female bettas

Question
Hi Nicole:

I have a 10gal tank with 5 female bettas.   The tank was cycled before putting them - they were all put into the tank together and did the usual pecking and formed the heierachy.   Everything was going good.   But tonight I noticed that one of my betta's ovip....was protruding.  I did research and concluded that she was going to drop some eggs (her belly was rounded) she was probably about 6mnths old (but I am really guessing)....anyway....I was watching all of them and one of the other female bettas tried to bite the protruding ovip...it happend so fast that I wasn't sure what I saw and then about 20min later, the same betta bit the protruding ovip..and wouldn't let go.   It looked like her mouth was literally inside where the ovip comes out from.  She would not let go and they were struggling - it was almost as if her mouth was stuck in there.  One of the other bettas kept going near the 2 of them - it almost seemed like she was trying to seperate them.   Anyway...I couldn't take it anymore and I tried gently seperate them.  But it didn't help...but then they seperated and the betta that bit the fish swam away and the one with the protruding ovip..sank to the bottom of the tank.   I left her there for a bit (by this time I didn't know if the other one was a male...but there is no bubble nest and she definitely has an ovip...Anyway....my betta died, her ovip...was shredded along with some of her fins.  I did not know what to do..  Have you heard of such a thing?   I just don't understand what happend.  What could I have done?
I would appreciate any advise on this so that it doesn't happen again.   Do I remove the betta that did this?  I don't know what to do...was it a "natural" act of behavior?
Thank you.

Answer
Hi Christine,

Females can be very nasty to each other - potentially every bit as much as the males! I know it is shocking and disturbing that one female bit the other in the ovipositor, but just take it as nothing more than a sign of aggression with a sexually charged edge. If the ovipositor on this female was large it may just have meant that she was more mature, or you're right, she could have been ready to lay eggs...although I can't see what would trigger a spawning response since she's probably always been kept alone, and now with a gang of females.

I probably would have netted the two females at once and floated them on the surface, no guarantee that this would have separated them, but you can put your fish in a "time out" by doing this. A plastic colander also works well. Don't leave them this way for longer than a few minutes, or things might get sour...

As you probably know, it is a delicate balance keeping a sorority of bettas. The golden rule is: don't expect it to work! This one might have always been picked on...or not, but you need to be ready with a hospital tank which may or may not become a permanent housing for any others that are ostracized. You can always return the bully, but the thing about "the bully" is that when this alpha female steps down, the next in line will come and take her place...so try hard to make it work the way it is, hopefully a balance can be achieved.

Make sure you have all of the things necessary for a successful aquarium, namely an effective filter (with a gentle flow) a heated tank with a 50 W heater (the temperature should be set in the high seventies, or perhaps 80 F) and LOTS of plant cover. Fake plants are fine, I recommend silk plants with bettas since they like "resting" on the leaves. I also like making caves out of rocks, female bettas like hiding in these more than males, it seems. You need to make distinct territories, so that the next time there is a cat fight, the poor girl that is the loser has some place to go!

Sponge filters (Google those words if you are unfamiliar with this kind of filtration) work well as supplementary filtration, and they are great for seeding new tanks with beneficial bacteria, so I recommend them to anyone keeping a small tank. Again, the Whisper internal series filters are perfect for bettas. Make sure you don't overfeed, bettas only need to eat as much as their eye mass daily, the rest is just gravy for them! Two light feedings per day works much better than one daily gorging - you avoid abdominal swelling, and it keeps the water cleaner to feed this way.

On a side note, I personally would have stuck with just 3 or maybe 4 female bettas, 5 seems like it's pushing it to me, but some people have put 12 female bettas in tanks this size and made it work somehow...! My advice is always geared towards giving my questioners the best chance of success, so I always err towards the conservative side. If you find a product called Atison's Betta Spa, I recommend it, as it is made primarily from Indian almond leaves which are very soothing to bettas. I bought loose grade A Indian almond leaves from Aquabid.com, I just fold the leaves and tuck them in my filter which makes the water nice and dark, and the tannic and humic acids are supposed to be very healthy for fish that appreciate soft water.

I hope those suggestions help. Hopefully all of your remaining girls will get along soon! You probably know about these websites already:
http://www.bettatalk.com
http://www.healthybetta.com
I thought I would mention them just in case.

Have a nice weekend,
Nicole