how many?

[Sgooosh]

how many small schooler fish can i fit in a 15gal with one betta?
blackwater tank
im thinking maybe Neon Tetras? Small Rasboras?

edit: fit as in how many can i have in there that everyone is comfortable like low-medium stocking

 

[itiwhetu]

So, you want fish that stay near the bottom of the tank away from the betta. My pick for you is either Cherry Barbs or Checker Barbs. You could have ten of them. What I would do is buy six fish and watch them breed in the bottom part of your tank.

 

[GaryE]

I'm not a big cherry barb fan, but I do like Rasbora heteromorpha, the harlequin. It has similar temperature needs to a Betta splendens, won't nip and likes a planted tank a lot. As long as you do weekly water changes, you could have 8.

Cherry and checker barbs are great fish, but we all suggest what we like to look at!.

If you can get the really small Rasboras, Bororas, you could have ten.

 

[Rocky998]

I'm definitely following this thread, as I am still curious on what fish I may be able to fit in my tank that has more water than this but the same foot print as a 20g

 

[Sgooosh]

I'm definitely following this thread, as I am still curious on what fish I may be able to fit in my tank that has more water than this but the same foot print as a 20g

O yea if you have a sand bottom you can get pygmy cory
I have smooth rocks tho

I'm not a big cherry barb fan, but I do like Rasbora heteromorpha, the harlequin. It has similar temperature needs to a Betta splendens, won't nip and likes a planted tank a lot. As long as you do weekly water changes, you could have 8.

Cherry and checker barbs are great fish, but we all suggest what we like to look at!.

If you can get the really small Rasboras, Bororas, you could have ten.

So, you want fish that stay near the bottom of the tank away from the betta. My pick for you is either Cherry Barbs or Checker Barbs. You could have ten of them. What I would do is buy six fish and watch them breed in the bottom part of your tank.

thanks do rasboras and boraras breed too
Could i get like other rasbora since i already hace a nice school of harlequins going?

 

[Byron]

how many small schooler fish can i fit in a 15gal with one betta?

Answer is none, if this is a male betta. Bettas are not community fish and this is only asking for trouble and putting the fish (the betta and/or the others) at risk.

Edit. After posting this, low and behold, I come to yet another thread with proof why this is not advisable.

Betta has had enough!

My betta's tail has been nipped again by the Cardinals. Thankfully he's obviously had enough as he's flaring and chasing them around the tank. About time! He's far too docile normally.

www.fishforums.net

 

[itiwhetu]

O yea if you have a sand bottom you can get pygmy cory
I have smooth rocks tho


thanks do rasboras and boraras breed too
Could i get like other rasbora since i already hace a nice school of harlequins going?

The important thing here is the fish you add need to live in the bottom of the tank. Rasboras tend to be mid water fish.

 

[GaryE]

I kept Rasboras and Bettas together for years. They never nipped. Some tetras of various sorts did, and livebearers, yikes. betta fins look like decaying plants to them, and once they taste, they go back. Nippy tetras nipped.

But in the right set up, Betta splendens that are able to swim (not the completely incapacitated expensive ones) are fine community fish. You just have to research the community carefully. No fin nippers. Midwater shoalers were fine, and even rummy nose and glowlight (NOT Glo-tetras - I mean the natural one) tetras made solid tankmates, for years.
Until about 20 years ago, Bettas in shops around here were usually found swimming in sales tanks with other species - one male with a huge number of tetras or rasbora, Corys, etc. The selling in cups only really took off when Bettas became super popular and space became an issue.

Bettas tend to be too slow to catch tankmates, and lose interest fast unless the tank is too small for the fish in it.

I bred wild caught Betta splendens from Laos, and close to wild form pla-kat from Thailand. In both cases, in larger tanks, as I raised the fry into adulthood, I had large Betta communities with multiple males. The psycho fighting may be because they were bred for gamblers, and selected for maximum aggression.
The first generation from the wild males all had territories and did a lot of showing off to scare each other, but as long as I didn't move things around to mess with their turfs, they got along pretty well - better than the males of the Apistogramma dwarf cichlids I was growing out.

I'm not trying to be a contrarian, but these are things I did for 40 years when I used to have community tanks. Over that time, since I have almost always had several tanks, I must have kept 30 Bettas with never an issue with non livebearer (mollies like fins...) tankmates. I never kept them with the nippers, like silver tips, ternetzi (the one used to make glo tetras), zebras danios, or many of the barbs. I did my homework first, since I find reading about fish to be fun.