Will They Get Along?

[amoch]

I've been thinking about eventually getting another tank and switching some things around and I would love to get a male betta to add to my community. I've read the compatability chart, and I have fish that fall into the "get along with" category as well as the "sometimes get along" category. My question is how do you know if it will get along with the "sometimes get along" category fish? I have one female and two male longfin zebra danios, a pair of sunset platys, two male guppies (one fancy and one that was called tequila sunset...it just looks like a slightly smaller fancy to me), and three corys (sex unknown), all in a 20 gallon right now. All of them get along so well and swim together; I don't want to upset them if a betta may be aggressive to the danios and guppies (as they were on the "sometimes get along" category). Any input would be great!

 

[CezzaXV]

tbh, there's no surefire way of knowing they'll work out or not. The "sometimes" category means they can sometimes get along based on the personality of the individual fish in question, rather than something we can really advise on.

 

[onidrase]

I'd list mollies, platies, and guppies under the "sometimes get along with" category

but the amount of times I've seen them get along is quite low. Even if the betta isn't the one wanting to kill the fish, sometimes the livebearers might be the ones going for the betta.

I wouldn't risk it tbh.

 

[amoch]

thanks for the advice! I wou;dn't have even thought of the livebearers being the agressive ones...very good to know though.

 

[onidrase]

thanks for the advice! I wou;dn't have even thought of the livebearers being the agressive ones...very good to know though.

I've had a good sum of people bring bettas back to the store with shredded tails after being attacked by larger livebearers like mollies and platies.

 

[seizethecupcake]

I've kept a male CT with danios, and they were all fine. Guppies, however...that didn't turn out well for the guppies.

 

[alexiooc]

I keep a male VT betta in with 3 platies and an upside down catfish in a 35 litre tank. All get along very well. My betta has also been kept with swordtails (who were aggressive towards him so I removed them) and balloon mollies who all got along with him (they're now on my girlfriends tank as she loved them so much).

After speaking to a very helpfull and knowledgeable guy at my lfs, he bettas can go with most fish except fin nippers and bright coloured fish (such as guppies) as they might feel threatened by it. He said he keeps his with some tetras, anglefish and even silver and red tail sharks! Not sure on that though so he might just be lucky! Also they need a nice hiding place such as a log or something.

 

[onidrase]

I keep a male VT betta in with 3 platies and an upside down catfish in a 35 litre tank. All get along very well. My betta has also been kept with swordtails (who were aggressive towards him so I removed them) and balloon mollies who all got along with him (they're now on my girlfriends tank as she loved them so much).

After speaking to a very helpfull and knowledgeable guy at my lfs, he bettas can go with most fish except fin nippers and bright coloured fish (such as guppies) as they might feel threatened by it. He said he keeps his with some tetras, anglefish and even silver and red tail sharks! Not sure on that though so he might just be lucky! Also they need a nice hiding place such as a log or something.

I can't say I'd ever keep a betta with an adult angelfish, and most definitely not with sharks.

 

[alexiooc]

I keep a male VT betta in with 3 platies and an upside down catfish in a 35 litre tank. All get along very well. My betta has also been kept with swordtails (who were aggressive towards him so I removed them) and balloon mollies who all got along with him (they're now on my girlfriends tank as she loved them so much).

After speaking to a very helpfull and knowledgeable guy at my lfs, he bettas can go with most fish except fin nippers and bright coloured fish (such as guppies) as they might feel threatened by it. He said he keeps his with some tetras, anglefish and even silver and red tail sharks! Not sure on that though so he might just be lucky! Also they need a nice hiding place such as a log or something.

I can't say I'd ever keep a betta with an adult angelfish, and most definitely not with sharks.

I thought the same thing but he seemed to think it was ok. Just lucky that they hadn't shredded his tail? Or are they actually compatible sometimes?

 

[onidrase]

I keep a male VT betta in with 3 platies and an upside down catfish in a 35 litre tank. All get along very well. My betta has also been kept with swordtails (who were aggressive towards him so I removed them) and balloon mollies who all got along with him (they're now on my girlfriends tank as she loved them so much).

After speaking to a very helpfull and knowledgeable guy at my lfs, he bettas can go with most fish except fin nippers and bright coloured fish (such as guppies) as they might feel threatened by it. He said he keeps his with some tetras, anglefish and even silver and red tail sharks! Not sure on that though so he might just be lucky! Also they need a nice hiding place such as a log or something.

I can't say I'd ever keep a betta with an adult angelfish, and most definitely not with sharks.

I thought the same thing but he seemed to think it was ok. Just lucky that they hadn't shredded his tail? Or are they actually compatible sometimes?

sounds like total bull#105### to me. Full grown angels are quite territorial, and sharks are even worse.

considering he has a silver shark in his tank, which would either be a pangasius catfish, columbian shark, or bala shark, I'd just not listen to him anymore unless he's got a betta in a marine tank (if it's a columbian shark) or a 9x4x3 foot tank (for the catfish or bala shark)

 

[lilacamy931]

TBH the list is great to give some good classifications of categories of fish you keep but until you get the betta in question you wont know if you have a betta accepting of other fish and community or one that needs a solitude experience. I have personally managed to house all but one of my bettas in my time with others successfully (only with the likes of cories, ADF, lampeyes, ricefish,etc), the one boy I didnt was because he was a rescue with a deformed spine from a breeder that needed a loving home, placid but didnt fair his chances to stand up against other fish If you try it just be on hand to monitor behaviour like with any new introduction to a tank

 

[Sly13Cat]

- Dainos, based on experience yes. But they're long finned so I'm not sure.
- Platies, maybe.
- Guppies, no. I've seen a Betta hunt them relentlessly. I've also seen mollies shred a guppy...
- Cories, probably. I believe that they'll be fine with the Cories.

But every Betta has a different personality. I had a aggressive Betta who fought with Mollies for a week and even took a chunk out of 2 of their tails but now he's the most docile Betta ever and instead of puffing his gills at me, he runs away. So I guess everyone's different.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

I saw a betta in my LFS in a tank full of what I think were silver shark catfish (I've googled it but their whiskers seemed longer than what I saw in my search results) and they had completely annihilated it there was not a shred of fin still left on the poor thing, it was heartwrenching, then a store worker came along and put him in the bin...still alive. Ugh. Sorry had to share, it was so traumatic for me!

Those catfish were absolutley psychotic though, they were just all piled on top of each other, writhing around trying to shove their noses into the bottom-back corner of the tank and every time I've been in there they've been in the exact same position. I guess no one wants to buy crazy fish...

 

[onidrase]

I saw a betta in my LFS in a tank full of what I think were silver shark catfish (I've googled it but their whiskers seemed longer than what I saw in my search results) and they had completely annihilated it there was not a shred of fin still left on the poor thing, it was heartwrenching, then a store worker came along and put him in the bin...still alive. Ugh. Sorry had to share, it was so traumatic for me!

Those catfish were absolutley psychotic though, they were just all piled on top of each other, writhing around trying to shove their noses into the bottom-back corner of the tank and every time I've been in there they've been in the exact same position. I guess no one wants to buy crazy fish...

Sounds like pictus catfish. The silver shark tends to be a columbian shark which actually grows up in freshwater and moves on to salt water as an adult. Either way, none of the above sharks are compatible with a betta.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

That's it! Thanks