New Tanks Mates!

[frostpixie]

daniel and mckay have "welcomed" some new tankmates!

last week, i was on a hunt to see what other friends daniel and mckay could have in their bowls... i tried ghost shrimp, put three in each bowl.... daniel ate all of his new friends and mckay chased 2 down and the other just died cause he crawled into a small space and couldnt get out....


so yesterday i went out and got apple snails.... daniel i think might be picking on the one snail and mckay is happy that he has a new friend....


question: should i be worried if they dont take right away to the snails??

 

[Monty2451]

Wow, ummmmmmm. First of all what size tanks are your guys in? From the pics it looks like steryotypically small betta bowls, if this is the case, you definitely shouldn't have anything in there, including the bettas themselves. The bettas should be in a 2-5 US gallon tank but absolutely nothing less than 1 US gallon for any length of time. If you have them in anything less than a 5 gallon, no tank mates would really work. If they are in a five gallon or bigger, the snails as well as a cory or 2 would be ok, other than that, not too much, and definitely nothing flashy like guppies, tetras, barbs or gouramis.

 

[Amunet]

Wow, ummmmmmm. First of all what size tanks are your guys in? From the pics it looks like steryotypically small betta bowls, if this is the case, you definitely shouldn't have anything in there, including the bettas themselves. The bettas should be in a 2-5 US gallon tank but absolutely nothing less than 1 US gallon for any length of time. If you have them in anything less than a 5 gallon, no tank mates would really work. If they are in a five gallon or bigger, the snails as well as a cory or 2 would be ok, other than that, not too much, and definitely nothing flashy like guppies, tetras, barbs or gouramis.

Gotta agree with Monty except for the cory part.

Even in a 5 gallon, you shouldn't have cories. They're a schooling fish and like to be in a group of 6+ so getting a single one or 2 is a bad idea.

 

[frostpixie]

my guys are in a gallon+ they've been swimming fine for now in it they get partial water changes daily and a full water change weekly

here are pics of the boys meeting their tank mates

daniel meets sheldon

mckay meets leonard

sorry the photo's are kinda blurry....

 

[Amunet]

I'd be a bit hesitant to add in any more occupants to such a small area. Decent for a single betta, but I think adding anything else would make the betta become very territorial.
All depends on the fish though. I'd say if a betta has already killed previous occupants, it would probably be best not to add in anything else w/ the fish.

 

[Monty2451]

I agree with Amunet. I tried putting a single ghost shrimp in with my older veiltail and the shrimp didn't even get out of the bag before he started barraging it. One time he hit the bag so hard it fell out of the tank and on to the floor. Needless to say, with nothing else to do with the shrimp I put him in the tank and Alpha Betta had a nice meal.
So I've never even tried to put anything else with him, and I probably never will even when he gets into a larger tank, it's just not in his nature to share his space.

 

[1stbetta]

I have 4 cories with my Betta and they never seem to want anything to do with each other, always on opposite ends of the tank and such. It's 10 gallons, BTW, so not overcrowded, and he pretty much leaves them alone. But yeah, I've never seen mine act like they want to school with each other, it's odd.

 

[Amunet]

I have 4 cories with my Betta and they never seem to want anything to do with each other, always on opposite ends of the tank and such. It's 10 gallons, BTW, so not overcrowded, and he pretty much leaves them alone. But yeah, I've never seen mine act like they want to school with each other, it's odd.

From what I've read and observed in my own tank... the cories usually go their own way when they feel comfortable. But when spooked (like when I do water changes or have my hand in the tank) they'll school w/ eachother.
When they feel comfy in their surroundings they don't really school. They still like to have company of their own kind though. Just b/c they're not typical schooling fish, doesn't mean they don't need more of their own as company.

 

[joycould]

Snails are poop machines and can mess up a tank in a hurry, also I had a betta that ate the eye stocks off a large snail. Most of my tanks have pond snails in them because they are planted but most get eaten when they are small.