Acceptable betta tankmates

[Sheridanp]

I know White Skirt Tetras and Lemon Tetras are non-agressive, are you sure all tetras are bad?

 

[Suriliel]

Hmm okay, I read most of this thread (skipped a few pages) and there's definitely a lot of good information in there.. but I think (and this is just my opinion, no rants please) people should stop saying you ABSOLUTELY CANNOT PUT THESE WITH THESE.. and so on.. as that is NOT true... you never know with fish, they ARE unpredictable.. and just because the general assumption about a species is that it's aggressive, that doesn't mean they all are. Same goes for the other way around, passive fish can decide to one day be aggressive as well. I had 3 koi with a couple small goldfish (less than one inch goldfish, 3 inch koi) and the goldfish ate all the one koi's fins off and consequently the koi died. Maybe I'm completely wrong about goldfish but I assumed they were fairly passive fish. As for bettas, I had 1 male and 2 females in my large tank with an oscar, clown loaches, rainbow shark, a lobster, dragon goby, some goldfish, and a few others (can't remember exactly what else was in there at the time).. and rarely did the bettas or any other fish even get nipped at. Of course with almost any mix of fish there's going to be a bit of territorial fin nipping, but I barely even noticed any at all. The only reason I moved my bettas is that I was planning on getting a couple more aggressive fish that also get a bit larger so I moved the bettas out since they stay small and don't need as much space. They're now in the tank with the 2 koi, 2 cory's, a pleco and a really tiny jack dempsey, and still NO problems at all. Even having the male with the females.. he chases them around on occasion but there's no fin nipping at all. So please guys, I know you're usually just giving suggestions, but stop saying it absolultey positively CANNOT be done, because that's NOT true.

End of rant

Again, lots of good ideas about bettas though

 

[jarmado]

IMO, fishes only get nippy when the water quality is not good and they are not fed well...
and do not have enough numbers of their own species to play with..

 

[Cobe27]

After careful consideration I moved one of my bettas into a tank with some white clouds and some female mollies (the mollies will be moving v soon to another tank). He had been in his own tank for quite a while and seemed quite depressed and didn't swim about much, unlike my other betta who loves his own tank. It had only been a few days and I will be keping a close eye on the situation but so far so good. THe minnows couldn't be less interested and he is swimming around so much more. I guess like everyone says, it just depends on the nature of each fish.

 

[Dark_Lenne]

I have 11 Neons living with my Betta, They usually stay away from him...

 

[walker001]

For the most part it seems like luck. Or maybe just the fishes personality. I have a blue betta that is in with 2 cories and 2 female and 1 male guppy. Been in that tank for months. They are happy as can be.

Tried to put my pink betta in my other community tank, and 5 seconds in was swarmed by my 5 black skirt tetras nipping at his fins to the point they cornered him in the tank and i didnt even have to try to net him. He was ready to get out. Hard to say. I am thinking about getting one of those plastic suction cupped breeder boxs, and if I can find one large enough, put him in it and see if they acclimate after a while and get used to each other.

Fishes are just odd little critters. But critters with personality.

Walker

 

[Jonz]

I have a 10 gallon that was divided in 1/2 with a betta and Corys catfish on both sides(I like having a bottom feeder in all my tanks. Iused to have 2 but are down to one now).

One of the Corys died awhile back and last week, one of my bettas got sick. I took out the Betta and kept him in my small tank for his final days and removed the barrier.

Although I would love to save more Bettas, the barrier was a algae magnet and I decided to give one betta free run of the place.

I got a second Cory and also got 2 danio zebras. Its been a week and all are getting along fine. Ive spent hours watching them and they havent bothered the betta and vice vera.

However Bettas do have personalities and all are different. My betta that just died hated snails and would always kill them, this one doesnt mind them.

Becuase the other fish are always zooming around I give the Betta lots of places to chill - 2 caves and plenty of plants to hang out in if he wants to get away from the smaller crazier fish for awhile.

But everything has been great so far. Danios and Corys are dull in color and the Betta doesnt even bother with them. Ive even seen the Corys resting with the Bettas on occassion.

Ive had Corys with Bettas for years, the Danios is a first time for me. The Betta that just died would occassionally chase the Corys if the Cory annoyed him, but he never hurt him. they shared a tank for almost a year.Im tempted to get one more small fish but Im still keeping a eye on these guys.

All Bettas are different,but if u have a mellow calm Betta, danios and corys should be fine. If hes aggressive, he should prob be alone.

 

[Kuroku]

Angels and betas?
yes / no ?

In my experiance, I had a beautiful blue male Betta. Then I got an Angelfish. It wasn't long before my Betta was badly injured by this Angelfish. The Angel not leaving him alone for a second. Fortunately my parents were willing to take the Angel in but I could not save my poor Betta.

So I didn't think it was a good idea for Angels to be kept with Bettas. But Angels I thought had a tendancy to be aggressive when they got older (mine was a young one though). My parents have had nothing but bad experiences with them.

 

[daspricey]

well
this mite of been mentioned but theres toooooo much 2 read for me.

Q: Can a Betta live with white cloud mountain minnows?

A: no
white cloud mountain minnows at the most can take 23*c and bettas at the least can take 24*C.
not a good option imho.

david

 

[RESGuy]

Can a betta live with shrimp? Amano Shrimp or Ghost Shrimp? Those are two kinds of shrimp I want in with my Betta

Thanks!

 

[daspricey]

try and get the shrimp as big as poss.
they should be ok.

david

 

[Jonz]

A update from my earlier post from July 31.

Everyone is still there. Heres the only "incidents" Ive seen ...

When the Betta was resting in a tree, a Danio gave one of his long fins a tug. The Betta whipped around and flarred and the Danio took off. This happened the day after I posted previously. Havent seen any nipping at all since, and I watch them every night.

I put in a African Dwarf Frog. The Betta was checking him out and gave him a nudge when the frog first went in and hasnt bother with him again. A week and no problems with the frog.

So right now in a well planted tank its

1 Betta
3 Cory Catfish
3 Danios
1 African Dwarf Frog

 

[Mako Man111]

I used to have my male vt in a tank with 6 zebra danios. All was well for a few weeks, until I dropped a sinking food tablet in. I also have 2 ottos so every once in a while I put one in for them. Well as usual, my zebra danios swarmed it and pecked at it, but then my betta found it Well he would take runs at the danios to try and scare them off but this time my long finned zebra danio didn't budge and my betta took a nice sized bite out of one of his fins. The danios have since been moved to my brothers tank. The ottos still remain do to them hiding in plants most of the time and minding thier own buisness. My betta seems to ignore them, unlike the danios that he always seemed bugged were in 'his' tank.

EDIT: Woahh just as I finish typing this I see my betta chasing and flaring at one of my ottos He never even flared at my danios. He must have gotten too close. Luckily my ottos get the message and get out of there, unlike my rather bold danios.

 

[Laroawan]

Would a docile betta be okay with Harlequin Rasboras?
He's fairly gentle and has lived fine with cory cats before.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

Would a docile betta be okay with Harlequin Rasboras?
He's fairly gentle and has lived fine with cory cats before.

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