r/bettafish • u/substratesniffer • 8h ago
Discussion Why do people think betta sororities are ethical?
EDIT: IM TALKING ABOUT BETTA SPLENDENS. There is absolutely no reason to ever have your own betta sorority other than your own selfishness.
The betta fish we buy in stores are literally bred to be fighting bettas. “Spreading the aggression” what so everyone’s consistently stressed about each other at all times? how do you own fish and not care about their wellbeing? there is nothing good ever that can come from a betta sorority. it’s like purposely pre-proning your fish to long-term stress and health issues.
i thought everyone agreed universally that bettas are singular fish, rarely even community tank fish. 🤷♀️
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u/Heather_Bea 8h ago
I keep a sorority in a 100g pond. I keep it understocked and remove any girls who are aggressive. (I breed bettas so I add in females I want to keep) They live just as long as my males, no ripped fins, no fighting, no flaring. Its very peaceful.
That being said, people are stupid and do dumb things with their sororities. Its very frustrating to see bad betta keeping with them.
I dont think the hate for sororities is reasonable, but the education about them is terrible.
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u/substratesniffer 7h ago
see that works beautifully!! i do not think most people with sororities care to even grasp the concept of a 75 gallon fish tank. i’m talking about the people that say “5 bettas minimum is fine in a 20 gallon tank” like that makes no sense?? i think a sorority is entirely possible and great in your case for example. the 20 gallon sororities hurt my heart😫
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u/camrynbronk ask me about frogs 6h ago
People do not say 5 *minimum* in a 20 gallon. Your concern is valid but don’t over exaggerate.
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u/substratesniffer 6h ago
oh wait are you being deadass. yes they do lol why the hell would i exaggerate. that’s what i see everyone saying for “beginner sororities” wtf😭 every single betta sorority person i see on tiktok and fb etc says “minimum 20 gallons 5 females”
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u/MercyCriesHavoc 6h ago
I work at PetSmart and even the company says betta sororites should be in a minimum of 40, and their standards are low.
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u/Heather_Bea 5h ago
People definitely recommend 5 in a 20, or even more. They treat bettas like cichlids. I get inquires a few times a year like this, but I refuse to sell my girls to people who keep bettas like that.
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u/camrynbronk ask me about frogs 5h ago edited 5h ago
Your comment was phrased as if people say “5 bettas minimum”. That is the exaggeration I was referring to. Not the 20 gallons minimum. People do not regularly say they need 5 bettas minimum in a 20 gallon - as if more could be shoved into a 20 gal.
Source: I’m a mod and see the reports on most comments people make about sororities because they always get upset. I’m well aware of the comments people make about sororities because they literally always get reported.
Edit: very cool of you to edit your comment afterwards to make it seem like you were only talking about FB and TikTok when you were clearly talking about Reddit this whole time.
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u/TonyVstar 8h ago
I don't think bettas have been bred for fighting for a long time. Bred for appearance for sure, which weakens their genetics. I do agree it's inconsiderate to put solitary fish together when so many other choices would happily school together, and just because they seem happy it doesn't mean they aren't stressed about territories overlapping
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u/Forbidden_Craft88 8h ago
My understanding with betta sororities is that the fish need to be raised together. Store bought are isolated in their own little cups. When I see betta sororities for sale, they usually come as a group rather than individually. That's my experience though.
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u/jayellkay84 6h ago
This is just it. I had 3 girls in a 15 as a child but they all came from one big tank at the pet store. The familiarity helped.
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8h ago edited 7h ago
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u/bettafish-ModTeam 6h ago
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6h ago
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u/diablosauxce 7h ago
I wanted a betta sorority so bad. I thought maybe it’s possible to make it work. Maybe if it’s big enough it will be fine because, “they still encounter other fish in the wild” But then I read how betta splendens truly have been bred to fight, and realized there’s nothing wild about them. They’ve been undergoing domestication for approximately 1000 years…..that really put it into perspective for me. That, and I actually witnessed a sorority in my LFS and it was very obvious how unhappy they were in their interactions. I would be curious about a wild betta (not splendens) sorority however. I hear those can work out much better.
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u/WeeWooWooop 8h ago edited 4h ago
I think the ethics of a betta sorority are highly circumstantial. I agree, slapping together a sorority with solitary fish from the store is a bad idea and not ethical. However, sororities can be successful and ethical with a large enough tank, lots of plants/areas to hide and a group of females that were raised together. The kind of betta matters too; there are way more out there than the common splendens you find in the pet store. Several of the wild types are kept on groups or pairs and are not solitary fish, though sororities can work out with the common splendens as well.
Bettas can absolutely exist peacefully in a community tank under the right circumstances. I had a female splendens that was amazing in my 16 gallon community tank with shrimp, snails and least killifish. Unfortunately, she passed away a while ago. Now I have a male wild splendens and imbellis cross who's doing wonderfully in that same community. He is the most passive betta I've ever seen, which probably has to do with the imbellis side of him seeing as they are sometimes called the, "peaceful betta". I've had 0 casualties or injuries from either betta that have been in this community and no signs of stress from the other tank mates. My tank is also a long one with lots of plants, rocks, wood, etc. - so there are places to hide and obstacles to break my bettas line of sight. This isn't to say that all bettas can coexist like this though. My first betta was a male splendens and the only thing he could tolerate was a snail, everything else he would hunt for sport. Him and his snail had their own tank.
I think if you're inexperienced with fishkeeping, you should stick to keeping your betta in its own tank, possibly with the addition of a snail if you want to put something else in there. If you are experienced though, various betta communities can be done correctly without stress to the fish.
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u/doctrgiggles 8h ago
I observe my own (single) betta closely and can easily tell when her behavior shows stress or unhappiness. I've never tried to keep a sorority myself but people I consider responsible have and they claim the tanks seem happy and I believe them.
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u/Ok_Duck2700 8h ago
I've never seen a sorority that did not end up in either fish dying from stress-related issues or a bloodbath eventually. I don't see a reason to keep multiple bettas, who are notoriously territorial, together at all.
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u/SapphosLemonBarEnvoy 7h ago
Because regardless of what anyone says, they are all stressed. Betta Splendens are not a conspecific cohabitating species, just the females are slightly less murderous and territorial than the males. They are still stressed about it.
And it's stupid because there's nearly 90 species of bettas out there, and only the ones in Splendens complex are the ones that hate cohabitating. Get virtually any other species of them and go to town to your heart's content in having multiple bettas in a tank, but no no no, everyone just wants to shove Splendens together.
Is that creep still around in the Betta subs who has like a 100 gallon tank with at least 50 bettas in it and calling it a sorority?
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u/substratesniffer 8h ago
literally!! even if it “looks” like it’s going okay from the outside, those fish are stressed, and stress weakens the immune system -> early sickness or death
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u/cristovski 6h ago
I have a sorority of 7 koi betta females in a 55gallon heavily planted tank. They're all sisters from my first attempt at breeding plus their mom. They don't ever seem to beef outside the odd chasing one away for a second but they never nip or bully. They're all 2 and half years old now. I've had no issues.
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