Can a betta see more than a yard outside of its tank?

[Lavender]

I’m looking into getting another betta. I have other places I can put it, but the best for me would be on a tall bookshelf directly across from my current betta, Bluey (I could also build a new stand, but I would prefer this). I want to get a female, preferably a galaxy koi or dumbo ear one, and put some Pygmy cory catfish, shrimp, or perhaps some kind of microrasbora in with her (this would be in a 10 gallon). The bookshelf is roughly a yard away from his tank. Too close? I’m not sure if he can see that far or not, and I don’t want him stressed because of her, (or more likely her stressed because of him.)

Edited July 7, 2023 by Lavender

[Lennie]

My female betta sorority tank is in the middle of my room. There is 3 male betta tanks in 3 corners of the room, sort of surrounding the female sorority tank in terms of vision. None are stressed whatsoever.

 

But, Females are usually carrying eggs. I remember reading being in each others vision is enough for females to build eggs. So if you won't be breeding, make sure to keep her egg situation in control, and not let her go eggbound. I sometimes fast my ladies to let them absorb unused eggs. But I aim to breed my bettas in general so that is not a big issue in general

 

My warning is going to be about stocking a betta tank. You never know if a betta will like any tank mates. I have 6 females and 3 males. 2  of them hate anything to be kept with them together and they live in 50 liter tanks by themselves. Meanwhile some others are super peaceful and live in the community. In my female sorority tank, I found one pygmy cory injured very much once and lost her in a couple hours. Like that was almost %100 intentionally damage dealt by a fish. I think it was a betta but idk which one exactly. So I'm planning to move my pygmys personally. Also that's a 33g with lots of plants, wood and stuff, so basically they have lots of space to hide or swim away if needed. Well, 10g is very limiting in this regard.

My all bettas hate guppies. Only two of them hate female endlers. All hate male endlers. They hate clown kilis, except one. So any colorful fish is potentially gonna be hated by the bettas. I would not add rasboras myself. I can see it likely going bad rather than good

 

 

On 7/7/2023 at 11:06 PM, Lavender said:

I want to get a female, preferably a galaxy koi or dumbo ear one, and put some Pygmy cory catfish, shrimp, or perhaps some kind of microrasbora in with her (this would be in a 10 gallon).

In terms of selecting bettas; dumbo ears have extremely poor quality of life in my experience.  There is an insane gap with a normal fin plakat vs dumbo ears (even if it is a plakat). They take more naps due to having hard time swimming rather than being active around the tank. Halfmoon females usually have much shorter fins in general compared to males, so they don't seem to that much problem regarding swimming issues. I currently have 3 halfmoon females and 3 plakat females. Plakats have higher quality of life in terms of swimming, however the gap is nowhere close to halfmoon male versus plakat male comparison.

So in terms of quality of life plakats would be great in general. For kois, some kois tend to color up nonstop, so they are more prone to develop tumors and cancer. So if you can find any by a chance, try to get ones that are colored from the beginning, but not the ones gradually color up nonstop. It is just hard to know what you get has always been like that, or not tho. Maybe you can talk to a breeder and obtain more info.

 

 

Edited July 7, 2023 by Lennie

[Lavender]

Good to know I can put her there. I have kept a fair amount of male betta community tanks in the past, but I think it should be ok- this is planned to be a regular heavily planted tank, maybe with some kind of gimmick- I do have the idea of doing all red or yellow plants. This would be my first time keeping Pygmy cory catfish with one: I usually do tetras and regular-sized cories in a big tank. Usually the more colorful tetras, too. I’ve done espei rasboras once or twice, and it worked great, but that could just be because they’re not colorful. The ones I want are the kubotai rasboras, which are green and blend in fantastically. Am also considering chilis, but they’re a bit skinny, so they’re out.
 

As for females, unfortunately a lot of them are dumbo ears at my store, but I can probably find some that aren’t. I have one local pet store (unfortunately it’s mostly saltwater), and a few chains that I can probably pick out a girl from. I know you’re supposed to support breeders and all, but to do that I’d have to ship the betta and I really want to be able to gauge her personality before I buy her.

Absolutely no idea how to get a galaxy koi female with or without that trait. They’re probably my favorites, but…as for how, no clue. Will probably just go there and buy a female- they have a whole rack of just females to choose from on a good week. The females tend to be longfinned veiltails. Not super longfinned, but longfinned enough to be obvious. Usually Cambodians or Koi. I’ve seen one or two crowntails as well, but all of them have the exact same color pattern as my current male, which I’m trying to avoid.
 

I do want to breed eventually, but most of my goal for getting a female is just getting something different. 

 

 

Edited July 7, 2023 by Lavender

[Lennie]

Females are surely underrated. I love my ladies' tank. Very fun to keep and watch 🙂

On 7/7/2023 at 11:56 PM, Lavender said:

I really want to be able to gauge her personality before I buy her.

