WHY does everyone wanna put something w/a betta???

[SnowJob]

Tank Size: 10 Gallon
Type of Betta: Dunno, its blue and isn't too fancy looking but I like his attitude !
Type of other fish tried: pleco, cherry barbs & neon tetra
Age of Betta when introduced to other fish: not sure
Age of other fish when introduced: not sure

Tank Size: 10 Gallon
Type of Betta: Dunno, its purple and she's bossy !
Type of other fish tried: cories, platies & danios
Age of Betta when introduced to other fish: not sure
Age of other fish when introduced: not sure

Both tanks have plenty of live plants both floating and planted.

I had both of the bettas, male & female, in the same tank for a while.......resulted in female missing a chunk of her tail......got advice from other forum member to split them up and now she's fine, tail is much better.

The other fishes don't seem to mind or care about the bettas, except maybe the cherry barbs that the male occasionnaly runs after when they venture into his corner but other then that they all seem happy.



Maybe other forum members haven't been this lucky......

 

[wrs]

Tank Size-5 gallon
Type of Betta- Female CT
Type of other fish tried- ! male guppie and 1 male plattie
Age of Betta when introduced to other fish- a few months
Age of other fish when introduced- no idea
Outcome - They got along just fine, until the filter stoped at night and the plattie almost died, and the betta thought he was dead and tryed to eat him. (Thats funny because she was not even a whole inch at the time.)

 

[MAM]

i understand why some people do it. as mentioned,people like pretty fish, and bettas are pretty fish. if they got on well with other fish, you can bet my larger tank would have some in it. but i keep all mine separate, even the females. i made that decision based on behaviors i saw after having each fish for a time. i have a number of females, but after seeing their reactions to each other just being in tanks next to each other, they were worse than some of my males, i'd never try mixing them. and as for putting one of my males in my main tank, i don't have anything too betta-esque in there. however, based on the personalities of my males, there isn't one that i feel i could trust in a community tank, regardless of tankmates.

 

[SRC]

That's actually a good suggestion mentioned in there MAM.

If you feel you have JUST GOT to mix your betta's in with other community type fish..why not try putting them in a square container outside the community tank..and see how they react towards the other fish. If they don't spaz out at the site of the other fish then maybe try them inside the tank in a breeder trap net.

If after a week or so in each..and they aren't going after the other fish when they come close..it might be ok to release them into a community...but I still wouldn't do it...because when the lights go out and you walk away...you just NEVER know what might go down.

 

[Skylar]

RECENT TANK:
Tank Size: 10 gallon
Type of Betta- Male CT
Type of other fish tried- a male guppie, 4 lemon tetras, 2 CAE's.
Age of Betta when introduced to other fish- Probably 8 months to a year?
Age of other fish when introduced- No clue
Outcome - They get along very nicely. Have not had any problems with them. CAE's just keep to themselves, haven't harmed anybody or anything. Tetras school with the betta sometimes. and the guppy thinks he is a CAE. xD Betta isn't very active though. Probably his long finnage.


OLDER TANK:
Tank Size: 10 gallon
Type of Betta: Male VT
Type of other fish tried: 6 neon tetras, striped rapheal cat and a guppy
Age of Betta when Introduced to other fish: a year?
Age of other fish when introduced: No clue
Outcome: They got along nicely but the betta died from finrot (was a newbie and had no clue what was wrong) and the other fish except the guppy died from a water change accident.

 

[Raechal]

RECENT TANK:
Tank Size: 10 gallon
Type of Betta- Male VT
Type of other fish tried- 3 albino cories 2 green cories 5 ghost shrimp
Age of Betta when introduced to other fish- Probaby somewhere around a year.
Age of other fish when introduced- The albino cories were young and very small so I am thinking maybe 4-5 months old and the green corie were older and much larger. I have no idea about the shrimp.
Outcome - The betta was fine with the albino cories but flared and felt threatened by the larger green cories. I now only have 2/5 ghost shrimp left. I don't know if he attacked them because I've never even seen him flare at them but one was missing it's head....and it wasn't just a molt. Now he is in the 10 gallon with the 2 remaining shrimp.


