Betta Question

[Eleven13]

Hey Everyone,

So I have a betta that my girlfriend got me for Valentines day, and I received him at the same time I was starting up a planted 10 gallon tank.

Right now he is in a "betta bowl" type of thing, one of these deals minus the divider and with a light that keeps the water around 78 degrees.

I know that those aren't ideal, but he seems really happy and has made thick bubble nests all around the top edge of the tank.

In my 10 gallon, I have 3 zebra danios that have been in there for about 3ish weeks now. I still have a nitrite reading in the tank which I am monitoring (but it doesn't seem to be effecting the fish at all), and I just added a lot of live plants to the tank.

I really want to add my betta to my 10 gallon, but I am nervous that if I do it'll stress him out and he'll decline. The guy at my pet store said that sometimes if a betta goes from a still bowl to a filtered tank with an airstone, they don't do well. And I also read that since danios are very active, it stresses bettas out.

My betta is very active at the moment and swims almost constantly and flares very often at me and at his reflection (which I find sort of funny ), so I assume he is in very good health. I would really like to add him to my 10 gallon, but I don't want it to be a negative thing for him either.

What do you guys think? Do you feel I'd be able to just do this transfer without issues, or would I need to ditch the danios, or not use the airstone to give a more calm water surface?

Any tips you guys have would be great, thanks!

 

[HannahBear77]

I would take out the danios since they are very active they will stress him out probably when you add him
What I did when I added my male to my 15g is that I reduced the flow and took out the airstone so he could get use to the tank which he LOVED the extra spaceThen I gradually turned up the current he doesn't like the bubbles so I left out the airstone out i turned it down a little cus the current was a little to strong, thats what I did and he is fine and he came from a smaller tank

but most dont like strong current i know my males dont, and with a really strong current make sure it doesnt throw him around the tank
he would love the extra space to swim around and most on here will say that you need a minimum 5g to keep a betta in

 

[hensonc4098]

I kept a betta with danios for a while and they didn't bother him. Only thing I had to watch was when I was feeding them that the danios didn't eat all the food before the betta, as he was slower than them. I guess it's dependant on the individual fish though.

 

[Eleven13]

Thanks for the advice guys, I feel like my betta could definitely hold his own because he seems pretty aggressive, but I wouldn't want to put him under stress if I didn't need to. I'd feel a little bad getting rid of the danios since they sort of "weathered the storm" of being the first fish in my new tank, but I like the betta much more for his personality and I think his coloring will look great with the live plants. Plus, I would like to get him out of that bowl. I'm going to think it over, and if worse comes to worse and I keep the danios I'll probably just set up a small 5 gallon for him

edit: Oh, and if I do get rid of the danios and put him in there, I'd like to get maybe 6ish neon tetras and maybe 2-3 cory cats as well, would putting those fish in the tank after him be an issue?

 

[-FighterFishh]

Thanks for the advice guys, I feel like my betta could definitely hold his own because he seems pretty aggressive, but I wouldn't want to put him under stress if I didn't need to. I'd feel a little bad getting rid of the danios since they sort of "weathered the storm" of being the first fish in my new tank, but I like the betta much more for his personality and I think his coloring will look great with the live plants. Plus, I would like to get him out of that bowl. I'm going to think it over, and if worse comes to worse and I keep the danios I'll probably just set up a small 5 gallon for him

edit: Oh, and if I do get rid of the danios and put him in there, I'd like to get maybe 6ish neon tetras and maybe 2-3 cory cats as well, would putting those fish in the tank after him be an issue?

I'd suggest maybe 6 endlers and 6 pygmy cories, but it really depends on your betta. He might be okay with it and just flare a bit, but he might be angry at them and see them as "invading his territory". If you think he's aggressive, I'd put in your planned stocking first, then add him.

 

[Eleven13]

Oh wow I've never seen an endler before, they're really cool looking. Do they sell them at LFS like Petco/Petsmart, or is that something I'd generally need to order online? I like the pygmy cories as well so thanks for the stocking suggestion =)

I can't really tell if he is aggressive or not, but he does flare very often at me during feeding or when I walk by, and also at his reflection on the sides of the tank. I may add him last anyways just to play it safe!

 

[OldMan47]

I routinely keep B splendens with other active fish. Right now I have a nice lavender male veiltail in my 45 gallon endler tank. He swims around as if he owned the place but simply ignores the temptation of the constantly arriving endler fry. I am filtering that tank with a nice canister filter and also run a large HOB filter on it so that I can use that HOB on other tanks as needed, it is one of my backup filters. The tank is anything but still and that guy is using the whole tank regardless of local flow conditions. My wild type betta, a Betta pugnax, lives with some small cichlids, a half dozen African cichlids, a few giant danios and other community fish in a 120 gallon tank that I filter with both a Rena XP3 external filter and a pond filter/power head combination. He has been in that tank for over 2 years now with no problems.
Come on guys, a betta is not a tender, wimpy, vulnerable fish, he is a robust and active fish when given the chance to show himself.