I also believe in bonding moment very much! Hope you can find one that you like. I once got me a dumbo ear one once and it was a %100 a regret. It made me sad seeing him struggling to swim which is basically the most basic fish action, never again. And he was a young one. As you mentioned you kept some before, yknow it tends to get worse gradually with age 😢

 

[Lavender]

Yeah, females always look adorable- they’ve got the betta eyes. They’re just so cute. Especially the Cambodians- there’s something about their dark little eyes. I’m still kinda mad I’ve never gotten too many- I always just go to the store and try to buy something different from my last betta. Currently, I’m the proud owner of a blue crowntail and the soon-to-be owner of a red halfmoon with some gold scaling. They’re taking forever to ship him because of weather, unfortunately. He’s going to be a beauty, however. Plus, the soon-to be owner of either 19 females or one male or female- I’m deciding between making my 75 gallon a sorority or just putting a giant betta into it. Have been doing tons of research on the sorority accordingly.

Dumbo ears to me can be either just like a normal betta or sad. The females seem ok, but the ones I got were Petco girls with little fins. The male I got couldn’t swim correctly, because they were the size of his head.

[Lennie]

I was very hesitant about trying a female sorority too. In fact, I started with 4, took one for breeding purposes from time to time so there have been times they were left as 3 there. Stocked slowly after weeks instead of stocking at once. Now I have 6 females in total.

I  basically did everything against suggestions  but still it has been working fine for months and I have never faced issues. Meanwhile there are so many people follow the requirements to increase the chance of success, however, end up not working well. I really think I am kinda lucky, and def not suggest anything I've done lol. People usually experience problems rather than success. That is a fact for sororitys and explains the risk you take.

 

I have 6 females in a 33g tank. I'm not sure how I feel about 19 females in a 75g. They seem to like have their small territory. They usually swim around together but also like to enjoy some time in their unique spots from time to time and chill there. It feels like hanging out with friends and having a cup of coffee together, but at the end of the day, everyone goes back to their home and chill. Also with 19 females, you are likely to come across bullys that will cause you trouble. Every addition will increase the chance of introducing a problem to the tank due to them all having very different characters. Also that many bettas may be an actual stress factor.

 

Also trying to find 19 bettas with very different look can be challenging. Usually it is advised to avoid choosing fish that look similar to each other

On 7/8/2023 at 12:45 AM, Lavender said:

Have been doing tons of research on the sorority accordingly.

I did the same. I think it helps you to understand the reason behind the suggestions and stuff. But nothing can guarantee if it will be a success or a failure.

[Lavender]

All the advice I saw was mostly to get more bettas, but not overstock. Mostly they wanted a specific amount of females for a specific tank size. 19 seemed appropriate from what I saw. They also suggest adding livebearers as dithers, mostly male guppies, but I can’t do that because of water requirements, so my dithers are tetras. Plus, all the other advice- different colors, similar sizing, no dumbo ears, and odd numbers. Although there’s like fifty conflicting opinions, so…will be looking at more stuff. 

As for the problem with getting 19 bettas…mostly I just plan to acquire them over a year or so and test them in smaller sororities. That should go well. I’ve got several 20 gallons set up for this, and 19 Breeder boxes for perfect acclimating.
 

It seems a large problem with sororities isn’t the start, but more that as your girls die of old age they suddenly murder each other when the dominant female dies. I’ve got a breeder box for every girl, so if they do hate each other, at least I can separate them fast and then go about finding them homes.
 

I also saw some harems, which seems interesting, but since this is going to be my first sorority, I’m not going to try that.

[Lennie]

On 7/8/2023 at 6:08 AM, Lavender said:

They also suggest adding livebearers as dithers, mostly male guppies

One of the most horrible suggestions I've ever heard in fishkeeping. Please don't. That's why internet scares me sometimes. There is so many infos, both good and bad, and it can be very hard to understand which is which.

If I am not extremely unlucky with my 9 bettas compatibility, I give 1

minute for all male guppies to be killed if put together with any of my bettas. I tried, I had to try because my dad got me 7 good guppy breeds as a "gift" for my fish room, when I had limited amount of cycled sponges and tanks to put them seperately. So I added albino silverados to female sorority tank and pandas to my male betta tank. After adding pandas to the male tank, turned back and saw female sorority directly killed two male guppys within a minute. I instantly rushed and removed them all but had to euthanise those two males because basically they lost all their tails and fins under a min and just suffering. That moment was one of the worst times I had in my 15 years of fishkeeping.

Even my most peaceful betta was chasing japan blue tails like crazy, and he normally swims together with endlers and their fry. So I had to keep my betta in a breeder box while setting up emergency tank for guppies.

It was a horrible experience. I wonder based on what people ever suggest something like that. Don't even consider male guppies please. Tbf guppies at all.

 

On 7/8/2023 at 6:08 AM, Lavender said:

I also saw some harems, which seems interesting, but since this is going to be my first sorority, I’m not going to try that.

I created a topic about it before and made some research. But no, not worthy. Even female sorority all alone will likely go wrong rather than good.

This was the topic I created back then in case you wanna check:

On 7/8/2023 at 6:08 AM, Lavender said:

Plus, all the other advice- different colors, similar sizing, no dumbo ears, and odd numbers.

In my limited experience with 6 females, I say yes similar size, different colors, no dumbo ears is important. 

I haven't paid any attention to odd number, usually (and now) I have been keeping them in even numbers. But again, sororities reflect very personal experience

Edited July 8, 2023 by Lennie