How Would A Non-Agressive Betta Do With Neon Tetras?

[Elena]

At the moment I have my lovely turquoise betta with some cory catfish and a few snails, he's not tried to attack them once he has a pretty good temperament for a betta. He enjoys watching them at the bottom and I always find the cory's and betta sharing a flake of food together its cute. I'm thinking about adding some neon tetra but I'm worried because my last betta killed every single one or it might even be the other way round and I might find the neon's picking at his tail. I'm just wondering if anyone's kept them together and how it went?
 
The tank is 90 litres.

 

[TallTree01]

I wouldn't reccomend it. The neons would almost surely nip on his tail. I'd rather go for a more friendly species instead like harlequin rasboras or celestial pearl danios

 

[Ninjouzata]

I agree with TT. Neons are known to be nippy towards bettas (and other fish), I've seen my neons nip at my peacock gudgeons.
 
What do you feed besides flake? Not trying to imply anything but cories would be better with a sinking shrimp pellet and flakes aren't the best for bettas as they can cause bloat, so a good quality betta pellet would be better.
 
I think the harlequin rasboras would be a lovely addition. Be aware though that the betta may not like them..the cories are bottom dwellers so don't get into his space much but harley's will be closer to where he likes to swim/hang out.

 

[Elena]

Thanks guy, I didn't think the tetras would be the perfect match either, I'm more worried about the tetras picking at the betta. I think I will go for the Harlequin Rasboras then, I think the betta will be fine with them as long as they don't pick at his tail, I find him with the cory's all the time so looks like he enjoys the company.
 
Yeah I feed him pellets, I put algae wafers in for the snails and cory he has a nibble at that too.
 
Thanks again for the info

 

[Ninjouzata]

The cories should get shrimp pellets not algae wafers, so would pick some of those up. Just make sure your betta doesn't get too fat..I need to figure out what to do with mine now that he's discovered I give food to the cories and snails

 

[majerah1]

If you get a large enough group of any schooler even the harlequins, they will nip the betta. 

 

[Elena]

I was thinking 5 Harlequins? That way they wont get too over confident.

 

[Ninjouzata]

I thought if kept in proper numbers most fish would settle down and keep bickering to their own groups (usually)? It's recommended to have at least 6, Elena.
 
I wanted to clarify about me saying the harlequins being a lovely addition..if you are going to get another type of fish no matter what, I'd much rather see those than neons with your betta.
But I personally only put cories/other bottom dwellers (like plecs, and maybe whiptails in the future) with mine as there's just less chance of the betta getting picked on.
 
So be sure if you do add them, keep a close eye on all of them and have a back-up plan if something goes wrong
When looking at other fish to add as well, check their temperature range as most fish don't like it as warm as bettas do, and keeping them at their max range or above their max range can lead to a shorter lifespan.

 

[majerah1]

My experience with rasboras and tetras are in large numbers they get mean. I had to bring my full sized angels home and my juvinile ocellatas home from my dads tank because the tetras would gang up on them. They get territorial and flank the other fish. Rasboras did better than tetras but still caused a headache for the other fish. But these were in numbers of about 30 tetras and 15 rasboras.