how many qustions can i have

[guppy boy]

hi i am thinking of getting so bettas.in my tank i already have 9 guppies and 3 platies the tank is biggish
Q1.will bettas get along with my fish
Q2.are they easy to breed and how often
Q3.what are the average prizes of these fish(i live in new zealand)
Q4.what is the ratio of female to male
Q5.how long do they live for and how big do they grow

thank you so much for reading this letter

 

[Alien Anna]

Male bettas are territorial and often regard guppies as miniture bettas and therefore attack them on sight. They will fight any other male to the death, and females too if the females don't take their fancy or aren't receptive. They also dislike large tanks and are not good community fish. Generally people try to keep bettas in tanks no bigger than 10 gals (although their are exceptions).

Female bettas can be kept in a community tank, provided its not too deep, and can be kept in groups. However, bettas vary considerably in temperament. Personally, I'd never keep bettas with guppies - its just too risky.

As for breeding bettas, there are others on the forum more experienced than I. I don't get the impression its particularly difficult but OTOH, its not a beginner activity either.

I suggest if you're looking for a large, easy feature fish to keep with your livebearers you either consider sailfin mollies (lovely fish and easy to breed) or a pair of gouramis (not dwarf gouramis as they are a little too feisty).

 

[Kossy]

Firstly welcome to the betta world.

Like Alien has said bettas should not be kept with guppies full stop. Its just too risky. Seccondly I wouldn't recomend adding any females to your betta (if you get one) untill your a bit more experienced with them. If you are going to keep bettas you really should get another tank. Other tank mates u could consider include corys, tetras.

Breeding if you become experienced with males you could try adding three females provided there are many hiding spots etc... Note if you want breeding advice read the pinned post in this section.

As for the prizes what do you mean??? show??? Show bettas aren't cheap to buy in Australia they are around $90. You will read that they live for around 2 years however they live in good conditions for around 3-4 years. Males get to around 10cm (with fins) and females around 7cm.

 

[BettaBoyz]

as anna said bettas are very territorial. i managed to pick the softies up though =) they're really nice little fish, colorful and spunky. i keep one of mine in a 10 gallon community tank with some tetras and kuhliis, as well as a few invading snails. provided the fish aren't fin nippers (IE: tiger barbs) a betta should be fine with quite a few little fish, like tetras and danios. but the guppies are a no go, my LPS kept a betta in with a few monster female guppies and some little males and all the fish were chewed up in two days =( it pretty much wrecks the pretty fins you bought the fish for in the first place.

i've never bred bettas, but i think a female can only breed when she shows dark vertical bars (dark-bodied, i had a light female and never figured it out, and she was eaten =() and when the male has a bubble nest going.

i don't know new zealand currency, but here in canada you can buy a nice veiltail mutt betta for anywhere from 2 to 5 dollars. deltas, halfmoons, double-tails, crown-tails, lyre-tails, and pretty much any specialty-bred betta can go anywhere from 10 to a hundred and ninety dollars, i've actually seen a beautiful melano lace halfmoon for that much =O

females and males should NOT be kept together unless you really know what you're doing. i kept a single cambodian female with my boy Donahue and he chewed off her ventrals within two days =( my LPS has kept a trio of females with a male without any bad results, but i'm not sure if that's all that wise...

bettas can live 2-3 years, and grow to be about 2.5" to 3". if you buy a purebred betta i think they're bigger, seeing as they were kept because they were the best possible breeding stock, but pet store mutts are just that; the mutts.

=D i actually gave some wisdom! yaaay! though i am a bit new to this, bought my first betta about a month ago and my newest was yesterday. buuut i'm pretty sure most of this is accurate, i've plucked it from about ten zillion replies to posts i've made =)