Bettas In A Community

[chesterscot]

Ive read a few posts about keeping fighters and the consensus seems to be keep them in a small planted tank on there own with maybe a few shrimps! Can they safely be kept in a community with other slow movin non nippin fish and be happy?

 

[littlest]

bettas can be kept in a community and kept happy, but it depends on two things, one of which you can control and one you can't:

1. the fish you keep with your betta. Like you said, slower non-fin-nipping fish, also, you don't want brightly coloured fish or fish with long flowing fins.

2. The betta's temperment. This is the one you can't control. Some bettas are pretty laid back, others won't tolerate any kind of tankmate and will try and attack it.

If you are going to try a betta in a community tank it's always best to have a small spare tank (2.5 gallons and up) which you can move the betta to if it doesn't work out.

So it is possible, but there are disadvantages: you will be very limited in what other fish you can keep and it may not work even if you do choose the right tankmates.

I've not kept a betta in a community tank, so I'll leave species suggestions for tankmates for someone else.

 

[twistedlink]

Im a newb, but ive had other family members keep fish all the time.

Ive never known 1 male in a big tank with other fish to ever be problematic, in fact the only problem is bettas like hot water, as a result you usually cant keep them in communities brilliantly, and if you make the water 25 C (what most fish are good in) it will just hang around the heater area all day anyway, thats what i noticed with bettas when i was a child and teen.

 

[stang1]

Many people have had success keeping a Betta in a community tank but there's also a lot of people who've had no luck at all. Bettas, as a whole, prefer their own company although you may get the odd one that tolerates tankmates.
Keeping a Betta in a community tank restricts stocking as they are liable to nip or be nipped. They can also become stressed having to share "their" tank space with anyone else. Another problem is filter flow as Bettas prefer little or no current whereas other fish need a decent amount of current in the tank.
I've heard many people say that they've had no problems and that their Betta has lived a good 8-12 months in a community tank. While they think that this is fine, Bettas can live up to 5 years.
I kept a Betta in a community tank with Neons when I first started out but he was nipped at constantly. I moved him out and he was a lot happier living in a 5G by himself. I now have a 3ft divided tank which houses four Bettas and they are active, healthy and hopefully, very happy!
As Littlest suggested, you can try it but just make sure you have a spare tank in case things don't work out.