Betta Sorority Fail

[ThatCrazyFishLady]

So I have been holding off on this, but the day has come. My betta sorority has failed. The first three months, the sorority was stable and my bettas actually got along well. Month four, my crowntail betta died due to unknown causes (water parameters were perfect, the fish showed no signs of illness). This is the beginning of the end. I bought two more bettas and let them situate to the tank, there was aggression and fin nipping. At first, the fin nipping was minimal and only on the new fish, then it grew too aggressive and barely any fins remained on ALL my fish. I had the new bettas in the tank with my other ones for about a week before I added them in.

I changed the tank driftwood and plants to take away established territories, like I would do for my cichlids, and the fighting has gotten worse. Almost all of my old bettas are dead, the new ones look tattered and they appear to only be getting worse. I can't see ANY fighting though! Every day I notice it looks worse, but there's no aggression.

Any suggestions? Do sororities just fail? Should I give them to a LFS and start over with some peaceful fish like guppies?

 

[FreshyFresh]

My only attempts at sororities of female bettas were in my community 55g with plants. I never tried more than 5-6 females at a time and they did shove each other around, but they never damaged each other. There was the distraction of other types of fish in the tank though, such as my meek and mild female pearl gourami. Like I've mentioned in other threads, my demise with my attempts at this was, they'd over-eat when I'd feed the tank, suffer from bloat and I'd loose them one by one. A shame too, because they were always a family favorite with their betta personalities. I tried it twice.

The other issue with bettas, male or female is they way they are kept and cared for at your typical pet store. The poor buggers are often very sick and suffering from fin rot, etc, when we get them.