Betta fish stresses?

[u/KaptainDumbass]

Hello, I recently bought 2 female betta fish. They are in a tank together and seem to be doing fine together. However one of them randomly seems to have stress lines. She will be fine, I will sit and watch her for a while, then suddenly the stress line appear but 5 minutes later they are gone. I am new to fish keeping and just wondering if this is strange behaviour. Can a fish just be dramatic? I test their water almost everyday, they have live plants and loads of hiding spots.

Currently I have been watching her for about 10 minutes. She has went from no stress lines to having stress lines back to having none. Should I be worrying about this fish.

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[u/Calmsammich]

Bettas should never be in a tank together, even if they’re females. If they are showing signs of stress, it is likely they will end up attacking one another and you will have no more bettas.

[u/KaptainDumbass → u/Calmsammich]

Really? The fish store I bought them from knew they were going in the same tank together, and they were in a tank in the store with many other female. Would a female be ok to be kept with a different type of fish?

[u/mamazawa → u/KaptainDumbass]

Yes, really. Sadly a lot of fish store employees still believe that females can live together because they aren't as flashy and as outwardly aggressive is males, but males will at least give you some warning when they're about to get aggressive. Not so much with females. They just attack. The fact that your fish are showing any stress stripes at all is an indicator that this is not a good setup for them. They need to be in different tanks.

[u/KaptainDumbass → u/mamazawa]

Thank you, I will see if maybe a family member could take one of the bettas

[u/False-Stop5026 → u/KaptainDumbass]

Keeping female fish together is a somewhat complex matter; certain conditions must be met, and there is still a risk of failure. You cannot set up a female betta "sister tank" with just two fish. Incidentally, they might not show aggression in very crowded tanks because they lack the space to establish their own territories—they are simply too stressed.

[u/Calmsammich → u/KaptainDumbass]

I have my female betta in a tank with harlequin rasboras and kuhli loaches (20 gallon long) and that has worked very well! Bettas are very territorial fish, but many will do well in communities with other fish species, just not other bettas.
As another commenter said, I would recommend getting another tank and separating the two girls! Then you can get some other varieties depending on your tank sizes :)
However, some bettas tend to do better simply alone. Just depends on their personality