Building a Betta Sorority Tank

It's been a long time (very, very, very long time) since I last posted. Only recently, I had the time again to get back into fish keeping. 99% of us don't have the whole day to spend for fish keeping. Time-saving, effort-reducing and productivity-increasing have become the rules of the game. Keeping in line with that, I decided to set up a betta sorority tank again. This was how I have always done it until I became very busy and had very few fish left.

So, what is a betta sorority tank? It is a tank of female bettas. Just google "betta sorority tank", "female betta community tank" and other similar keywords. You'll find article after article about setting one up. For this article, I just want something free-flowing. I'll simply list down my experiences and some points on how I do things.

Tank.
1. I don't use tall aquariums and I always choose horizontally-shaped tanks.
2. Gravel or no gravel, it doesn't really matter.
3. I make sure that there are many different hiding places for the females. These are places where they can retreat and rest between fights. Hiding places I've used are coconut shells, driftwood, pots, clay tiles and live plants. There are other things you can use.
4. I don't use any aeration or filtration for any of my tanks.

Number.
1. For me, the minimum number of females for a sorority is five (5). If it's less than that, keeping them separate is manageable too.
2. I allot 1-2 gallons per female.
3. I haven't read an article yet that says it's alright to add new females to the sorority but I have done so in the past. Yes, there is the fighting but I've seen it mellow down in a few days.

Tankmates. I've had placed different tankmates for my female bettas. These include corydoras, rainbow sharks, guppies, angelfish and even goldfish. The females get out of the way of the bigger fish and ignore the bottom feeders. They do show some aggression to the guppies. The long fins and colorful patterns remind them of other bettas. In my experience, this does some good - the female bettas get distracted and show less aggression to others of its kind.

On breeding. I have taken females out of the sorority to breed them and then put them back afterwards. There is not much fuss with the females. They do remember tankmates but there might be some nipping as a reminder. It is as long as the returning female is in good shape. If not, then she might not be fit enough for the tank.

Feeding. I feed my sorority tank as I would any other tank. I drop the food in two or three places (only one if I'm rushing). Leftovers are cleaned up by the bottom feeders and the snails in the tanks.

That's about it. I just wanted to share. I hope you can find this useful in addition to whatever else you've read in your research.

Happy Fish Keeping!

EESDA Guppy Breeding

Guppies are live-bearing fish and are one of the easiest fish to breed. Because of their ease, their population can easily boom. Here are just the methods I use in breeding my guppies. Males and females are easily told apart. Males are more colorful. They also have smaller bodies and bigger fins. The females have bigger bodies, shorter fins and duller than the males. The females also have a more rounded body compared to the males.

1. Prepare a trio or a quad of guppy breeders. Male to female ratio is 1:2 or 1:3. Just place them in a tank with plants for fry's hiding places. Take care of them as you would as other fish and wait for them to give birth. Female guppies can give birth 6 times using the sperm from one mating.

2. When the fry are born, I do not remove them unless they are being eaten. If plant cover is sufficient, eating will not be a problem. I give the fry baby brine shrimp at first but they are also big enough to be given daphnia.

3. When I can discern the males from the females, I remove only a handful of females (6-10pcs). You can also choose to remove all of them but it is not necessary. This is important to keep them virgin so they will be flexible for future use because you know which male mated with them. You can identify females by the black spot at the back of their bellies. The pointed anal fin of the male (or the gonopodium) is not yet developed so anal fin shape will not be an effective tool.

4. Raise the main spawn group and selected females separately. When they reach about half an inch long, adult food can be given. No need to crush the food. The water will soften those up for the fry.

5. When you see your potential breeders, separate them and prepare for another generation.

The challenge with guppies is that they can easily boom. So be prepared with what to do with your excess fish. Well, you can sell them if you have enough space to raise a lot of fry to sell. If not, you can also opt to use them as feeders to carnivorous fish or turtles.

UPDATE (11/04/2013)
Here are some tips!

1. Choose a fry tank that is not too wide. Position it so you that you face the "short breadth" of the tank.
2. When your guppies give birth, catch all fry and move them to the fry tank. Grow them out together.
3. Every time you feed look for males. Catch them and transfer them to another tank. I put my juvenile males along with the adult males in the community tank.
4. You can now choose your potential breeders!

Good luck on your guppy breeding!