Female Betta Splendens (Siamese Fighting Fish) How many?

Question

I messed around and bought a Pleco fish in Walmart a few weeks back, I've just always admired this fish. When I started out, I had four female Bettas. The Pleco (stressed obviously) developed ICK. I attempted to remove him and treat him the second I noticed it but lo and behold, all the female Bettas had gotten it. I removed them all, bought the solutions, new gravel and everything and cleaned out the tank. I put them all back in the next day, the first female Betta died, an hour later, the second female Betta and finally the Pleco itself was floating upside down dead. Now I only have 2 females left ("Jade" and "Crimson" I call them) and Jade either hides or floats at the top very still while Crimson is more active. My 1st question is does anybody know why my fish died suddenly?

And finally, I read somewhere that I need more than two female Bettas for balance or one may become stressed. Is this true and should I get ready to purchase a couple more?

*I'm sorry....My tank is 10 gallons*

Answer 1

When you did such a thorough cleaning after the Ick attack, you wiped out the beneficial bacteria in the tank so you stuck you fish into an uncycled tank, that's what probably killed them. the one hanging out at the top is probably suffering from ammonia poisoning since it will take a while for your tank to cycle and be safe for fish to live in once again.

Any new fish need to be quarantined for at least a week (2-4 weeks is better) to make sure they are not sick, are not carrying parasites like ick. Moving from one environment (the store) to a new one (your tank) is stressful so fish sometime will develop fungus and other stress-related illnesses that you need to treat before putting the fish into the established tank.

2 female bettas can live happily together although with a 10 gal. tank you can have more as long as it's well planted to cut down on their line of sight. That general rule of thumb "1 gal. of water per inch of fish" is real general but your fish will be better off with less--especially considering in a 10g. tank gravel, plants, heater, decorations are all taking up space and most of us don't fill our tanks completely up to the brim so there is less than 10 gals. of water in there. Fish do better with less fish to stress them out too. Quarantine any new fish you get and slowly introduce them to the established tank (bettas especially since they are territorial).

Answer 2

I think something you did wrong as well was to change the gravel and completely tear down the aquarium. There is a bacteria colony that lives in the substrate that breaks down the waste and help with the filtration. Without that and along with the diseases and presence of all those chemicals probably were what killed the fish.

I would say to keep the filtration going, and if the bettas still have ich, follow the medicine on the bottle to treat it, and do a 25% water change every day, or every other day. Also, don't use any chemicals when cleaning the tank as they can pollute the water. You can keep female bettas singly, but remember the one inch of fish per gallon of water. The best way to do it is to keep either one female betta, or a group of 3 or more. If you keep 2, one will become the alpha fish and pick on the other. I hope this helps you!

Answer 3

Okay... the ick is gone now right? Bringing in any new fish puts the community tank at risk. Try keeping new ones in seperate bowls for a few days. Since bettas gulp air from the surface you can have more than the average 1" per gallon. Just make sure the new ones are healthy before adding them to your community tank.

The plecos do tend to grow fast, maybe you could try some of those smaller catfish, some are darker, like the plecos, but won't outgrow the tank.

Good luck!

Answer 4

my guess is the contamination of the new fish and the stress of everything killed the others.

yes, normally 2 aren't good, but there's a good chance that since the two you have have been together for a while with other fish that they won't start attacking each other unless there were problems before. I highly suggest you don't get another pleco, the ones they sell at walmart get to be 18" and need very large tanks. although once your two female bettas are okay it wouldn't be a bad idea to add more, just as a preventative measure, plus in honor of the ones you lost, you know, saving the lives of a few more. most female bettas end up getting bought and thrown in with males.... which then kill them.

I have a tank of girls to and I love them death, they have such personality. my heart goes out to you, I don't know what I'd do if I lost all mine.

Answer 5

I assume you haven't seen any ich for about a week in the tank or you wouldn't be looking for more fish ;) As for what killed the fish so quickly, that could have been any one of many things under the circumstances and I doubt anyone could really figure that out to be honest.

You can add additional female bettas, I would say up to about 12 in a 10 gallon tank if you have no other fish in there. Many times I have had that any or more in a 10 gallon tank.

MM

Answer 6

your fish died because they were already stressed because of the ick and then you completely redid your aquarium effectively killing your bacteria cycle. Don't buy anymore fish right now your aquarium couldn't handle it. How big is your aquarium? Also please don't buy fish at Walmart. It is an afterthought of a department meant to get extra sales. Also female bettas can only go with males if they are ready to breed. Their stipes change direction otherwise they kill each other!

Answer 7

I would definitely not leave it at a low number, i would get at least 5... I had three and two of them picked on one female so much we had to seperate her and she still died... so caution on that front

Answer 8

ahem how can i put this nicely you are not suppose to put female betta in one tank! they are called fighting fish for a reason if u mix male and females together thats fine but all maless=fight all females=fight u need to mix em u can mix male and females together more than one but make sure they have equal bc if u just put one and two females they will fight over the male -i know this from expirence