Fish Stock Advice, I Want Something That Looks Like A Betta.

[Gizaroo2]

Have you looked into honey gouramis? (Colalis chuna) they are pretty neat looking and stay small.

 

[DaveIOW]

What about a pair of dwarf cichlids?

Blue rams
Gold rams
Bolivian rams

Or even some of the Apistogramma species? Cacatuoides look nice to me

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Cory's should be in a school of 6+

I was going to mention Gouramis too.

You could always go with a pair of wild Bettas (can't think of species name right now - but it's not splendens)

 

[Linway]

Ok so after a discussion with my girlfriend and the dude in the LFS we have decided upon (according the the dude in the LFS there should be no problems with this):
 
3-4 Peppered Corys
X amount of Red Cherry Shrimp (not sure how many yet)
6-8 Neon Tetras
1 Betta (Siamese Fighting Fish are the ones my LFS stocks).
 
Thanks for the help all

 

[KittyKat]

I've just googled the powder blues and yeah I really like them, however according to fishkeeper.co.uk they grow to 9+ inches which is way too big for what I want >.<

 
I think that might have been a different species… this is why using the scientific names is best. I can recommend http/www.seriouslyfish.com/ as the resource to look up tank and fish size compatibility.
 

So with regards to stock numbers then (assuming guppies require more than 1-2) would something like the following be ok or would this be overstocked:
 
3-4 Corys
6-8 Neon Tetra
3-4 Guppies

 
Corys, like tetras, do best in schools of 6-10+ per species. Your tank should be able to take both in the higher numbers, I think.
 
(I personally do not like to see hardwater fish being kept with softwater fish, so would go for rasboras instead of tetras.)

 

[matthewlee1959]

I have a question about the compatibility of the shrimp with a Betta.  I know one of the Betta's food is brine shrimp and they are carnivores.

 

[Linway]

I have a question about the compatibility of the shrimp with a Betta.  I know one of the Betta's food is brine shrimp and they are carnivores.

 
Yeah I read this is a possibility after I posted the list. I had a bit of a google around last night about it and apparently it depends entirely on the size of the shrimp in that if you put the betta in with newly bought young shrimp they do tend to eat them but if the shrimp are left to mature a while and grow then the bettas tend to leave them alone because they can't gobble them up whole lol...
In all honesty I'm glad this is a long process because I'll probably change my mind on the shrimp and just not chance them being eaten, maybe just  get another bunch of tetras in a different colour? Or maybe a bunch of raspboras as well, just to add to the variation in the tank (I like lots of different colours lol).

 

[Linway]

To the people who asked for pictures when we bought fish, I have made a little journal in the journal section with a few pictures and the process etc hope you all enjoy.
 
Link the the journal:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/425311-our-very-first-freshwater-tank/