New Fish Yay! Now Some Tankmates Questions... (sorry!)

[Doryfan]

Hi all, after some great advice on here for my 2nd tank have just got a pair of bolivian rams for my Juwel Rio 125L. They're absolutely beautiful and currently exploring the tank (with 4 platties that I had put in after cloning the tank from my Rio 240L).

As far as tankmates, was thinking about 8 (or so) cardinals + 6 (or so) glowlights. And maybe a group of cories. Does that sound good? Or any other combinations?

My girls were hoping for a betta - I've looked up on them and it seems that that they don't really go with other fish (reliably anyway). I really only want peaceful tanks but do love the colours of bettas. So I was thinking about a group of female bettas... Would they go with bolivian rams? And if they do, how many makes a good group?

Or should/could I do some rearranging to accommodate female betta... Rio 240L currently holds:

1 angelfish
8 harlequin rasbora
8 lemon tetra
5 platy
6 panda cory

Many thanks for reading on & any advice anyone has. Just have to say, this is a great forum. So and many thanks all

 

[loafybones]

I think the only problem with your existing fish would be the Angel.

My sister's got a male Betta in with Rasboras, Leopard Danios, Zebra Danios and a few other similar fish.

I don't really know too much about Bettas but I think that as long as you stick to the general rule of just having one male and no fin nippers it should be OK.

Hope this helps.

Loaf
X

 

[WILDER]

Wouldn't bother with the glowlites I find them to be boring fish.

Black neons get on great with harlequins and will shoal together.

 

[Tessla]

Not familiar with keeping the rams, but I have a few community bettas, the females are much more tolerant of community tanks than the males, good call on females. I haven't kept angelfish with bettas either, but I'd be careful with that mix. You'd want to be careful with the tetras and bettas, I have some neons in with a male in a ten gallon with no problems but it really depends on your fish. I've never had any troubles with cories, they seem to get along with just about everyone. No matter what you'll probably want a seperate tank for the bettas just in case. If you have your heart set on them, you might be better off investing in a small tank to keep a few females or a solitary male. (Careful! One small tank can become many small tanks, I have a ton of large spare bowls lying around "just in case" I spot an irresistable betta. )

I have two females together with no trouble, but three, or ideally five or more would be better so that they can sort out their pecking order. If you get a really bossy female, she'd be best off treated like a male and kept without other bettas. Usually you'll have better luck if your LFS keeps multiple female bettas in community tanks together than if you buy females housed alone. Make sure you have a slow moving spot in your tank too, my females will play in the filter current, but they prefer the slower moving water most of the time.

Hope that helps you with bettas, sorry I can't help with the rams.

 

[Glod]

Angels and Bettas are not a good mix, they both like to claim territory near the surface. I wouldn't advise Bettas in with your rams either. Both species are territorial and I suspect if your rams start breeding they'll go for the Bettas. Platys are brightly coloured and similar sized to Betta males which could cause conflict. At the end of the day it really depends on the temprement of the fish.

Generally I wouldn't reccomnd a Betta in a community tank. They do fine in a small tank on their own (e.g 5 gallon) for males or you could consider swapping the rams from your small tank with the corys from the large tank and setting up a sorority tank with a dozen Betta females. Corydoras are one of the few species that get on ok with Bettas more often than not. A sorority tank would need to be well planted with lots of caves and hidey holes for the girls to get some time outs.

The best option would probably be to make the 125 a cichlid tank with small cichlids which can have both bright colours and personality. Stick to south american cichlids tho if you do that.

*edit: hit enter too early...* And get a small tank to house a nice male Betta. Bettas are great fish with bags of personality. Keep him in a nice tank with clean water at a nice warm temperature and he'll very quickly have you under his fin.

 

[VampirePlec]

i have an angel and a betta together, the betta was put in very small (as a female) so grew up with all the fish and my angel is very placid. they also say you cant put bettas (even females) with dwarf gouramis, i have had both males n females with my dwarf gouramis. im not saying go out n do it cause it always works, im not cause im sure it doesnt, so far i have just been lucky. alot depends on the personality of the fish. you dont always have to go by the exact rules of fish keeping, they can be bent, but most of the time it is just trial and error for everyone! i cant keep any 'easy fish' like goldfish or platies or anything like that, i found the harder the fish to keep the easier lol. so like i said trial and error and the personality of the fish. my bf also has a male betta in with his blue rams and corys, rams are very peaceful and you can get some realy peaceful male bettas too, when you go to choose your fish (if a male betta) watch all of them for a while and its usualy realy easy to pick the peaceful ones. lol my bfs male betta is that happy in his tank he now thinks hes a cory n usualy swims n eats with thm. female bettas can also be worse than the males, iv had more troubles with females being agressive than males.

i hope this helps, and that it hasnt confused you because of what every one else has said, but these are just my experiances. good luck with your fish! and i hope you get your dream tank! ally.

 

[Doryfan]

Thanks for the advice everyone - sorry I haven't been on before to thank you but 1st me & then the rest of the family have been ill. I think I might have confused people so sorry for that too

The 240L has an angel, 5 platies, 8 harlies, 8 lemons & 6 panda cories. Wd like to get 2 more harlies - so then fully stocked?

The 125L currently has the 2 bolivian rams (I may have 2 males as it turns out but still not sure, no trouble yet) with 4 platies and have reserved 6 cardinals to pick up tomorrow to go with them. Would cardinals be ok with rams & platies?

I really like the idea of the dwarf cichlid tank - and really like blue rams & blue panda cichlid (Apistogramma panduro) so for that idea. I'll have to start hassling the cichlid forum

Will leave bettas for the third tank (still in my head, won't tell OH just yet!).

Thanks again
jen

ps re the rams, if I need to separate them, will 1 be ok in the 240L with the angel? are they ok on their own without another ram?