Bettas in community

[GlennLikesFish]

Hi just a quick question, i apologise if it's been answered before. Can bettas be put in community tanks? Any particular fish they shouldn't be put with?

 

[Origami Gourami]

Well, I can only go by my experience (and it's limited). I tried a male in my community tank, with a back-up should things turn ugly. Luckily I appear to have landed myself with a total wally, as he isn't aggressive at all and spends most of his time avidly studying the two frogs. He seems particularly fascinated by their feet... I introduced three ladies for him, and increased them to five after reading here that more females = calmer females. That has proven the case, as when I had three, one became a total ***** and nipped the others, now there's five they just don't bother. Also, the male isn't bothered about them either and neither harasses the other, although this cannot be guaranteed with different fishy pals!

But it all depends on the fish, which is why you need to observe and have a back-up plan, just in case.

I ran into trouble because my golden gourami took against the influx of female bettas in his patch and became aggressive to everyone (except the shark, the wimp!), so I found him a happy home in a gourami-only tank at my lfs, and peace was restored. But others have found gouramis and bettas peaceful companions.

Not overly helpful advice I suppose, but best I can give! All I can say is my set-up below is very peaceful of late, so it can be done!

 

[ladynaoko]

like Origami says, it all depends on the fish.

My male Betta is such a calm lil guy and he leaves the other fish alone.
Try getting your betta from a place where they keep the males mixed in with smaller fish - that way you can see how they act with other fish in advance.

Zebra danios can be a problem with Bettas as they are known for fin nipping, if the danios are in a group they'll usually be ok though (mine were a bit nippy when I first got them but they've calmed down a lot the past few weeks).

Good luck with the betta

 

[treefrog]

As with the two earlier post it depends on the circumstances. Many people on this site strongly reccommend against this. I personally have had great luck with it. I have a 45gl pentagon corner tank with the following fish: 1 male betta, 3 opaline gouramis, 3 longfinned black skirt tetras, 4 mollies, 3 rasboras, 2 rainbows, 1 candy swordtail, 1 bala shark, 1 common pleco, 1 bristlenose pleco, 3 clown loaches. It is important when adding a betta to a community tank to provide plenty of cover. Here are some posts on my tank if your interested.


my 45gl tank

my 45gl fish

 

[Dwarfs]

Male bettas might attack fish with brightly colored fins, (like other males) but females can be kept in groups and don't bother other fish unless the other fish bothers them.

 

[wides]

I've just had to return my betta to the shop. He had a habit of nipping a cory on the tail and was making a mess of it, after speaking to different people they all said it was down to the individual fish.

Gonna get another tomorrow, hope that ones a bit calmer.

 

[amerz]

i have 2 females... one is very calm and passive (she's in the community). the other is very protective of her space... she's by herself.

Even with females, don't count on them getting along.

 

[Carolinesugar]

hiya, how are u getting on with the new 1 ? or u not got him yet ?

u mite find that its best to add more plants, and hiding spaces for him to the tank, that way he can run and hide if he gets nipped at or is scared.

it also means that it gives him somewhere to go when hes just been let loose in the tank. i found that my females liked to just hide 4 the 1st day i had them, while they observed the rest of the tank.

it really does depend on the fish itself, so gud luck finding a suitable lil man!

 

[noelberg]

Mine's doing fine, although I see every once in a blue moon that a black tetra takes a nip on the old boy's tail Otherwise he's fine.

I would suggest some floating plants. Also suggest tank mates not include rowdy friends like serpae's or possibly even black tetras. Bettas will sometimes be aggressive toward other surface dwellers or long-finned fish like certain danios or guppies (and other bettas or gouramis).

 

[HeatherSweetness]

Be careful adding bettas to a tank with male guppies that have the long flowy tails...My betta ate off my blue guppy's ENTIRE tail one day.

PS...Be careful with apple snails!! If you've read my post about it,bettas are curious and nipping at the apple snails can lead to a betta trapped in the apple snail's clamped shut shell. I'm sure it was a freak thing,but just be observant.