What Tank Mates Do You Have?

[JoshuaA]

Hello,

I'm looking for peoples experience with their tank mates what they have had and whether it worked or not. Please do not state something is unsuitable unless you know for DEFINITE rather than what you've heard the neighbours dogs cats kittens brother in law had as problems.

So at the moment I'm currently stocking 2 Apple Snails, 2 Cherry Shrimp and 4 Bronze Corys. I have a Betta in mind however I will be waiting a while until my shrimp have matured before thinking of putting the Betta in. I have also considered Neons to go in there as well but am a little weary of it.

So what are you experiences and what fish have you had as tank mates?

Horror and success stories welcome, based on YOUR experiences.

Finally I'm hoping to compile an accurate and helpful list here for myself and possibly other people. Of course personality has to be taken into account, so please include that in your description of experiences. After all when we buy the Betta we won't really know its personalities!

Thanks

- Joshua

 

[Evobe]

Cherry shrimp are often seen as not a good combo with a betta but the shrimp can out swim any betta anyway so there is no problem im just keeping corys with my betta atm.

 

[BethK]

Hi Joshua

What size is your tank again?

I have 5 Julii corys (leopard) and supposedly 9 Khuli loaches but only ever see 6

I would try to stay away from neon tetras, on the basis that they are brightly colored, tiny and move extremely fast. Maybe try a bigger tetra, black neons or cardinals but depends on tank size. I had black neons and they were fine with my male betta, shoaled where ever the betta wasn't lol They did try to wind him up every now and then but no fin nipping and as soon as he flared, they left well alone.

My Amano shrimp are fine with bettas, big enough that the bettas leave alone, Amanos are nifty when it comes to defending, right little fighters

IMO, tank mates are easier to fit in with 1 betta, pref a male, that a sorority of females but that is my own opinion.

It's a good idea to wait for your cherries to become mature, if you have a pair, you may not see many of their offspring surviving with a betta about but I am sure you know that. I know you've taken good care of your tank (been reading your threads), if you are able to, try to add a corner in the tank with pebbles (it gives the shrimp more hiding places).

 

[Channti]

I attempted to keep panda corydoras and neon tetras with a betta. The neons and corys were established in the tank before the betta was introduced. The betta, upon introduction, hunted down the neons and killed them off one by one. The corys were ten slowly hunted. He fatally injured one cory by ripping off it's dorsal fin, and the other two corys were rescued before he could do more damage.

The temperament of your betta makes a big difference. Not all bettas work with the same tank mates. My two bettas have very different temperaments. My Veil-Tail (who attacked the neon tetras and corys) is VERY hostile and aggressive. My Crowntail is very laid back and passive.

I keep my bettas on their own now; in a divided 5 gallon tank.

 

[JoshuaA]

See I'm worried about introducing it without any prior knowledge of it's temperament. How ever a 10g betta only tank will be quite bland.

 

[BethK]

See I'm worried about introducing it without any prior knowledge of it's temperament. How ever a 10g betta only tank will be quite bland.

LFS bettas, IMO are a little more ratty, buy from a breeder and get a less dom. tail. VT's I think are the grumpy lot, if you find a good breeder, ask them to pick a calm and submissive male, they will know what is what x

 

[JoshuaA]

So I was talking to my girlfriend before and she mentioned that the Betta I always comment on in my favourite LFS lives in a tank with on average 20/30 neons. The Betta is in great health and its finnage is beautiful.

Simply because the betta has lived with such fish and shows no real signs of stress or illnesses would it be reasonable to assume its personality is more accepting to some community fish?

Is this a good way of working out it's personality. After all I have actually seen this betta in that tank for about 6 weeks + at the bare minimum to what I remember.

 

[Channti]

I'd be more concerned about the welfare of the neons in the tank, not the betta's welfare. My betta chewed neons til they all died.

If it's living in a community tank in the LFS, it may be more tolerant to tankmates, but you also don't know if it is killing any of those tankmates. Just something to keep in mind. My LFS keeps a Female betta sorority with ONE male in the tank and neons. It's always a different male in the tank because the females rip him to shreds, and the neons always have nipped fins, but the LFS staff don't care too much about the welfare of the fish due to the profit margin they make (hence why I no longer shop there).

EditI know this because one of my brother's friends works there, and he frequently talks to me about my fish and the store when he's over).

 

[JoshuaA]

Surprisingly nearly ever fish store I've been in the UK which has Bettas keeps the Bettas in a community tank with one Betta per tank.

The neons are perfectly fine though, I usually stand glaring the Bettas knowing it could be the one I buy in the future. The betta seems perfectly relaxed in the tank with them, the other Bettas they have in the store are in more specific tanks though, I wonder how he works it out . Of course with ANY fish store there may be deaths from disagreements and if there are any in this store they keep them hidden very well. I've gone in at random times, early in the morning, afternoon and just before closing and I am still yet to find one dead fish. The staff don't usually go into the tropical tank room unless you're asking to buy some or for advice.

Most other stores seem to leave their dead fish on the bottom of the tank if they die after the rounds in the morning.

