# females in a 5 gallon?



## xraytetralover (Jun 26, 2008)

What does everyone think about keeping female bettas together in a 5 gallon tank? I was planning on putting my new male betta in it but he has settled in well in the 16 gallon community while his tank was finishing the cycle. I was thinking about female bettas for a change. I've read about keeping a bunch of them in a 10-15 gallon but it seems there are mixed opinions about a 5 gallon. Does anyone have experience with this? How many females are in your 5 gallon?

Thanks!


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## Dragonbeards (Dec 14, 2008)

Mom has a 5 gallon, but she only has one female in there, who is doing great. I have read that females are good in groups, that is, they don't beat each other up, but I don't know about a group in a 5. Seems to me that would cause some problems. Not much you can do in a 5...


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## betta0fish (Feb 16, 2009)

5gallon is a little too small for groups


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## Guest (Jul 19, 2009)

that 5 will make a good shrimp tank!


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## Toshogu (Apr 24, 2009)

5gal. would be good for a male betta


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## Dragonbeards (Dec 14, 2008)

On the other hand, if you are set on getting a female, to go with her you could put in some dwarf cories. That's what's in my mothers tank (along with an oto), and they do great.


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## xraytetralover (Jun 26, 2008)

Yeah after talking to some other people I've decided not to chance it. I want to get a single betta and some cherry shrimp (if the betta lets me!)


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## Dragonbeards (Dec 14, 2008)

Well good luck. I hear it's a hit or miss kinda thing with shrimp.


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## xraytetralover (Jun 26, 2008)

A few days ago I put some ghost shrimp in my 10 gallon. I have a big male betta in there. He tryed to attack them the first few days that they were in there but now he ignores them. I'm hoping that's what my new one will do!


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## Guest (Jul 20, 2009)

what you could do i first put the shrimps in and then add the betta. he might attack them if he is already in the tank.


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## xraytetralover (Jun 26, 2008)

That what I was thinking of doing, Zakk. I hope it works! 

Right now my 5 gallon is planted, cycled, and empty of fish... The betta that was in it died not too long ago. After he died (the tank was pretty dirty..) I emptied the tank, replaced gravel with sand, and refilled it. There were a bunch of plants that had been doing fine when the fish was alive that started rotting... Do plants need fish to survive? In about a week I'm going on vacation for 2 weeks. Should I wrangle some fish from one of my other tanks to put in the 5 gallon for those 2 weeks? I don't want to come home to a horrible, rotting, mess of plants... The crypts in there are doing fine, but the leaves on java fern and anubias are getting brown.

I'm not sure I have time to buy some RCS, get them settled, then get a betta and make sure he's healthy before I leave. My fish sitter doesn't know much about fish, other than how to feed them.


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Fish do provide food for plants but I don't know if that is the reason your plants are dying. I doubt it, but I'll let a plant expert answer that. I do know that the bacteria responsible for your "cycle" need fish ,or some ammonia source to survive. You say your tank is cycled. What do you mean by that?


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## xraytetralover (Jun 26, 2008)

nitrates are 10, amm and nitrite are both 0. After the betta died and I redid the tank there was about a week of detectable ammonia that got up to 1ppm at the highest before it dropped to and stayed at 0. Could the rotting plants have kept the tank cycled? It doesn't make sense to me either...


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## xraytetralover (Jun 26, 2008)

Back to the betta for a second: When I get shrimp, could i move the betta out of the 5 gallon into another tank for a few days, then reintroduce him to the tank when the shrimp are in it... Do you think he'd remember that that was his tank? Or would this just stress him out too much? This is assuming that I get the betta before I leave.


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

As long as ammonia is present, your "cycle" will continue. When ammonia drops to 0, the bacteria will die.


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## xraytetralover (Jun 26, 2008)

Then why would there still be nitrates in the tank? Shouldn't everything be 0 if the cycle stopped?


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Nitrates will remain in the tank until consumed by plants or you remove with water changes. That is the reason for frequent water changes.


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## fishyfreek (May 13, 2009)

Hey, I have a 10 gallon tank with a topfin filter on it, I have six female betta and about 500 pond snails and everyone is as happy as they can be. I'm planning on getting a few more when I find different color than what I have. I think you could use the rule 1 fish per gallon since female betta are so small. Also I have a little aquarium salt in it, about 3 table spoons. All my betta look ready to beed but all my males (2 halfmoon, 2 crowntail, and 1 veiltail) do not seem to be intrested in my girls, oh well there loss.lol Hope that was some help.


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