Betta In My 20g Community Tank..?

[bettaluv]

Hey guys :3

I have a 20g cycled tank with the following :

- Eight Platy
- Four Clown Loaches (please do not make this a discussion on the loaches future size)
- Five Corydora
- Three Jumbo Balloon Molly
- Three Black Skirt Tetras
- One Angelfish
- Two Mollies
-One Swordtail
- One Kribensis. << Do not talk about it, the idiot at the LFS said "they are not aggressive" so I took it home. I'm returning it tomarrow.

Please note this tank has two air pumps going, is large, has an undergravel filter (debatable..), and 50 gallons filtration.

Okay, and yes I'm an idiot, and no I'm not selfish...

But anyway I added the betta to the community tank to even see if this was a mere possibility and should I even start a thread, and yes I think it is.

It does not bother the swordtail, and any of the fish actually..
Except the krib. But ignore him,
Mavrin, my black mollie, was chasing Sora (my betta), around the tank for like.. 5 minutes.
Sora didn't care. Its just the krib that pushes him to the brink of explosiony anger..
He swam around with the balloon mollies for a bit, then wandered off and weaved in and out of the plants and hung out with the cories and then hung out at the top. And you probably want to punch me so hard in the face with the angel, but seriously, it doesn't give a crap about anything except food.

And if you post a reply, this is not a thread on my loaches or the mollie salt and the scaleless fish or if the tank is overstocked and that undergravel filters are bad, this is a thread on if my betta can live in my community tank.

Thanks!

Mac

 

[riogal_11]

shoot, where is the smiley eating popcorn guy!!
Just a quick question, how long has the betta been in there?
And was there a question in that post, or were you just posting an FYI?

 

[bettaluv]

I put him in the tank about 30 minutes ago, and hes doing fine. Moved the krib to the isolation tank about 5 mins ago..

And yes thats an FYI

 

[Nezabyte]

Interesting tank, may I ask how long you've had all those fish in that tank?

 

[Tolak]

How large is the angel? Temperament in angels varies quite a bit, from completely docile to as aggressive as cichlids are known to be. Sometimes this aggression comes on gradually, which shouldn't be too much of an issue in your case. Sometimes it seems as if they snap, and get really aggressive. This would be a problem, especially with a betta.

I've seen stocking stranger than that, and it worked. Just keep an eye on the betta's fins.

 

[Spishkey]

30mins isnt long.

could take a day, could take a week, but once the fish are 'settled' im guessing you'll be having troubles
you may have a laid back betta who wont go for the others, but the others may go for him. just keep a very close eye on them

 

[bettaluv]

The most harm my angel has done is eat my last two remaining neons, other then that he's fine around the others.

Next to the angel, my betta is the biggest fish in the tank. I put my krib in the isolation tank for a while, and then it didn't move at all and refused to eat, so I let it back into the open. I just woke up and the krib is hiding in the rock shelter and completely ignoring all the fish it would try to attack, so I might have second thoughts about it. I'll see how it goes.

Mac

 

[LionMom]

The most harm I have had an angel do to a betta is kill it - after everything seemingly being A-OK for the entire day!!!!

Hope you have better luck!

 

[tibby25731]

not a good plan. Bettas are generally not good as community fish. He might be OK for now, but one day problems will start. i found that out the hard way with my community... the betta got killed. It was either the tetras or the krib.

I'd return the krib regardless if I were you, they can be pretty feisty. If it doesn't like the tankmates then it is unlikely to change its mind! I have had some really evil kribs in the past

Think the biggest threat to your betta is the angel. Do you have a small tank that you can move the betta to? I wouldnt' take the risk to be honest.

 

[riogal_11]

I put him in the tank about 30 minutes ago, and hes doing fine. Moved the krib to the isolation tank about 5 mins ago..

And yes thats an FYI

hmm, that's what I figured. now if you'd have said 2 months, or even 3 weeks for that matter, I would give the FYI more consideration.....
but 30 minutes seriously, I would hardly chalk it up as successful at this point.... but hey this is just an FYI so I'll stop there.

The most harm my angel has done is eat my last two remaining neons, other then that he's fine around the others.

Next to the angel, my betta is the biggest fish in the tank. I put my krib in the isolation tank for a while, and then it didn't move at all and refused to eat, so I let it back into the open. I just woke up and the krib is hiding in the rock shelter and completely ignoring all the fish it would try to attack, so I might have second thoughts about it. I'll see how it goes.

Mac

To the bolded - ummm... yeah I would consider that harmful to them, but let me ask you this, was he fine to them all along and then attacked and killed them? or was he not fine around them, but you chose not to seperate them and he eventually killed them?

 

[bronzecat]

Hi

The biggest problem I can see, is that with your current stocking level the Betta, and any other terrirtorial fish, wont have enough space to establish their individual terrirtories, which may cause issues. The betta may take a few days or a week or so to decide where it wants to call home. Its all about the stocking level regardless of the fact that the fish are juvenile at present. The general rule of thumb is 1" of fish per 1 gallon of water. There are exceptions to this regarding certain species though. If all your fish were in a 40 or 50 gallon then territories could be established easier. I would estimate that at present you have approx 40" of fish as juveniles, which is double the recommended level.

I realise you were not asking for comments about the stocking level of the tank, but it is the stocking level that will cause the biggest problems.
The male betta in the wild, may not even see another fish for days due to the vastness of their habitat.

So, it is possible for your betta to live in a community tank, but it needs its own space, as do the other fish.

 

[bettaluv]

He has been moved into his own tank with nothing else in it, as for some of the fish we may be returning.

My list was this :

- krib
-black skirt tetras
-clown loaches
-angelfish

I know that would still mean an overstock, but doesn't it all come down to space + filtration?

Me and my dad cycled the tank, and it has thirty gallons extra of filtration with a 30g air pump which distributes air on both sides of the tank.

The tank and everything in it is fine; however the krib will be returned ASAP.

When the loaches get bigger they will be given to my grandma, as she has a 55g tank with only 20 small guppies in it.

 

[Amunet]

55g tank still isn't going to cut it for those loaches I'm afraid... well not in the long run. If they live long enough, they really should be in a 100+ gallon tank. At least from the info I've read
It's good that you're taking the advice of the people here though.
Too many times people come here and get really defensive when they're given good advice.

 

[bettaluv]

I think posting a topic and accepting the advice you get told is important. People probably get defensive because they don't hear exactly what they want to hear.

Which quite frankly, is very stupid because most advice can be based on a possible mistake.

I'm not necessarily saying that buying the loaches was a mistake, but it was probably something that should have been researched and thought about more in terms of the potential size of the loaches.

If they get too big for a 55g, I'll sell them/give them to Paul's Aquarium Store. They have big tanks there.

But thank you guys for all the advice; everything has been settled :3

 

[fearce]

how did you get on