Tank Mates for Betttas

[FishEnthusiast]

Hi,

I was thinking of buying a male and female betta. I have a 5G tank all ready for them. What I want to know is, do I need more than one female? Can I put anything else in the tank with them? I have a dwarf gourami looking for a new home, can I put him in with the bettas? Will the 5G be overstocked if I have 3 fish in it?

 

[BettaMomma]

You can NOT put a male and female betta together in a 5G tank.
One or both of them will end up severely injured or dead.

As far as what you could put with either of those 2 bettas in that tank (separately, of course - not both of them)... hmm, that's a tough one. I would say probably not much except a lot of people go for ghost shrimp or african dwarf frogs.

I also tried 2 female bettas in a 5G tank - that does NOT work either. You'll always have one aggressor and one that gets picked on. To get enough females in that tank so the aggression is spread out, you'd need to get at least 4 total, and that's too many for that size of tank.

 

[FishEnthusiast]

Can I put one male and the dwarf gourami together, or would there be aggression? I am willing to put only one male in the tank, but I thought they would like the company of a female. As you can tell, I am new to this, and just want to do it right. Thanks for letting me know they would hurt each other. I don't want that to happen.

I would really like a male and some females, maybe I need to buy another tank, hmmm. Who knew fish keeping would be so addictive.

 

[newfishies]

you really should not ever put a male and female together. you will hear of the occasional success story, but the failures far outnumber the successes. if you want more than one betta, your best bet is a 10 gal female community (4-6 females, NO males!)
i wouldn't put any gourami's and bettas together as they are closely related and would probably fight as well!
bettas are solitary animals in the wild, and don't *want * company, although we, as social animals think that they do!

 

[FishEnthusiast]

Ok,

I guess I will only get a male and house him in the 5G. It has some silk plants right now, but I will add a cave and some other toys so he won't be bored. I may wait, but I see so many beautiful fish mistreated at so many different stores and that makes it really difficult not to buy them. Big Al's is the only place I have seen them in anything resembling a good home, and even then, it is only a small glass bowl. The nurturer in me comes out every time I go look at fish(a favourite hobby of mine). But.... you can't rescue them all....

 

[GSD]

they do better on their own,sometimes you can put a snail,adf or even white colud minnows in with them.and cories do great with bettas

 

[FishEnthusiast]

My 5G has snails in it already, I keep finding them in my 55G and rehousing them to the 5G cause it has no live plants in it. my 55 also has 2 ADF's. I am sure I can talk my hubby into buying one more, he loves them. Thanks all.

 

[Kiarra]

Sometimes Bettas don't get along so great with the frogs, I've noticed. A few of my male Bettas have taken very mean nips at my frogs, but most of them haven't. My females, surprisingly, have never taken a single nip at the frogs.

I've never seen a single problem with housing Bettas with Cory Cats. Mine are Albino Cory Cats, but I don't think that would make a difference.

Some people say that Bettas get along famously with Mollies and Platies. I don't know about Platies, but my female got along fine with Mollies...it was one of the Mollies that didn't get along with her. I found her hiding in a corner with the Molly trying to nibble on her. Needless to say, she came out of that tank pretty quick.

Guppies are generally a bad choice for housing Bettas with. I have one male who doesn't mind Guppies at all, but my male Guppy considered the Betta a threat to HIS manhood, and took a little bitty Guppy-sized bite out of my Betta's tail. The Betta now no longer lives in that tank.

As for housing Bettas with Gouramis, I wouldn't really recommend it. That said, I'm currently doing it. Of course, I didn't know they were Gouramis when they went in that tank, but they are two Croaking Gouramis living with 5 female Bettas and 3 African Dwarf Frogs. However, it's very risky, and I watched them almost nonstop for days before I felt comfortable leaving them together.

Sometimes Bettas try to eat snails. The same goes for Ghost Shrimp. If you intend to put the species together, it's something you'll need to be aware of. In the case of snails, there have instances where the snail has closed its "trapdoor" (for lack of me knowing the real term), and the Betta's nose has been stuck in there. Hasn't happened to me. Probably only happens like a one in a million shot. But it's always something to be aware of.

