betta in community tank

[offutt_chris]

hey, i have a 15 gallon tank, with one pleco, a gaurmni, 4 mollies, and 5 zebra danios, and was woundering if i could put my male betta in it without anything happening to my other fish, there are plenty of hiding spots, and plants in it also. any advice would be nice, thanks.

 

[jazzx101]

I've had bettas in with zebra danios before and it wasn't that big of a deal really. At first the dominant zebra tried to chase the Betta, than the Betta chased the lot of them, and they all got along in the end. This might depend on the disposition of your betta, so you should probably put him in when you have some time to watch and make sure nobody's dying.

 

[offutt_chris]

ok, thanks

 

[jazzx101]

Yeah just don't blame me if your betta kills every fish in the tank, heh.

 

[offutt_chris]

i wont ill put him in tomorrow after i get out of my last class, that way i can watch him

 

[jkun17]

Actually, I was at Petco the other day; it's so sad to look at all the bettas there. I'm not sure if this is their policy but they put the more beat up bettas in the tanks with the fish they intend to sell. I remember watching a group of mollies with a betta in the tank, then I looked at the tails of the mollies. Then I saw the betta actually attacking the mollies. I told the clerk and he just put the betta in with the guppies (I don't know where they find these people), but putting a batta with mollies might not be a good idea.

 

[Discomafia]

I wouldn't mix bettas and zebra danios, as mine got it's fins/tail ripped by one of the danios. He's still healing and his fins/tail is growing back, but not as beautiful as before.

 

[skimpy]

Before you put the betta into your community tank you may find this post helpful, it does explain a lot about why bettas are in smaller tanks on there own.

Bettas

Good luck with whatever you decide to do

 

[kev_kb]

Bettas should not be kept with Gouramis, they are related and usually don't get on. As already mentioned Danios can be fin nippers, but then I've heard of people saying it works for them. You'll also need to consider the filter, for the Betta to be happy it will need a very slow output as they can be blown around by powerful filters.

Finally I'll add a bit of personal experience, I put a male Betta in a 13gal with some Tetras and Corys. They seemed fine at first, the tetras gave the odd nip but nothing major, then I added two Platies that I think were sick to start with. After that the Betta got more and more aggressive towards the others.... So I seperated him and I've lost almost all the fish in the 13gal to white spot & fin rot and the Betta died last night for unknown reasons.

So after all this I would keep Bettas on there own in smaller tanks! If you do try it make sure you have another tank ready for the Betta in case it doesnt work out.

 

[BlueIce]

i kept bettas in community tanks for yrs and yrs,without issue...just keep clear of things like tiger barbs and fish known to nip.

 

[metfan581]

hi
jazzx101
what do you mean bettas

 

[cation]

metfan581, betta is another name for the Siamese Fighting Fish. Betta is taken from the latin name of the fish, Betta splendis.

 

[canarsie11]

I think he meant because you said bettas and not betta.

Cause more than 1 betta in same tank