 

[Assaye]

African dwarf frogs - nibble my bettas tails (or try to) but generally peaceful. Used to be housed with veil-tail male and they used to nibble his fins at night. Now housed with boisterous plakat male who has retained his fins.

Neons - fine for weeks until they started shredding my first veil-tail's fins. Poor lad never recovered - he started stress biting his own fins and wouldn't let them heal. All was fine until that fateful day. Neons are fine with my females.

Corys - housed with females in community tank, all is fine atm and has been for months.

Shrimp - got a large female ghost shrimp in with the girls and have no problems. Too big to eat and quite boisterous so she's safe from the girls.

Kribensis - NO, never do it. Ever. Cichlids and bettas don't mix, in my experience.

Baby panchax - he's a right SOB and bullies the girls. Used to be housed with veil-tail male and stole all his food.

 

[AstonN24vantage]

this is my tank setup... no constructive critisism needed:
2 snails, ( idk their species, prob turbo)
2 angels, one a marble and one idk
3 giant danios
2 4 tailed lyretail swordtails
and a huge corycat.

 

[sampster5000]

I attempted to keep panda corydoras and neon tetras with a betta. The neons and corys were established in the tank before the betta was introduced. The betta, upon introduction, hunted down the neons and killed them off one by one. The corys were ten slowly hunted. He fatally injured one cory by ripping off it's dorsal fin, and the other two corys were rescued before he could do more damage.

The temperament of your betta makes a big difference. Not all bettas work with the same tank mates. My two bettas have very different temperaments. My Veil-Tail (who attacked the neon tetras and corys) is VERY hostile and aggressive. My Crowntail is very laid back and passive.

I keep my bettas on their own now; in a divided 5 gallon tank.

Your post scared me to death! I keep a betta in a 10gallon with 3 skunk cory's. I introduced the cory's about a week ago not thinking anything of it. I ran to my tank after I read your post about the ripped fin and made sure they were all okay. They were perfectly fine. The only thing I've observed where the betta payed any attention to the cory's was when I first dropped them in the tank. One went to the back right corner and the betta swam to him quickly and stopped and looked at him for about 5 seconds, then swam away. I thought it was funny. No problems since then. And like your crowntail mine is also very laid back and passive. I love him.

I guess you just never know how bettas will act and you should take a very good amount of time to study yours carefully and record his behavior before you introduce new tank mates.

 

[JoshuaA]

It scared me too.... Now I'm questioning myself on whether to just make this into a community tank and then when I get my larger 200L+ tank transfer my fish and turn the tank into a pure Betta only.

 

[Channti]

I attempted to keep panda corydoras and neon tetras with a betta. The neons and corys were established in the tank before the betta was introduced. The betta, upon introduction, hunted down the neons and killed them off one by one. The corys were ten slowly hunted. He fatally injured one cory by ripping off it's dorsal fin, and the other two corys were rescued before he could do more damage.

The temperament of your betta makes a big difference. Not all bettas work with the same tank mates. My two bettas have very different temperaments. My Veil-Tail (who attacked the neon tetras and corys) is VERY hostile and aggressive. My Crowntail is very laid back and passive.

I keep my bettas on their own now; in a divided 5 gallon tank.

Your post scared me to death! I keep a betta in a 10gallon with 3 skunk cory's. I introduced the cory's about a week ago not thinking anything of it. I ran to my tank after I read your post about the ripped fin and made sure they were all okay. They were perfectly fine. The only thing I've observed where the betta payed any attention to the cory's was when I first dropped them in the tank. One went to the back right corner and the betta swam to him quickly and stopped and looked at him for about 5 seconds, then swam away. I thought it was funny. No problems since then. And like your crowntail mine is also very laid back and passive. I love him.

I guess you just never know how bettas will act and you should take a very good amount of time to study yours carefully and record his behavior before you introduce new tank mates.

All fish have personalities. I thought Alpha would be fine with tankmates, but he hated it. I've thought about putting my passive crowntail into a larger "community tank", but I'd cry if anything happened to his gorgeous flowing fins, so I've decided against it.

The two rescued corys, plus 4 more from a community I had all went into my 46 gallon tank with some Serpae Tetras a couple weeks ago. No one believed me when I said I had a 7-member school of semi-aggressive Serpae tetras. They ripped my corys apart. When I rescued them, only 5 were alive, and of the 5, only 1 had all of it's fins. 4 are in recovery now, attemping to regrow their fins, one died a couple days ago. I had to replace the corys with loaches.

My point is that ANY fish can have a meanstreak. You've gotta be very careful when adding tank mates to ensure that there are no signs of aggression. Provide plenty of hiding spaces in the tank, and watch for any signs of injury. Always have a backup plan for the betta and tankmates if the tank doesn't work out (perhaps a 3-5 gallon sat aside for the betta just in case it doesn't work out?)

 

[BethK]

Cherry shrimp are often seen as not a good combo with a betta but the shrimp can out swim any betta anyway so there is no problem im just keeping corys with my betta atm.

Just isa theory but female bettas are nifty and determined, they can catch them, believe me