# Good Place to find Female Bettas?



## bumbleboo (Jun 6, 2010)

Hi! 

I was wondering if anyone in the Oakville/Burlington/Mississauga area knows a good place to find a good selection of female bettas? I went to the Big Al's here and they didn't have many and their bettas are in awful shape... it was depressing.

I'm hoping to find some female bettas that are young and may have been kept together with other females in hopes of them being shrimp-friendly.

I'm getting a 5 gallon tank ready for her, but I have yet to find a place that stocks a good supply!

(I hope I am posting this in the right part of the forum, if not, I am sorry!!)


----------



## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

You will find a much healthier female betta from a breeder or incidental breeder (someone who does it as a side business vs someone who has bettas and had an incidental spawn)

I am sure there are people either here on GTAA or pricenetwork.ca with female bettas to sell locally if you post ads.


----------



## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

I've gotten wonderful females from this breeder before
http://www.freewebs.com/ontariobetta/links.htm

She also has a listing of other breeders in ontario you could order from.

Franks had a couple of girls, you can always try luckies as well.


----------



## bumbleboo (Jun 6, 2010)

AquariAM said:


> You will find a much healthier female betta from a breeder or incidental breeder (someone who does it as a side business vs someone who has bettas and had an incidental spawn)
> 
> I am sure there are people either here on GTAA or pricenetwork.ca with female bettas to sell locally if you post ads.


Okay, thanks! I will try putting an ad in the Buy/Sell forum.  I just wasn't sure if I should because initially I meant stores, but I agree it would probably be better to get them from a local breeder!


----------



## bumbleboo (Jun 6, 2010)

Ciddian said:


> I've gotten wonderful females from this breeder before
> http://www.freewebs.com/ontariobetta/links.htm
> 
> She also has a listing of other breeders in ontario you could order from.
> ...


Thanks for the suggestions! I had actually checked out the first site, and saw some beautiful fish but nothing that struck my fancy.  Maybe I'll keep checking back!

I checked the other sites as well but some of the links seemed to be down or not selling fish but... maybe next month I can try Frank's or Lucky's! Thank you!


----------



## bae (May 11, 2007)

bumbleboo said:


> lp
> I'm hoping to find some female bettas that are young and may have been kept together with other females in hopes of them being shrimp-friendly.


Female bettas are cool and you can keep several together, but they will eat shrimp.


----------



## bumbleboo (Jun 6, 2010)

bae said:


> Female bettas are cool and you can keep several together, but they will eat shrimp.


For sure they will eat the shrimp? I thought it might be a hit and miss thing... but I could be wrong. 

I'm weary of getting more than one female betta because I can't afford to have another tank and I wouldn't know what to do with her if they didn't get along.

What's a good number to keep together, is it in pairs so there isn't an odd one out? Also, would I even be able to keep more than one in a 5 gallon?


----------



## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

I have three in a 90 gallon atm with shrimp and other fish. So.. there is lots of room and hiding spots.

If you are doing a smaller tank, say a ten gallon some people say to keep them almost like cichlids. Maybe 4-5 with lots and lots of hiding spots. I wouldnt do a collection of girls in anything smaller than a ten gallon JMO.

But yea, you can run into very aggressive females or even immature males.


----------



## bumbleboo (Jun 6, 2010)

Ciddian said:


> I have three in a 90 gallon atm with shrimp and other fish. So.. there is lots of room and hiding spots.
> 
> If you are doing a smaller tank, say a ten gallon some people say to keep them almost like cichlids. Maybe 4-5 with lots and lots of hiding spots. I wouldnt do a collection of girls in anything smaller than a ten gallon JMO.
> 
> But yea, you can run into very aggressive females or even immature males.


Okay, thanks! Yeah, I'm mostly worried that in a small tank I won't be able to create enough "territories". Maybe I will just stick with one female for now! I don't want any sadness or anything.


----------



## Firerox (Apr 26, 2010)

Frank has some quality females, I bought a $3.50 crowntail girl from him; she was FULL of eggs so I spawned her. 1 Month later and her fry are already looking like her


----------



## bumbleboo (Jun 6, 2010)

Firerox said:


> Frank has some quality females, I bought a $3.50 crowntail girl from him; she was FULL of eggs so I spawned her. 1 Month later and her fry are already looking like her


Awesome! Do you have any pictures of her?

I am going to take a trip there when my roommate gets back for sure. I've heard good things about their betta stock.


----------



## ShrimpieLove (Apr 26, 2010)

Menagerie alwaya seems to have bettas, not sure on male/female but you could call and ask


----------



## bumbleboo (Jun 6, 2010)

GuppyLove said:


> Menagerie alwaya seems to have bettas, not sure on male/female but you could call and ask


Thanks! I need to get some CP Danios from them too, since my Big Al's never seems to have 'em... so I'll check out their betta selection too!


