Male Betta Housed With Other Fish

[chestnutree]

Hi,

I thought i remembered reading and also being told, that female bettas can only be housed with certain other fish and males should be kept on their own. For this reason i haven't yet got one.

A friend came over the other day who has also recently started out in fish keeping. He went to pets@home looking at buying a betta. they asked him to fill out a form and list the fish he already has, i remember some of them being guppies but can't remember what others. After handing the form back they said he's able to stock a male betta in there. is that right? he has it now and all seems to be ok...

 

[Jonty]

depends on that Betta - some are ok, some aren't. Guppies fins can look like another betta, which is why it's not recommended. It also helps that the Betta was put in after the guppies, so is not defending his 'territory'.

 

[chestnutree]

if thats the case.... i have guppies, neon tetra's and tiger barbs. if i put a female betta in with these now, would she be ok?

 

[chesterscot]

in a word probably not tiger barbs are fin nippers and I'm surprised they arnt shredding your gupps
scot

 

[silverrabbit]

Yeah tiger barbs are evil to long-finned fish. I have some in my cichlid tank and they do turn, esp if they are not kept in large enough groups.

I think the female betta would be ok with the tetras and guppies - it's more the male bettas that pose a problem as tetras and guppies can nip at long fins (or the betta can turn on them).

Watch for aggression though, females can be as bad for it as a male!

 

[tom130691]

look at my sig
all the fish in the 64 get on with the betta fine

 

[Larkspur]

I had a smaller tank with danios and tiger barbs and when I put my betta in he was not in the tank more than a full second before my tiger barbs attempted a go at him. Later I discovered my danios (the tiger barbs were removed to another tank) were nipping (at least the most dominant one)

 

[chestnutree]

Thats a shame.

My tigers are in a group of 6. As they seem happy in their little group they have never once turned on the guppies. i've watched them for hours (im not sad honest,lol)

So if the tigers have never once touched the guppies, do you think it would be worth the risk...or strongly advise against it?

I've only had one trouble maker in my tank, 1 of the danios i had in there from the start. He was going for a lot of the other fish. Eventually my red tailed guppie got fed up of it and turned on him...doesn't do it as much now,lol

 

[silverrabbit]

6 is a good number for tiger barbs, they have enough of them to bicker amongst themselves haha.

I don't think i'd take the risk personally, but it's your choice. If you do, just keep a very close eye and have a spare tank ready