Bettas & Guppies

[invid]

I have 2 bettas. One is a solitary beast that attacks EVERYTHING. The other is a rescue from a dollar store. The rescued one lives in a comunity tank with two male guppies. He has no problem with them whatsoever. I think being near death and unable to fight when put in there might have something to do with it. Maybe he just realized that they weren't a threat.

Also... A friend of mine just got a BEAUTIFUL male betta and tried to put him in with a blue gourami in a comunity tank. That gourami beat the snot out of the betta within five minutes. He soon had to be transfered to another tank with two guppies. Now he's happy.

Funny thing is, my agro betta will flare at crude pencil sketches of fish drawn by three year olds, while the other two I mentioned won't flare at ANYTHING! Maybe they're just that docile.

 

[ninjaboy]

When I first went to buy my fish tank, I didn't know anything..and I mean anything, I was refused to be sold fish by the lady at PetSmart. She told me that if I was going to buy a betta and guppies, then she wont let me do it. IT WOULD PUT THE BETTA IN TOO MUCH DANGER. She said that when guppies get mad, they will fish to the death whereas a betta will only fight to submission, never death. I never bought a fish from that store.

 

[SRC]

She said that when guppies get mad, they will fish to the death whereas a betta will only fight to submission, never death. I never bought a fish from that store.

[snapback]905065[/snapback]​

This ladies and gentlemen is why you should never take the advice of a pet store employee.

That is totally wrong. A betta can and will fight to the death, they don't bet on them for nothing in Thailand. They are like pit bulls, and if let to their devices long enough...someone will not come out ...all dandy.

I wouldn't keep them together. You just never know when they might decide they've had enough and snap. I don't think (if I had guppies) I'd put my guppies in that kinda spot.

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

I wouldn't try in all honesty. However I do have a s.gouramie who lives with my female bettas. And they treat him as one of them. He only got moved in there temporarily to avoid a predator fish I had for one night but I have left him with them as he's far happier now. Of course he isn't brightly coloured or have a long tail like guppies so....
Hugs,
P.

 

[Dark_Lenne]

I just discovered the hard way not to keep Guppies and Bettas together. I have two male Guppies in with my Betta, and although he seems quite docile, he has taken to nipping the fins of my guppies. I have had to seperate them, by putting the guppies in a floating nursery tank temporarily untill I can figure out what to do with them...

 

[ElectricMayhem]

I've kept guppies with my 4 females for the last few months, right up until this week with my disasterous columnaris/damselfly nymph episode. It helps that three of my girls are extremely laid back, and one of my girls thinks she's a cory. She schooled and snuffled with them and everything. I have a 50 gallon tank that is understocked and there are plenty of places to hide. I think it all comes down to the nature of the fish in question. I'd never try putting my boy in with other fish, he's too angry anf flarey, but my girls I knew would be fine.

 

[Nevergone815]

i have kept male bettas in with a bunch of fish that they "technically" can't go with. people say that they can't go with swordtails and platies but i have kept multiple male bettas with them, female bettas as well. also, i have kept multiple male bettas and females with guppies and they didn't even bother each other. so i guess i might've gotten lucky. who knows. but i have been very successful in keeping fish with them. the one thing i would i whould like to know is how do you keep ghost shrimp with bettas, mine keep eating them lol

 

[kali426]

no two ways about it.my boy sees guppies,guppies see the grim reeper!and unfortunately for the guppies,im speaking from experience.if your fish has any natural instincts left in its body(which alot of these long tail flashy bettas dont)it will rip the **** out of anything that has the same smile as a male betta.
I think its comes down to your fish and what kind of betta you want to have cause its really up to you.personally i dont want some lazy poodle looking fish,i want an alert betta that thinks hes still in thailand,which is why i only have Pk's.

 

[ghostrider1878]

i have a male betta in with 2 male guppies. the first night he ate the tail of 1 of the guppies. i think it was curiosity as he bumped 1 of my borneo suckers on their first day. the guppies and betta stay away from each other now. as for flaring, it's not someting he does on a regular basis. i'm not sure what species of betta he is or even if it makes any difference.

 

[aquagirl]

My betta was kinda old.

And my guppies were crazy.

So they beat the crap out of him.

 

[Bozza]

torrens (bozza) gf here.
probably the reason y the guoarmi attacked the betta is because gouarmis are closely related 2 bettas.
i was told that putting gouarmis in wit female bettas alone is as bad as putting 2 male bettas in 2gether.
that im not sure of as i have 2 dwarf gouarmis in wit 4 female bettas 2 angles 3 damios 3 glow light tetra 3 pencil fish n a bistle nose n are all extremly happy. i have also seen it were the female fighters can b worse than males in a community tank.
i believe it is more the personality and temperment of the fish.
i have 6 male fighters alone i have 1 that will go nicely in a comunity tank i think i have a couple of american flag fish i want 2 put him in wit but will c ofcourse i will keep his origional lonsome tank on standby just incase.

 

[300hp+vr6]

im a noob and looking to maybe get a betta in a 20g community tank as they just look fantastic (deffo will have guppies)
the research iv done gives very conflicting advice/experiance. from what i can gather its all down to the individual bettas attitude is this a reasonable conclusion?

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned but female bettas and guppies are fine.

 

[jinyu_fan]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned but female bettas and guppies are fine.

I cannot disagree more, and this is from my own experience. Females are as agressive as males - it all comes down to the fish's personality. I put one of my female bettas in with a group of fancy guppies (I also thought the same as DiscusLova at that time) and woke up the next morning to find one of the male guppies cowereing in the corner of the tank with his tail in shreds. Out came the betta back into her own little tank and there she stayed.

 

[kcalbat]

just because i find the reference to pit bulls very interesting id like to add....

....no matter what bloodline a pit is from(fighting or showing bloodlines..just some dogs are more reactve than ever) it still has fighting history, therefor no pit bull should be left alone with any dog EVER for ANY amount of time! The history is there, the instinct is there. Many people have successfully kept two pit bulls or one pit and another breed together without ever separating them for years only to come home one day and find one dog badly mangled and mauled and possibly dead because a fight was started probably over something very simple such as a toy or sleeping space. A major waste of money and ALOT of heartbreak because of the simple lack of prevention.

On a smaller scale...it is in my very personal experience, i dont really think it depends on the fish's personality, docile or not, they always have the potential and it really is useless to tempt fate and end up with two injured possibly dead fish in the end. I think any betta can turn even if they have been living peacefully with another fish of similar fin and color type: guppies. So unless fish are meaningless and money isnt an issue, then i suppose it wouldnt matter if the possiblity is there for one fish to turn on the other...i guess thats how some people are! Me...i wouldnt risk it because i am really attatched to my fish and losing one would be like losing my dogs.

Once again, no offense to pitty people. I own two backyard, poorly bred rescue pit bulls (and soon to show american pit bull terriers) and i realize the mass responsibility that is required to own these dogs. My dogs are never left unsupervised with other dogs and are crated separately when i am not there to supervise them together. Both dogs are very docile and friendly dogs all around but i KNOW the possibilities.

I know show breeders that own 7 or 8 pits and crate ALL of them when they are not home because they realize the danger of leaving these dogs together, even if the dogs grew up together....heck...even between mother and son or father and daughter, male female....it doesnt matter with them!! Im amazed how similar the situation for this breed and for bettas is....its unnerving!

Just wanted to add my opinion because my two passions came together in this one topic....fish and pits! hehehe...thanks for reading my input!!!