OLD TANK:
Tank Size: 10 gallon
Type of Betta- Male VT
Type of other fish tried- paradise fish, 2 male guppies, neon tetras, orange-finned loach, peacock eel, 3 glass catfish, glo-lite tetra, red-tailed rasbora, dalmation molly. I know it is overstocked and most of the fish get way too huge for the tank but my LFS told me I would be fine with the fish I had in a 10 gallon. He even told me the paradise fish and betta would get along fine. I don't have them anymore. I have a couple of the fish still like the tetras, red-tailed rasbora,the molly and the glass fish left in the 29 gallon now.
Age of Betta when introduced to other fish: 2-3 years
Age of other fish when introduced- No clue?
Outcome - Betta attacked a couple of the neons and nipped at them and he tore my paradise fish's whole tail off. The paradise fish died the next day. The tetras starting nipping at the betta's tail I believe because he started to get fin rot shortly after. Then when I was cleaning the filter I forgot to put the bottom piece to the intake tube on and the next morning the betta was sucked up into the tube. He looked like he had been attacked before though and shreds of his tail were in the gravel. That was the worst tank ever, my first as well. Oh yea, the male betta also attacked the guppies.

 

[wrs]

well, i must say that the old tank was terribly set up for the betta though. As paradise fish are like bettas, they think they are and attack them. Tetras are a terrible choice as well as guppies.

and in your second tank is a good set up! But bettas do eat ghost shripm, like kribs and other fish. So that really doesnt need to be taken into consideration.

But many of the other tanks seem to be good combonations.

Reacheal, i dont think your first one worked cause of incompatability issues.

 

[thapsus]

I have cories and even Dario dario with my betta in 24 gal. They are doing great. I've also had silvertipped tetras with same betta. Silver tipps are called nippers but mine didn't nipp. I've never had any problems.

Betta tank

 

[Raechal]

well, i must say that the old tank was terribly set up for the betta though. As paradise fish are like bettas, they think they are and attack them. Tetras are a terrible choice as well as guppies.

and in your second tank is a good set up! But bettas do eat ghost shripm, like kribs and other fish. So that really doesnt need to be taken into consideration.

But many of the other tanks seem to be good combonations.

Reacheal, i dont think your first one worked cause of incompatability issues.

Yea, I know. It was my first tank and I didn't even know about cycling or anything. I went to the LFS the day after I set up my tank and picked out about 6-10 fish and dumped them all in at the same time. The LFS guy told me they would all do fine and I could put a male betta with anyother fish besides another male betta.

So then I went online and looked up why my paradise's tail was chewed off and found the answer...I also found out bettas don't do well with guppies either. SO basically I had a 10 gallon death tank as I had nowhere else to re-home them and the LFS was closed because it was too late. I went back the next morning and returned my common plec and orange-finned loach. The paradise fish didn't make it and was dead and so were the two male guppies.

After that day I learned to NEVER trust anyone that works at a LFS until I KNOW they are knowledgable about their fish and after I research it myself. I hate to say it, but I guess my paradise fish's tail getting chewed off led me to all this great information like compatibility, cycling, water params, and even this forum! I sure do miss her though..maybe I will get one for my 120 gallon.

Oh I know bettas eat ghost shrimp I have 2/5 left so I am figuring he nipped at them and maybe even ate of their heads off. But they are 10-30 cents each and if he wants to eat them as a snack he can...or just kill them for his amusement. I added another cave in there so the shrimp have more coverage.

the betta also never goes to the bottom and barely notices the shrimp anymore.

 

[mm_simb]

My friend had a betta in a 10 gallon tank. He wanted to breed them and added a female betta to the tank separating them for a while. When he did put them together the female betta ended up killing the male and later on the female died. I wouldn't keep my betta with any other fish just because I don't want to risk any injury to the betta or the other fish.

 

[wrs]

My female, Jennifure Magdalena, had some shrimp, but hse eat them as well. Now I only have 1 left that I know of in my 29 gallon.

 

[CTS]

I had a betta in a tank with an assorment of fish and he was fine. Infact he was the king of the tank, whenever he swam to a area of the tank everyone else would leave. No one bugged him. But this is just my experiance!!!