New betta needs friends?

Hi hi,
I finally git my boy, a sweet little veiltail.
I have him in a 9 gallon planted tank.
The plants are still filling in as it is only two weeks in. I precycled with a filter from one of my other tanks.
Its a tall rather than wide tank so I feel limited in my selections.
14 wide x 14 tall..inches
He is super mellow and his tank is close to my 29 so he can see over there.
With his seemingly docile nature I was thinking to throw some blue shrimps in there and maybe a Nerite snail.
I really wanted to put some pygmy cory's in there but someone said no
Gawd they are cute..me wants...lol
Thoughts?

Bettas have no need for friends. They see all other fishes as annoyances that get into their territories. They enjoy being left alone and feeling like they have control over their turf. Male bettas hope a female will show up, but if she does, as soon as they spawn, they are done with each other - aggressively so.

We want more than one fish in the tank, but it isn't for him. It's for you.

Some Bettas can see shrimp as food sources, some won't. If the tank is deep enough, they'll bregrudgingly tolerate small fish like Bororas (Chili rasbora types). They won't like them, but most (not all) Bettas won't attack them. I find it more likely that small barbs and tetras will see the Bettas unnatural fins as nippable food sources.

You are always taking a risk your betta will kill, or want to kill, tankmates. The natural fish isn't too aggressive, but the long finned ones were originally bred by gamblers who would bet on their fights. So they were bred for aggression, and that can show in some pet bettas.

Gary said it well.

Plus, betta anatomy allows for their organs to already be cramped due to their labyrinth organ (special lung that allows them to breathe). Genetically already prone to many health problems due to how heavy bred they are, care needs to be taken to avoid them from over eating.

Over eating risks complications from swim bladder disorder and dropsy as obesity and bloating puts further strain on their organ function due to already being cramped.

When placed with other fish, they are either out competed for food if given their proper portion or you feed extra and now they have an abundance of food available to them.

Even mellow tempered ones who tolerate other things in their environment, they're still at risk of health issues when kept with other fish. For their own well being, it's safer for them to be housed single, or at most with shrimp or snails who mostly take biofilm type foods.

It is true that male Betta’s prefer their solitude . I have one all by himself in a ten gallon and he loves his lonely kingdom . His favorite thing to do is stare at a reflection of himself in the glass tube of the heater and flare his gill covers and stretch his fins out to their fullest extent . He’s like a parakeet looking at himself in a mirror . There’s an idea too . Put a small mirror on the side of his aquarium and let him show off for you . We keep single birds in cages and they don’t seem to mind .

Thank you all for the replies.
I am ok with him having his little kingdom.
I was trying to get a good shot of him showing off but as soon as the camera comes out, well you know, wont stand still.
Maybe once the tank is more established I will toss in a Nerite.
I have a female that would make beautiful babies but after reading up on the breeding I would need to many separate tanks.
Wish I had my own fish store, I could have all the species I want.
Maybe Sparkling Gouramis next.
Is a ten gallon to small for them? Separate tank of course.
Appreciate ya'all

Gamegurl564 said:

Thank you all for the replies.
I am ok with him having his little kingdom.
I was trying to get a good shot of him showing off but as soon as the camera comes out, well you know, wont stand still.
Maybe once the tank is more established I will toss in a Nerite.
I have a female that would make beautiful babies but after reading up on the breeding I would need to many separate tanks.
Wish I had my own fish store, I could have all the species I want.
Maybe Sparkling Gouramis next.
Is a ten gallon to small for them? Separate tank of course.
Appreciate ya'all

Click to expand...

10 gallon is good for sparkling gourami, get a group of 6 and go species only. They can be iffy in community setups, I had a female decimate all my other sparklers except one male and she also took out kubotai rasboras and pygmy cories. The others were just fine, she was just psycho lol but that's a gamble with them. They're interesting fish and a good nano option. Have lots of plants or lots of roots and leaf litter if you go blackwater type biotope. Lots of hiding places and sight breaks.

Do the Sparklers actually croak?

Gamegurl564 said:

Do the Sparklers actually croak?

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It's a bit of an odd click/chirp sound, but yes! You can hear them through the glass. It's pretty neat and surprisingly loud for their size.

Be sure to have a lid because they can be good jumpers

CassCats said:

It's a bit of an odd click/chirp sound, but yes! You can hear them through the glass. It's pretty neat and surprisingly loud for their size.

Be sure to have a lid because they can be good jumpers

Click to expand...

Omg, that is so cool.
I will pick your brain when I get ready for them, I have never done a boitope i guess they are called
but they are a species I have wanted for awhile.
Thanks!!
How many tanks do you have? I wish I could hijack one of the 50 gallon tanks here.
My roomie is big into fish as well, the plecos and giant Bumble Bee cichlid are hers

Gamegurl564 said:

Omg, that is so cool.
I will pick your brain when I get ready for them, I have never done a boitope i guess they are called
but they are a species I have wanted for awhile.
Thanks!!
How many tanks do you have? I wish I could hijack one of the 50 gallon tanks here.
My roomie is big into fish as well, the plecos and giant Bumble Bee cichlid are hers

Click to expand...

I've got 8 tanks at the moment (4g, 10g, 10g, 20g, 55g, 55g, 55g, 135g), and I don't keep sparklers anymore but I've bred sooo many of them it's insane. I may consider them in the far future again, they were a really good fish.

When I had them, these were the setups



Soo. Many. Babies.







Male


This was the psychopathic female who killed everything. You can even see it in her face lol



Regarding "biotope" generally speaking this would mean both plants and fish would be from the same habitat in a specific area. Which, these guys come from a variety of places in southeast Asia, so there's a lot of ways to go about it. Easiest though is to throw some floating plants in, some tannins, branches, leaf litter and botanicals and you can call it a biotope in this case with them. They'd equally be happy among a very planted tank as well, that's totally your choice. They will be content in either setup

WoW....
That bubble nest is Tres cool!
I must have these creatures.
In the first baby pic, what is that plant/moss??
You can see the psychosis in that ones eyes, my female betta is pretty feisty but not a killer thankfully.
When she takes food from my hand it feels like some mini shark...loves her food

Gamegurl564 said:

WoW....
That bubble nest is Tres cool!
I must have these creatures.
In the first baby pic, what is that plant/moss??
You can see the psychosis in that ones eyes, my female betta is pretty feisty but not a killer thankfully.
When she takes food from my hand it feels like some mini shark...loves her food

Click to expand...

Either Taiwan moss or Christmas moss, I had a mixed bunch of moss and those were the two I couldn't tell apart. All the java died on me though lol

In my experience, they will make bubble nests under the leaves of floating plants, crypt leaves, leaf litter, and even under driftwood. They're pretty innovative and aren't strictly surface nesters as would be expected. They're interesting to watch, they move slow and deliberate, but they can move fast if they want to.

They're also not as stringent on water parameters as some of the other more niche gourami species who require nearly strict RO water. These guys do well in a GH up to 215ppm though will breed better lower. PH up to 7.6 is fine as well.

They love live foods (but will usually take prepared and frozen food very well), so learning to hatch baby brine shrimp would be worthwhile. It's good enrichment for the adults to hunt down. Could even do microwaves, they may enjoy hunting the ones that sit among the bottom of the tank