she's not shown her colour as such yet - she's either red/orange or chocolate - JAFFA! *mmm* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peta Posted October 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2008 another up date on the girls. I eventally got one of those 'betta' containers that you can put in your larger tank... I put Rossie, Shark bait (*as she is now known) and Jaffa all into seprate compartments with Luan and Hidie having the tank all to themselves. Luan and Hidie get on very well together (I'm very much leaning towards them being sisters more and more ie from the same spawn) they stay with each other quite a lot. I watched how they all behaved - the girls in the container - and the two outside. Rosie is not going in the tank EVER - as while she has 'settled' she still shows signs of aggression now and then - and you can tell from the others reactions that they want to settle the score also... Shark-bait, I haven't been to sure on - I was thinking that she might be able to be put back in with the others.... Jaffa I realised could go in with Hidie and Luna - and earlier this week I gave it a trial run and let her lose in the tank... no nips, no flaring, not even to much chaseing... She doesn't 'hang' with the other two but she's tollerated. So today I thought.... I'll give Shark bait a test run. Sat and watched for some time, could tell that everyone was a little on the stressed side this time, but they wheren't fighting or flaring ... so I thought I would check back in a little while... went and sat at the computer to get some work done. A few minutes latter looked back over to check on them.. at first I couldn't really work out what was going on, then I realised that Luna and Shark-bait where in FULL fight mode. Jumped out of my seat to intervine and get Shark-bait quickly out of there and back into the container. She won't be going back in the big girls tank either - and will be keeping Rosie company. I don't really like keeping them in there, but they do have room to swim around, heated and filtered water..... so I guess they coudl be a lot worse off. I must say at feed times it's funny to see them all trying to get to food on the other side of the container wall. No matter who I feed first - they'll be trying to get to each others food :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y2jdaze Posted October 27, 2008 Report Share Posted October 27, 2008 yep greedy impatient little things they are :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peta Posted October 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2008 :) yeap ... and I keep trying to feed the outside girls away from the container... but the damn filter just pushes the food back that way in the end... the worst is that they just don't 'get it' that they can't get that bit of food ... if they keep tapping - I generaly go back and move what ever it was they where trying to get at :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VickiPS Posted October 27, 2008 Report Share Posted October 27, 2008 I've found that 5 is a good minimum number for a girls' tank, and 20 - 25L a reasonable minumum size, as long as there are plenty of plants and hidey places. One thing I learned from bitter experience (over and over again ) -- if one girl seems to be super-aggro, make sure she's not really a short-finned male! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted October 28, 2008 Report Share Posted October 28, 2008 you beat me to it, Vicki! I always found 'controlled overcrowding' (like they do with African cichlids) worked well with the violent femmes. usually the aggression was so spread out that no particular fish suffered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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