----------



## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

Franchise LFS such as Big Al's and such are a hit and miss, they usually have them for sale, but whether or not their quality is up-to-par is random. I got lucky with my crowntail, nicest one out of like 50 that i've seen at their different chains. If you have time then you can go to every single store and maybe get lucky, if not then buy them from credible breeders.


----------



## bumbleboo (Jun 6, 2010)

Philip.Chan.92 said:


> Franchise LFS such as Big Al's and such are a hit and miss, they usually have them for sale, but whether or not their quality is up-to-par is random. I got lucky with my crowntail, nicest one out of like 50 that i've seen at their different chains. If you have time then you can go to every single store and maybe get lucky, if not then buy them from credible breeders.


Yeah, the Big Al's here takes awful care of their bettas... I can't even tell if they're alive or not half the time.

I think I'm going to try Frank's.


----------



## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

bumbleboo said:


> For sure they will eat the shrimp? I thought it might be a hit and miss thing... but I could be wrong.


It's hit and miss. I had a female betta with several large amano shrimp for a year.



bumbleboo said:


> Yeah, the Big Al's here takes awful care of their bettas... I can't even tell if they're alive or not half the time.


You should see them when they're in a 4x4" bag of blue drugged water in a fridge for a month before they put them in the luxurious bowl


----------



## bumbleboo (Jun 6, 2010)

AquariAM said:


> It's hit and miss. I had a female betta with several large amano shrimp for a year.


Okay.  I'll try it. I can always move the shrimp into the 10 gallon if she starts to go after them.


----------



## bumbleboo (Jun 6, 2010)

AquariAM said:


> It's hit and miss. I had a female betta with several large amano shrimp for a year.
> 
> You should see them when they're in a 4x4" bag of blue drugged water in a fridge for a month before they put them in the luxurious bowl


Yikes I didn't see that second part, that's awful.


----------



## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Bumble, I once got this guy from Pj's. My friend who was fish manager at the time held him back for me since he was such an odd colour.









His name was Nanashi.

He didn't look as nice as that as in the store but I was amazing with the colour blue in him. I have never seen a fish like that since then. Unfortunatly I wanted to do a breeding plan with him but he had cauliflower disease from what I was told. He always had odd growths and the like. 

You can get some neat stuff from the LFS and now you can even get some good quality fish too and you don't have to order online much anymore. I remember when crowntails had been the big thing and you couldn't get them here. I imported three from the states, cost me 100 bucks! LOL Now they are everywhere..


----------



## bumbleboo (Jun 6, 2010)

Ciddian said:


> Bumble, I once got this guy from Pj's. My friend who was fish manager at the time held him back for me since he was such an odd colour.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Oh wow, he's beautiful! You are lucky.  I really like the one in your signature too!

I'm definitely going to have a look around then (at the end of the month)! I was looking on aquabid and there are some beautiful fish on there, but I think it would be pretty expensive to get them off of there. I'm just cycling the tank now, so I'm scared to look just in case I find "the" fish.


----------



## qualityshrimpz (Dec 15, 2009)

bumbleboo said:


> Oh wow, he's beautiful! You are lucky.  I really like the one in your signature too!
> 
> I'm definitely going to have a look around then (at the end of the month)! I was looking on aquabid and there are some beautiful fish on there, but I think it would be pretty expensive to get them off of there. I'm just cycling the tank now, so I'm scared to look just in case I find "the" fish.


BA's newmarket has a bunch of halfmoon males that are looking amazing... i bought one and am trying to not give in to the urge to buy more... they also have some females that are quite big (i dont want to let them rip apart my hm lol)


----------



## bumbleboo (Jun 6, 2010)

qualityhitz said:


> BA's newmarket has a bunch of halfmoon males that are looking amazing... i bought one and am trying to not give in to the urge to buy more... they also have some females that are quite big (i dont want to let them rip apart my hm lol)


That's cool! I think New Market is a bit far for me though.  Congratulations to you though!


----------



## qualityshrimpz (Dec 15, 2009)

bumbleboo said:


> That's cool! I think New Market is a bit far for me though.  Congratulations to you though!


oh ya! lol i didnt notice the oakville tag. you are much closer to franks menagerie or luckys


----------



## bumbleboo (Jun 6, 2010)

qualityhitz said:


> oh ya! lol i didnt notice the oakville tag. you are much closer to franks menagerie or luckys


Yeah!  I ended up getting a female from Frank's. She's a real character!


----------



## qualityshrimpz (Dec 15, 2009)

bumbleboo said:


> Yeah!  I ended up getting a female from Frank's. She's a real character!


Pictures?


----------



## bumbleboo (Jun 6, 2010)

qualityhitz said:


> Pictures?


I don't have a lot of good pictures of her right now because my camera is being crazy, so there are from when I first got her:



















I named her Bea.  She has a lot more colour now, her fins are red and she has blue stripes in her tail, as well as a dark rim. She's really pretty!


----------

