Before I get flamed, let me preface my post and say that I had NO input in this decision and until (unfortunately) something goes awry I will not be able to change the situation in good conscience. I'm just inquiring as to whether anyone has heard of this before.

I recently finished setting up a sorority tank, 10G with 5 girls in it. Apart from a few initial squabbles everyone was getting along famously ==> Nottingham was very happy.

About two days after introducing everyone to the tank, I come home to my mother jumping up and down beckoning to "go look at your tank!" In a panic, I rush inside to discover that my darling mother had put in my ALL GIRL sorority tank a MALE she had rescued from a 6oz party cup at a pet store somewhere in the sticks.

And, quoting Talladega Nights, I just about s**t a chicken.

I love my mom dearly and she was SO excited to have rescued 'Alfonzo' who is a yellowy/pinky/orangy kinda color with spots on his fins and light blue eyes. And his body is HUGE, at least twice the size of my other male betta (who resides in a 5G all by himself). I was all set to fish him out immediately but she had watched him for 30 min and she insisted "he was going to be fine." And I love my mom dearly so I tentatively crossed myself and expected the worst.

Lo and behold, 10 days later he is not only doing fine but bubblenesting all along the edges of the tank! He is ranked about 3rd out of 6 bettas and I have seen him make a half-assed flare ONCE when the lowest girl on the totem pole literally ran into him going after a bloodworm - it seemed more to be that he was suprised rather than aggressive. The tank dynamic is very mellow, no one is aggro toward anyone else and they even school at times! It's a complete anomaly and goes against everything that I have learned, but there it is.

Anyone else ever experience this kind of thing? I'm obviously ALWAYS keeping an eye out for the slightest sign of the dynamic turning sour and am prepared with an emergency 2G if someone needs to be evacuated. I wonder if due to his unusual size maybe Alfonzo is 'speshul.' Or maybe my mother has unique wonderous fishwhispering skills ( I wouldn't be suprised, she has 30G with danios, cherry barbs, a gourami, mollies, platys, 5 female betta and a male betta that is so freaking happy you can practically hear the Brady Bunch theme song issuing from the filter. It's been running like that for 3 months now with no bullies, no nipped fins, nothing. My mom is crazy).

C'est tres bizaar!

I've heard of it happening before but I've never had it happen to me. :mellow:

With reguard to your moms 30, it is probably large enough that the gourami and bettas have their own clearly marked territory.
I have heard of males (A male) living peacefully with females.. Usually it is in a much larger tank than what you currently have.
As I see it, there are just too many females for him to get all caught up in one.
My main concern are these.
1) The girls might decide to gang up on him, esp if he is as unagressive as you say
2) The girls might start fighitng again for "breeding rights"
3) They might just breed in that tank

I am one of those people that say do what you want, as long as you are comfortable with it. But it is good that you have a tank prepped just in case what is usually the inevitable happens.
Oh.. and when do we get pics of the new guy?

I had a male in a community of girls once. All was well till all of the girls finished maturing. He had to be separated. But if you're checking on him... you should be fine... you should notice some not niceness if he's gonna be a roughhousing boy.

FYI, not our style round here. We're all for trial if it's going well.
:hug:
BTW, welcome!!

I would say Like Bella keep an eye on the females Ibet they will start fighting for Breeding rights soon enough, But enjoy them all togother while you can. oh and tell mom no matter what next time qaurantine the little guy I hope he is clean. ^_^

:lolo: I see nothing wrong if they're doing okay now. Just be careful to always keeps an eye on them (don't neglect them) and if there's ever a sign of changing, pull him out.

I have all my juvies, well into their 4-5th month, and I have a galore of males with females. The occasional flirting, but nothing much going on, so I leave them be. When they show signs of aggression, I pull them out.

Thanks for all the feedback, I'll be getting pics up as soon as I can figure out how to work the bloody camera. As for Alfonzo, I adore him dearly but I don't think my heart could take it if I were to come home to a massacre. So my brother will putting him in his own 5G in his bedroom with otos and shrimp for company and I will be taking my brother's HM male (has a really badly blown tail, we adopted him for free but he's not doing so good. I think he's overwhelmed by the 5G all to himself so I'm going to put him in a 2.5G next to my bed for some TLC). My mother understands and my little brother has ADORED Alfonzo since the day we got him so he's thrilled. And I'll be able to rest easy when I'm at school and then work all day that I won't come home to a death scene. Win-win-win.

And to hijack my own thread, is there any special care for a male with a badly blown tail? I'm keeping the temperature on the warm side between 78-80F and have blackwater extract in to soften the water a little (we have really hard water). Little guy won't eat anything except for the Bettamin flakes but if I can coax him to eat something else, any suggestions? What about Melafix, would that help the healing process? Thanks for all your help!

Melafix and salt would help a lot. Making sure he has immaculate water will help too. Also.... I just learned, if you put him where he can see others trying new foods... he might too. Ask Bella... she believes in learned behavior too.

Blackwater extract AND salt? How much salt then for a 2.5G? I think I have a carton of aquarium salt somewhere...

Anyone else have anything to say about vitamin E? What form do I put it in? I work at a pharmacy and I know that we have vitamin E oil for sale (for ingestion, not topical application).

You could try some live/frozen food; more protein. I've tried baby guppy and week old betta fry, and they eat those (though week old betta fry, you might not want to try too often :lolo:). Frozen bloodworm is very good if you don't want to do live. Just make sure to get Hikari, because that seems to be the safest brand.

Other than that, just try to keep him relaxed. Vaca

I don't know how you would be able to get him to eat Vit E, without leaving a nasty film on the water.. so lets not try that, lol.
You can use BWE and salt. I use IAL, and spa and salt, though not as much as some people do.. my salt addition works out to about 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons.

i use Vitachem from the IBC(yes you can buy without being a member) it's water soluable I add two drops when i feed, don't know how much it helps but I do it. and i think its mostly vitamn C and some otehr stuff.

I can say I've noticed a difference in growth rate when I start using Vita Chem. Maybe it's just all in my head but I use it all the time.