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!

Scalares without Aeration

This is how I keep, breed and raise my Angelfish

Community

Pairs

Juvies

My way of verifying sex in angelfish

Here are my steps:

1. I keep males and female seperate...these are the ones that I am definitely, absolutely sure
2. I get two unsexed breeder sized angels
3. I place the two unsexed breeders and one sure sexed breeder
4. I wait and observe for a few days

Normally, the sure sexed breeder will nip at the unsexed breeder that is the same sex. Sometimes, the two unsexed breeders nip at each other which means they are the same sex and want to pair up with the sure sexed breeder.
If they all fight, try changing the sure sexed breeder with a sure sexed breeder of the opposite sex.

Here is a sample. The gold in the middle is the mature female. The platinum at the right side (near the female) is a male. The fish at the left, hiding behind the slate is a female. The mature female chased her away because she wants the male for herself.

EESDA Angelfish Breeding

Before we start, we should identify a male and a female scalare.
Most would buy around 6 juveniles [or even more] and let them pair off at maturity. This is a viable strategy and you will surely end up with a pair. However, I have had an experience where two females paired. I found out eventually because both laid eggs. On the other hand, if you are like me, I choose adults and hope they are the sex I think they are. I also choose from sub-adults of my grow-outs to sort them. Most of the time, I am correct at my guesses but it is not a perfect science.
I use this webpage as my guide: http://fish-info000.blogspot.com/2011/05/difference-between-male-and-female.html The sketch is really helpful.

But here are the criteria I have for male and female scalare. I ranked it to from the most reliable to the least reliable but still usable.
Male:
1. a pointed and thin tube near the anal fin
2. round body
3. hump on the forehead
4. splits on the ventrals
Female:
1. broad tube near the anal fin
2. "diamond" or box-ish body
3. round belly especially obvious at the front view
4. smooth ventrals


Here are the steps in breeding my angelfish (scalare):

1. Clean a tank. I use a 18" x 18" x 12" tank without aeration or anything. It has a bare bottom too.

2. Place 2 clay slates inside. One on the left and one on the right.

3. Place breeders. I keep my males and females separate. I just put them together when breeding.

4. Wait for them to lay eggs.

5. [The pair has laid eggs] Wait for eggs to hatch

6. When the eggs hatch, remove the parents.

7. Slide the slate some more to make it less steep. Put something to prevent it from sliding all the way flat.

8. Wait for the fry to go free swimming (around 5 days from hatching).

9. When fry are free swimming, feed with baby brine shrimp twice or even thrice daily.

10. As the fry grow, increase water level until full. Once full, do 50% water change once/twice a week.


Perhaps, the challenge with scalare are first time parents. Because of their inexperience, they might not fan the eggs enough and some are stressed so much that they eat the eggs. But, there are still times where first time parents are fantastic and successful. There is not really much we can do with first time parents. That just what they are, first timers. All we can do is be patient and give them another chance until they get it right.

Pictures:

This is the reason for the two slates. The slate on the left is where the eggs were laid. The parents are transferring the newly hatched fry to the slate on the right.

This is a sample of the slate. I lower the water level too. This makes the fry more confident to explore the tank and also make it easier for them to find food. 

These are the fry attached to the slate.

And if you want to find out what your breeders will produce, you can try this genetic calculator. It gives you the possible results and also the percentage of those possible results will pop out. It is really helpful when you're aiming for some purebred line.