Guppies and Bettas??

[MattL]

Can guppies and Bettas be kept together in the same tank? Im guessin the betta will want to fight with the guppies? Any ideas?

Matt

 

[MountGuppy]

if you already have the fish its worth a try because like people all fish act differently

 

[MountGuppy]

Ive seen bettas with other fish i think they only fight with other bettas

 

[minh]

i dont have any bettas but all fish shops say its okay to have them together... *cough* i want u to buy it and more *cough*

but my friend had them and his guppy got eaten alive... just mention about colour of guppy tails and see what they say...

 

[lordmoose]

Can guppies and Bettas be kept together in the same tank? Im guessin the betta will want to fight with the guppies? Any ideas?

Matt

Unlikely they'll fight with the guppies...but they might see them as a nice snack

 

[MarkF]

All Bettas seem to have their own characteristics - My personal experience is my Male Betta feels threatened by my Blue Guppys and has had a go at them. But strangely my Leopard Tail Guppies are just fine with the Guppys My Betta is a Bluey Red so maybe he thinks the blue Guppys are another Betta? I have seperated the Blue Guppys otherwise they will be finished off!

 

[canis_lupus]

my experience was total carnage, my betta ate about six guppies.....well just their fins but they all passed away cuz they couldn't swim

 

[gi4get]

yes all fish are different and may not act according to what nature dictates....however, anything smaller than the betta or remotly looking like its own finnage will be a) nipped at and harassed to the point of sickness, b.) maimed beyond all repair, or c) eaten alive. i've seen bettas in the live plant tank at lfs. i've also see the frayed fins of dwarf gouramis and wounded gold barbs as a result. i have one betta, two guppies and a very young swordtail. all i have to do is put the two tanks near each other and my betta goes nuts. he begins flairing at the second tank and striking at the glass. speaking of which...that's a great way to test the temperment of your betta. try putting the two not together but near each other and watch the betta's behavior.

ps-what size tank would your betta and guppies be in?

 

[ramesses]

GREAT IDEA .....NOT!!!!!!
Sorry but bettas will and have killed male guppies,especially the real fancy types with long flowing tails.I should know my betta Zeus has killed two of my guppies.This is what happened.......I bought a 55 gal. tank and I decided to let it mature,I introduced a pleco,an albino cory and Zeus,a beautiful blue male betta.Well,everything was going on just fine and I decided to purchase some fish,I went on line and got me some show quality guppies from Aquabid.At first Zeus didn't like the idea of having to share "his" tank,it seemed irritated having all these juveniles swiming around his domain.Anyhow,the guppies grew as so did Zeus.The male guppies started to grow these magnificent tails and Zeus still didn't like the guppies,especially the males.I didn't think much of it,after all Zeus couldn't swim as fast as any of the guppy and there was no posibility that he could catch any of them.Boy,was I wrong.You see, he was smarter than that;He waited until the lights were out and then he would strike.The first time I noticed something was wrong was when in the morning one of the male guppies was missing a chunk of its caudal.I thought maybe it happened swimming around some rocks.Well,two days latter I turned the lights on and I found Zeus chewing something,later I realized it was the tail of one of the other guppies.I then took him out of the community tank and placed him in a spare 10 gall.To this day Zeus still there with Pandi the cory and a bunch of neon tetras.Once again he's the master of his domain.

 

[Lipreader]

Ramesses, I feel like I was reading my own story! That is what happened to me just recently. I was SO disappointed to find that I couldn't have my red betta with my male guppy. My male guppy had beautiful rainbow color tail and what happen to yours is exactly what happened to mine. For two weeks, they were fine until this week, I woke up and I notice the chunk of his tail bitten off. I didn't want to believe it was Mike(the betta) that did it. It greatly disapoint me. He never bothered with any of my fish throughout the day, but when I'm in bed, I guess that's when he strike.

so, better not take your chance with ANY fish with nice flowing tails. In other words, don't put a betta with another pretty fish. They seem to want to be the only pretty one in the tank.

 

[ramesses]

LIPREADER,sorry to hear about your guppy.It is true that male and female bettas will kill any other fish with flashy finnage.And it has nothing to do with individual personalities.Bettas are territorial both in the wild and in any fish tank and they will attack any other fish that show some fancy fins.You see,they are not even close to be the smarter of the fresh water fish,and nothing is stronger than their instinct to protect their little territory in the pond(or in our case,the fish tank).
Yes they are beautiful and yes they look so regal when they get pissed off and extend their fins but,don't let them fool you,they are very aggresive and will attack thinking they are defending their domain even if that means killing fancy guppies and half of the tank community.

 

[FLYguy]

Well, I have a 10G tank that I use for breeding GUPPY and BETA fry together... I take out the male beta and his fry when they breed, but the Betas leave the guppy fry alone. I use the fry from both for Oscar food...

Ive never seen mine fight. If anything, its the femal Beta that llikes company the least. ####, I had 2 male Betas up till a while ago, they lived together in that tank for 2 years and never fought, they chummed around together all the time.

 

[Cati907]

hey. i'm new here and i've been breeding bettas for less than a month now, and i'm ALMOST sucessful. i have betta fry in my 10 gallon tank, but only 5 survived. i was wondering aobut breeding other fish and i since i already had guppies i decided to look them up. they looked pretty easy and my 2 females look really pregnant so i had no choice but to let them have babies. i have no money to buy a new tank and so i was wondering if i could put the betta fry and the guppy fry together, since the bettas won't develope any fighting "urges" till after at least 1 month, and they're about less than a week old right now. i read that the guppies grow up fast, so i figured i could sell them to a pet store before the bettas grow up. do u think guppy and betta fry will get along? or do u think the guppy fry will eat the betta fry when they get bigger?
and my 2 female's stomachs are HUGE and are bigger than regular preganant guppies i've seen pics of and the're been like that for a while...HELP!!!!