White Cloud Mountain Minnows. Usually, as long as they aren't bite-size, the Betta doesn't mind them a bit. USUALLY. Each Betta is different, of course.

Zebra/Leopard Danios. If not kept in the proper numbers (6+), sometimes they nip. Many times kept with female Bettas as a dither fish, to keep the female Bettas from nipping on each other. This is because they zip back and forth all day long, and their activity distracts the female Bettas from their behavior. That's the theory behind it, anyway. This is a tricky pairing. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the Betta goes after the Danios, and sometimes they go after the Betta.

 

[Elise]

In my experience, my male bettas have never liked company other than having a tank near by them. While my two females hang out with the male guppy in their tank. One of my friends mentioned she once had a male who could be with all kinds of fish and wouldn't mind because he was so mellow. But she also mentioned her newest male can't be placed with anything else because he's too fiesty. Just remember nippy fish are not a good choice for a species of fish who tends to be territorial. And lots of hiding places are always a good thing.

 

[red_fish_blue_fish]

Alot of fish like to eat the fins of Bettas, and Betta fish have a tendancy to kill Fancy Tail Guppies. Maybe it is the tail. I have had great luck with tiney Zebra Danios, but only in a ten. I really think a five is too small to hold multiple fish, unless you get into breeding Guppies. I have had them breed even in a glass jar!!! Gourami's can be aggressive fish, and sometimes do not play well with others. The Betta will not get lonely. But if you wanted, you could go out and but some plastic canvas to make a tank divider with, cut it to size, and secure it, then you could put a male and female in the same tank without worrying about death. plastic canvas is cheap, and some handy stuff to have around. You can pick it up at any Walmart in the craft section for next to nothing.

 

[xanthianacid]

i wouldn't put any gourami's and bettas together as they are closely related and would probably fight as well!
bettas are solitary animals in the wild, and don't *want * company, although we, as social animals think that they do!

It's another thing I have found in my experience that differs from other's.

My Dwarf Gourami's go great with female Betta's and some males, depending on thier temperment. I have one tank with a dwarf and a female, they ignore each other, before different fish same combo they built bubble nests together. In a much bigger tank Mr Personality (a male Betta) lives harmoniously amongst a 3 spot, a blue and a dwarf gourami very happily. Not to mention in that tank is also three angels, a pictus, a juvi salmon tail, a schoal of cardinals, and two red tail black sharks. This particular tank remains the most peaceful tank I've ever seen.

Cheers, Xan

 

[Inchworm]

Hi FishEnthusiast

Bettas get along fabulously with cory cats because their territory is on the top of the tank and the corys live on the bottom. There is no natural conflict.

I have them in some of my cory tanks and they are a delight to watch. I also think they benefit, not necessarily from the companionship, (the corys ignore them) but from having some activity in the tank to keep them interested and alert.
They do spend a lot of time following the corys and watching what they do, and I even had one that would go into their cave with them.

Unfortunately, a 5 gallon tank is too small for them because corys are schooling fish and you should have no fewer than three of them, but if you ever get a 10 gallon, it would work out very well.

 

[Eunen_de]

I recently put a Betta in a 20g with four Danios and so far it is fine. The Danios bicker and leave the Betta alone. Personally I think Bettas are smart and get bored. In nature other types of fish must swim through their territories all the time. If every Betta tried to fight every fish in it's territory they would be exhausted. Territory is mostly about breeding rights and room for the male to raise fry. They will definately defend a nest with eggs and fry though so you couldn't breed them in a mixed tank without risking injuries.

Males in the wild have territories that overlap those of at least one female (more if they can defend it). That's a bigger area than most people's tanks. If you could afford a big enough tank a male and some females could work. 5g is ok for one Betta.

Bettas mostly seem to get picked on by other fish and aren't the aggressor. Some are stressed by fast, zippy fish. Other than that it seems to be very individual.

 

[FishEnthusiast]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I have decided to return both my serpae tetras and buenos aires tetras and use the store credit for a beautiful betta, some sand and a hood for my tank. If I can not find a hood that will fit my tank, what else can I use? I know bettas are extremely good jumpers, and I really don't want to find him outside of his tank one day.

 

[BettaMomma]

Hmm...
what shape/size is your tank again?