Stocking 10 Gallon Tank W/ Betta

[ozzkilledtoto]

I have a 29 and 10 gallon tank both have been running for quite some time.. the 10 gallon is kinda ugly and boring and just has a bunch of baby guppys in and like 3 females and a male... i wana get rid of all of them, give away to the lfs or something and re decorate, re scape, plant the tank a bit, and get a nice betta. What would be some suitable and interesting tank mates?

 

[BethK]

Tetras, corys, other smaller catfish like BN's. You going with a male betta or female? If you get a female, you can have a few in there.

 

[lilfishie]

i wouldnt go tetras as they can be nippy, or the BN pleco as they make an awful lot of mess.
tank mates can be pretty much hit and miss with bettas especially males.
cories seem to be good choices though

 

[Jenste]

for a 10 gallon tank why not try this

- betta
- 3-5 african dwarf frogs,
- 3-5 marbled hatchetfish


i think that would look different!

 

[BethK]

i wouldnt go tetras as they can be nippy, or the BN pleco as they make an awful lot of mess.
tank mates can be pretty much hit and miss with bettas especially males.
cories seem to be good choices though

Tetras are OK, if they are given the room, which a 10 gal will do my tetras were ok with my male betta, in a 30ltr, which I think is 8gals.

 

[ozzkilledtoto]

cory's it is!

 

[silverrabbit]

Wouldn't generally trust tetras.. or neons anyway. "rescued" a blue VT from the clutches of a bunch of nasty neons in Maidenhead a little while ago... fins almost totally munched away Having said that, i've had great success with rummynose tetras in the past, no bullying from either party

I think corys would be cool. I love the albinos, they are so hyper and fun to watch. ADF's are also great, but you'd have to make sure to hand feed them with a betta in the tank, as they have poor eyesight and won't see their food (bloodworms) until the betta had finished it all off lol.

Could have a couple of pitbull plecs... smaller than BN's and to me are really cute! They need sand though

 

[BethK]

My tetras left my male VT alone but the 3 female bettas, both seemed to bully each other

My friend has taken my tetras for his 5ft tank, along with my BN. He got a new tank 2 months ago and now it's cycled, he hasn't got any fish. so I gave him my 5 black neons and my BN.

Now my 3 females have a tank to themselves and the male on his own. Got another 2 females to come though.

I think if you have a much bigger tank, then bettas pretty much get on with most unaggressive fish

 

[Assaye]

First off, don't get a BN plec. These guys get to 5 inches and should be kept in 30 inch (2.5 foot) tanks. A 10 gallon is too small for a full grown specimen. There are some small plecs that don't exceed 3 inches or so but they tend to be rare and expensive.

Secondly, having kept many bettas of many different personalities and in both dedicated tanks and community tanks, I can't emphasise enough how important it is to have a back-up tank for the betta if it doesn't work in a community or to only stock betta friendly species such as shrimp, pygmy corys and otocinclus.

The best bet is to stick to peaceful bottom feeders that don't exceed 1 inch or so (due to the small size of the tank). You obviously need to observe the social needs of the species you pick so pygmy corys, otos and shrimp should be kept in groups of 6 or more. Plecs (if you can find a 3 incher) can be kept alone. Species like african dwarf frogs and snails like to be kept in small groups (2-3) but can be kept singly.

If you don't have another small tank or you don't have space in your larger tank, avoid mid-swimming fish that could compete with the betta for space and territroy. Even "peaceful" fish like tetras and platies can be nippy and some bettas will become stressed at the slightest sign of competition, even if the fish involved are not an actual threat. Last thing you need is a bunch of tetras stripping the fins off the betta (as happened to me) or the beautiful betta hiding away in the plants all the time because it doesn't like how active the other fish are.

Here's my suggestion:

1 betta
10 red cherry shrimp (get adults to avoid them being eaten)
6 pygmy corys OR 3 african dwarf frogs

Avoid non-dwarf corys (maybe except for small species like pandas) as some can reach 3 inches as adults and do need their space!

Plant it up really heavily with lots of strong greens (to bring out the bettas colours) and add some floating plants (like amazon frogbit). Add a couple of hiding places (such as a terracotta pot and a small piece of bogwood) and voila! The plants can be silk or live - I prefer silks for betta tanks as they require no care but if you only have one betta tank, you'll have more time for plant maintenance.

 

[loraxchick]

i dont ever suggest frogs and bettas. frogs are difficult enough to get to eat regularly without the greedy bettas eating all their food. frogs are slow to sniff out their bloodworms, and we all know bettas cant resist. they will eat until they are too stuffed, and then bad things happen, all the while the frogs dont get their share. id avoid that combination.
and you could have a LOT more than 6 shrimp in a ten gal with a betta (a colony of shrimp of around 60+ would be just fine by themselves). even if you had say six pygmy cories, you could have a lot of shrimp! they add virtually no bioload. again, just make sure they get their share of food. but wait until the tank is cycled and "mature" (around 4 months after cycling) to add shrimp. they are quite sensitive to even small ammonia readings).
i agree some plants (live or silk) and i suppose a hidey hole (although ive tried with every betta ive owned and NONE of them ever used a "cave" or pot).
best of luck.
keep us posted
cheers

 

[Assaye]

i dont ever suggest frogs and bettas. frogs are difficult enough to get to eat regularly without the greedy bettas eating all their food. frogs are slow to sniff out their bloodworms, and we all know bettas cant resist. they will eat until they are too stuffed, and then bad things happen, all the while the frogs dont get their share. id avoid that combination.
and you could have a LOT more than 6 shrimp in a ten gal with a betta (a colony of shrimp of around 60+ would be just fine by themselves). even if you had say six pygmy cories, you could have a lot of shrimp! they add virtually no bioload. again, just make sure they get their share of food. but wait until the tank is cycled and "mature" (around 4 months after cycling) to add shrimp. they are quite sensitive to even small ammonia readings).
i agree some plants (live or silk) and i suppose a hidey hole (although ive tried with every betta ive owned and NONE of them ever used a "cave" or pot).
best of luck.
keep us posted
cheers

I think frogs are fine if the owner has patience to feed them properly. I always feed mine by hand, a worm at a time. They get all the food they need and the betta doesn't steal any. Of course, if the food is just popped in front of the frogs then the betta could steal a lot of it.

I also think it depends on the shrimp. My 10 was a kind of average. You could have loads of very small shrimp like red cherries I wouldn't go for as many as 60 but 30 doesn't seem absurd) but bigge shrimp need to be kept in smaller numbers. I have a full grown ghost shrimp (just those cheap ones you can get easily) and she's huge. I don't think 30 would even fit in a 10 gallon! OK, they probably would, but they are almost as big as my corys. I'd definitely only recommend 10-15 of those.