betta + cories?

[clutterydrawer]

I'm just interested to know if anyone here has ever kept a betta with corydoras. I told me friend it'd be fine to put panda corydoras with her betta as I'd never heard anything to suggest it wouldn't be. We put them in today and the betta went mad, flaring at the cories and chasing them every which way!

Is this normal? do you reckon he'll calm down after a bit? if he doesn't it's no big deal cos I can take them home for my own tank, just wondering whether it's a common occurence

 

[tstenback]

that exact combination is what i have in 2 - 5 gals. the betta will flare at any new addition but once its deemed to not be a threat they usually leave it alone. They will flare at them from time to time but it ends there with mine anyway. Also make sure the cories have somewhere to get away in case the betta is overly aggressive. HTH

 

[BronzeWolf]

I have 4.5 gallon tanks with one male betta and 3 cories, the first week they were in he was ok but a few days ago he got frisky and kept on flaring and chasing them especially when i have left and algae wafer on the bottom. Someone suggested i put down a darker coloured substrate because at the moment i have white coloured stones, which helps them to be a bit more camoflauged and I'm out looking for a cave like structure for them to be able to hide in. The last couple of days he has eased up on the chasing, but he is still very aware that "things" are swimming in his tank, I'm keeping an eye on it all and if things get to stressful i will go to plan B (dont know what it is yet..lol) anyway the other day i went to the LFS and wanted to get something for my other betta tank, i had heard that African Dwarf Frogs were not such a good idea so i got a Bristlenose Catfish, my betta seems undisturbed by him cause he dosent swim around the tank, he only moves over his bogwood which he chomps all day or is on the tank wall so most of the time he is still or camoflaged. I think this is a better choice for a betta.
If you had an otto or a plec you only need one of them where as cories are shoaling fish and you need at least 3 of them.

 

[endparenthesis]

I have a betta and 5 cories in a 10 gallon. Only 'conflict' I've seen is the fact that he doesn't like not being able to eat their food. I've already caught him carrying an algae pellet around in his mouth.

 

[clutterydrawer]

hhmmmm, thanks everyone. I've divided the tank in two temporarily as the cories are tiny babies and had just been on a long bus ride so i don't want them to have any more unnecessary stress. Once they've settled in I'm gonna take the divider out. (lucky i have my friend's doorkey hmm? ). i did notice while i was hastily constructing the divider that the betta seemed to be easing off on them a bit, so hopefully it'll all be fine. thanks again

BronzeWolf, are you sure about ottos? Cos everything I've read suggests they're shoaling fish...

 

[BronzeWolf]

I do apologise I recklessly put that in without any knowledge of ottos and their habitat, if what you have read about ottos suggest they are shoaling fish then yes they would need to be in a group.

 

[Teelie]

I have a 30 gallon with 11 Cory and a male Betta with no problems and before that two females were in there with no problems. Well the only problem was they got fat eating the food the Cories were meant to eat so they had to move into their own jars.

 

[Aqua_Princess64]

Some people say that corys are the best fish to put with bettas because neither need or can have salt and bettas normally stay at the top and corys at the bottom.
~Aqua~

 

[endparenthesis]

Bettas can have plenty of salt.