As I stated, there are many success stories on bettas in community tanks. But it is not natural, and when humans try to mess with nature, sometimes some ugly things can happen. Glad to hear all of your fish are getting along, though! When I had tetras, they were the nippiest darn buggers!

Hey wuv, you still want to pin this? It's ok I forgot about it too.

For those of you wondering about apple snails vs. mystery snails, I had it explained to me this way. They are the same species. The difference is that the mystery snails are the wild type, while the apple snails have been bred to have several different color shells. Beyond that, there is no difference and they can breed together. Good luck figuring out which ones are male and which are female, though. *grin*

I think onle female bettas should be kept together in a "community". Otherwise you are just waiting on the inevitable to happen. Eventually your betta or other tank mates are going to have a bad day..and someone is going to end up on the wrong end of the stick.

Better to me to just not risk it. I just let my bettas see each otehr for about an hour a day..after that they are usually tired of being in each others face and prefer to retire to a leaf and chill out for a while.


Good thread though .

Thanks for all of the awesome input. I agree, SRC I wouldn't ever chance my bettas with ANYTHING. They live alone, but can see eachother through the holes in the background paper dividers on occasion, so they aren't bored. But some people want to keep bettas with other things, so they might as well know what will work, and what will cause you to have dead fish in a matter of hours.

I really don't know how I missed this thread the first time... I'll have to disagree with you, Wuv. 15 girls is too many for a 20. There's the rule of 1" of fish per gallon of water. Girls like to have thier territory. The odds of getting 15 girls that will get along perfectly is slim to none. I have a 20 gallon high which holds 7 girls, 2 white tip tetras (only because they came with the tank), a small spotted cory and a clown pleco. Honestly, I would only think about putting one more female betta in there. I'm probably going to get rid of the tetras when I'm done quarantining my neon lite tetras.

And yes, no more than 6 in a 10-gallon, no less than 4. It really just depends on your females, I guess. I have one who's quite the alpha female. And I have another that just sits in the shadows in the back of the tank.

Anywho, back to the actual topic at hand. Ok, good tankmates... peaceful tetras (white tip, neon lite, etc), cories, small plecos, some mollies. Nothing aggressive or with flowy tails. Honestly, girl bettas are just like middle school girls. Fine one moment and freaking out the next.

about a month, they are fine with each other

After yesterday I don't believe there is any foolproof tankmate for a betta. Booker had been in his community tank for almost 2 months when he attacked and killed my golden gourami and my female guppy last night. (See my BE WARNED post) PLEASE, anyone, if you don't want your other fish to die, take your betta out of community tanks. I'd hate for anyone else to go through this, and I'd hate for anymore fish to die because, "they've been fine together so far."

Edited for spelling -

This post has been edited by eudielynn: Jun 28 2005, 05:15 PM

Actually, I have found a foolproof tankmate, ANY freshwater fish can be put with a betta...just make sure you put dividers in the tank first!

whould a guppy be ok to go in with an extremly stupid betta?(stupid in a good way like whouldent harm a fly)

Guppies aren't a good idea because of their colors and fins. It's best to have something dull colored ... and fast.

Dull colored and fast...hmm, that sounds like a danio I've never heard if danios are OK with bettas, but IMO, if in doubt, leave it out.

some one said that these are the only excepted tank mates for bettas:

Well, IMO, I wouldn't put a lot of those things with a betta. Actually, I don't put ANYTHING with bettas. And I won't. I'm not one to gamble. But it CAN be done if you are super careful.

bala sharks get HUGE!!! so who ever it was (cant member) that said that is S-T-O-O-P-I-D

All I am going to say to this is that is really not a nice thing to say about anyone. I don't know enough about balas and how they interact with a betta, so I will not comment about their compatiablility. However, if you read the list, almost at the bottom it says a betta can be kept with a Plecostomus. I believe this to be true because pleco's are very dull in colouring, are bottom feeders and pretty much keep to themselves. They get huge too. I don't think it has so much to do with the size of the fish, but more to do with the fishes attitude and how they would interact with a betta.

Personally I would not keep a betta with anything except adf's. And even then it would depend on the temperment of the betta. They have been bred to be loner fish, so that is what I do, I keep them alone.

bala sharks are agressive though... and plecos arent!! (well some)

That is fine. And a valid reason to say balas and bettas should not be kept together. Your original argument was they get huge. You then insulted someone. IMO that is wrong and uncalled for. As what I am thinking is totally off topic, I am going to stop typing.

One thing about White Clouds, though, is that they are coolwater fish, and shouldn't be kept above 75 degrees (that's the high range for their safe zone). So, if a person wanted to keep them with Bettas, the compromise would have to be 75 degrees, which isn't bad for the Betta, and isn't bad for the Clouds.

Balas are much too large, and much too aggressive, to be kept with Bettas.

Barbs and Tetras are BIG no-nos (too nippy).

Guppies, Mollies, Swordtails, and Platies simply DO NOT work in the long run. They either nip, or get nipped on.

Ghost Shrimp get eaten joyfully.

Snails sometimes get eaten, depending on type.