Betta Community Tank

[Annemarie]

Hello!
As some of you may know I have a 29 gallon aquarium with the following: 1 Honey gourami male, 5 neon tetras (working on getting more after one died a while ago), 4 nerite snails, a ghost shrimp, and 1 kuhli loach (store only had one but I’m also working on getting more).

My sister has a 3 gallon aquarium with a betta and isn’t the best at doing consistent water changes. I’m not too fond of doing them for her so I came up with an idea. Would it be possible to move him to the 29 gallon? There’s enough plants to provide a barrier and the tank is always kept clean (unlike his current tank). I think his quality of life would be much improved if I put him in the tank however I am worried about him being stressed due to the other fish. He also seems to get along well with other creatures (of course I’d have to test this more).

Overall I want to know if it would be possible to transition him or if I should just figure out some other way to deal with the betta.

Thanks!

 

[Fishmanic]

"A Betta Community tank" is an oxymoron. A Betta will do best in its own tank. I speak from experience. My Betta used to cohabitate with 5 harlequin rasboras in a 10 gallon tank and all he did was hide all day. I moved him into his own 5 gallon tank and he is usually out and about and just seems much happier.

 

[Naughts]

I've heard that you shouldn't keep betta with other labyrinth fish so the gourami could easily be a problem.They are close cousins so compete for territory and females.

 

[Annemarie]

I get that it might be stressful and there’d be some competition but given the amount of space at the surface and his current water quality I think it would be worth it. I’ve seen people keep them together before but I want to see if there is a way to make it happen.