Add a betta to my community?

[lelover]

I'm curious about what type of community a betta could live in. Do you think one would be happy in mine? What if I added some rams too?

 

[abe]

I think a female would do ok, not sure about a male though as it depends on the personality of the fish.

My female betta is fine w/ all my fish except for the guppys

 

[jacblades]

personally i would never put a betta in a community because i hear lots of horror stories about them. lots of people do though. bettas seem to do better by themselves anyway

 

[Never2Bknown]

From what I know, bettas usually do okay with community fish, though not always. I've kept bettas with other fish before, and the main reason they don't do well is actually that the other fish like chewing on betta tails. They're so big and flashy, I guess the other fish are just like, "WHoa, cool. I wonder what happens if you bite it..." That, and bettas are fish that generally just like to hang around, rather than swim around. My grandma (BIG time fish killer here! It's almost hard to understand how she manages it...) kept putting little goldfish in with her betta "to make him move!" This happened to more than one betta, as they kept on getting over-crowded and pushed around until they got ich and died. I've tried to tell her not to, but I think she's still keeping it up...

 

[Dane]

If you were to put a betta with a different breed of fish, I'd suggest monitoring the fish BEFORE you put the betta in. Try to see once the betta's in, if the fish act differently. Keep a close eye on the fish in the tank, including the betta for about a week or two. Keep monitoring after that. If all is well, the it's about clear you're betta has a more docile demeanor. Though anything could happen, and something could go terribly wrong. It's all a matter of risk.