Bettas in Communities

[Valyrian]

I wanna start a 10 gallon community tank with small fish and definitely a male betta. However, most of the fish I considered were tetras and guppies, but I've heard that tetras nip fins, and I don't want them nipping at my bettas fins, and I've also heard that bettas may mistake guppies for bettas because of their tails and attack them. Are these true and what fish can I put in a tank with a betta? For those of you who have a betta in a community tank, what fish are they with?

 

[Prizm]

Neons would probably be okay.

 

[Kiarra]

Neons aren't okay. People on the forum are frequently rescuing Bettas with no fins left from tanks filled with Neons.

Your info is quite true, I'm afraid.

For a community with a Betta, I'd recommend 6 White Cloud Mountain Minnows. They're great little fish. A small schooling fish that most Bettas don't bother with, so long as they're not small enough to eat. It DOES depend on the individual personality of the Betta, however. Some will nip at anything, and some won't nip at anything.

Clouds are coolwater fish, so you wouldn't want to heat the tank above 75 degrees with them in it, but they're active, pleasant little community fish.

 

[BettaMomma]

Neons won't be okay.
Someone will get harassed in that tank.

Cories or white clouds do okay in community tanks w/bettas, but I personally would never put a male betta in with any other fish just because of their unpredictability.

HA - Kiarra, ya beat me to it.

 

[Kiarra]

HA - Kiarra, ya beat me to it.

That's just because I type fast.

 

[eudielynn]

Depends on the betta, but neons are not a good choice. I resuced my Jericho from a tank of neons at Walmart where he was being eaten alive by the little nippers.

I have zebra danios (they need at least a 20 gal tank), dwarf gouramis, a golden gourami, female guppies, ottos and a bristle nose plec in with Booker with no problems. He also shares the tank with ADF's, a snail and ghost shrimp, (but this will be the last of my ghost shrimp attempts because the bettas eat them faster than I can buy them. )

 

[Allix]

I would have to say no mollies, no guppies, no tetras

Ive had mine for 3 months, right up untill a week ago he has been completely fine with -

2 corys
pleco
3 guppies
5 mollies
3 platies
silver shark

Then a week ago i noticed some of my fishies had ripped tails, im guessing they have had a scrap. My betta looks really grumpy and misrable so i think he is going to be best off on his own but unfortunatly i do not have a tank for him

The first betta i had died after being attacked my my tetras, which i then took back to my lfs

 

[abstract]

neons are not a good choice not only because of the betta, but also because of the fact that they don't do well at all in a newly established aquarium

 

[Elise]

Back when I first started with Bettas, I put mine boy Kai in with my 10 gal community (gups, mollies, cories).....bad decision, Kai went ballistic. He raced around and bit everyone's fins.

But I've heard success stories about bettas and other creatures. But if I were going to create a 10 gal all over again, I'd just have the betta and maybe some cories. I know it sounds bare, but if you get an active betta, he will take up the entire tank, believe me!

Or you could split the tank and get two Bettas to share the space.

In a 10 gal, I don't think that there is many alternatives. Besides, having a just a betta and no other fish can be very fun to watch--they are such unique creatures.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Some people do ok with male bettas and livebearers but these are usually isolated cases in comparison to most and the stock is risky, and risks are not things you want to be taking unless you don't mind having dead fish but im sure you would never want that anyway, so guppys are a no-no.
On the other hand most male bettas can happily co-exist with corys and corys are a very varied group of fish but they need to be in groups of at least 3, have their diet suplimented with algae wafers/catfish pelets and have somwhere dark like a cave to hide in during the day as many are nocturnal to a certain extent .