Ideas On Tank Mates

[Devorax]

Has anyone got any ideas on suitable tank mates for Boris the Betta? He has been in a community tank until now and has been a good boy, only flaring occasionally at the Black Widow Tetras as they go sailing by. He is very much a quiet fish (not that fish are ever noisy...lol) and keeps himself to himself.
Now though he has the opportunity to have his own 25l tank, but I can't help that think this is too lonely and too boring for him to live out the rest of his life so I would welcome suggestions on compatible buddys.
I have seen that Pygmy Corys are okay, but are Tail Spot Pygmys the same fish or not? He has not even looked at the guppys he has been in with, nor they him, but something his size or smaller that will be happy in their batchelor pad together is what we want.
Any ideas people?

PS. Is is strictly neccessary to keep a filter and heater running on this new tank he will have? It is already cycled and the thing is we are stuck for ideas on where to put it for a power supply. Of course if it is preferred I will use them, but if it's not important I will be able to pick a 'betta' location....
All comments/suggestions welcome

 

[bronzecat]

Hi
I not going to say whether or not to get tank mates for him What i will say is that his mellow attitude may change when put into a smaller tank. There will be less terrotorial space for him, so just be cautious.

As regards the filter and heater - A betta is a tropical fish and as such requires water temp of 27-28 degrees. If you turn the filter off, the bacteria in the filter media will starve and crash. That means your Ammonia and nitrIte levels will rise. No amount of ammonia or nitrIte is good for fish as its highly toxic.
If you want to run withouit a filter, with 1 betta in a 25lt, you will need to do 2 water changes of approx 50% per week.

 

[Charlieboy]

I thought there was something wrong with the suggestion that they can live in just a 'fish bowl' and nothing else. I have read many places/articles that people say they have done this, but always thought it wrong. So to have a weak filter flow and a heater is what is required, now for the subject of his buddys.
Suggestions please?

 

[saltynay]

Selecetion of shrimp - cherries and amanos
Selection of snails
5 livebearers - although you will have to keep a really close eye on them as they may nip the betta or the betta may nip them
Group of pygmy cories

 

[White Whale]

Selecetion of shrimp - cherries and amanos
Selection of snails
5 livebearers - although you will have to keep a really close eye on them as they may nip the betta or the betta may nip them
Group of pygmy cories

Are there any snails that do NOT multiply?

 

[Essjay]

Nerite snails don't multiply. They lay eggs but they don't hatch. The downside is that you can end up with everything covered in white eggs that can be hard to scrape off.

I have red ones and brown stripey ones about an inch across, and black and yellow striped bee ones at about half an inch. My betta has one of the bee nerites. He ignores it most of the time, but when it crawls up the glass next to where I feed him, he flares at it.
The other thing about nerites is that not much of the snail shows outside the shell unlike apple snails, so there's not much for a betta to get hold of if he doesn't like it.

 

[saltynay]

Plenty that won't become pests off the top of my head-
Nerite snails - good at cleaning algae
Golden apple snails - some species eat plants some just clean algae I would reccomend you buy off someone on here so that you can identify whether it will shred your tank if its planted. Some species will breed in FW but the eggs are clearly visible and normally easily removed as they form outside the tank
Assassin snails - Omnviores which tend towards the carnivorous side they will eat other snails and groups of them have been known to attack much larger snails. Can be useful to stop "pest" snail populations spiralling

I have (approx figures): 15 red ramshorns snails, 8 pond snails, 8 malaysian trumpet snails and 3 assassin snails which keep all the rest in manageable numbers. These all live with my betta and although I have seen the betta pick off a small pond snail it was only during a feeding frenzy however they are known to occasionally eat snails depending on personality and strength of snails shell.

 

[Glegorly]

White Cloud Mountain Minnows are peaceful, small and are almost, if not just as appealing as Neons without the nippyness. You could add a few to your tank (4 or 5) and they should get along fine. Your filter should be able to handle the additions but to be sure you might need to increase the water change volume slightly. A large volume of shrimp aswell make a nice surprise when your viewing the tank up close!

 

[stang1]

White Cloud Mountain Minnows prefer temperatures of 18-22C so wouldn't be an ideal choice as Bettas prefer higher temperatures.
He would be happy enough in the 25ltr tank by himself provided he has hiding places such as plabts/decor.
If you were to try him in a community tank, many people have had success keeping them with Harlequin Rasboras.

 

[saltynay]

Mine has really settled in with my 2 endler males and 3 female guppies although one of the guppies deserves an asbo so i have been watching it very closely however both the betta and the guppies freely swim around the tank without flaring or any nipping. I think the guppies may be slightly more dominant just simply because they are the same size and a bit faster to the food but in general everyone is A-ok!

 

[Christi_22]

Nerite snails don't multiply. They lay eggs but they don't hatch. The downside is that you can end up with everything covered in white eggs that can be hard to scrape off.

I have red ones and brown stripey ones about an inch across, and black and yellow striped bee ones at about half an inch. My betta has one of the bee nerites. He ignores it most of the time, but when it crawls up the glass next to where I feed him, he flares at it.
The other thing about nerites is that not much of the snail shows outside the shell unlike apple snails, so there's not much for a betta to get hold of if he doesn't like it.

My Betta also flares at the Zebra Snail, but only if the snail is on the front of the Aquarium lol.

I also have 3 Amano Shrimps which he appears to ignore, on the whole, they are brilliant and I would definitely recommend. As well as being really interesting to watch, they do a really good job of cleaning up Algae and other detriment in the tank.

 

[Devorax]

Okay, so people like snails a lot...lol. I am curious though how the subject ended up on snails when I was interested in fish, but there we are that's the beauty of forums.
I am certainly interested in adding a handful of shrimps to the tanks, although I will be studying them in the shop so as not to end up with a Long Armed Shrimp as I have had one of them and it was NOT a pleasant experience.
So, pretty much anything he has been in with so far is okay for Boris to buddy up with then? He has remained peaceful, even at feeding time, only flaring once in a while at the Black Widow tetras.

 

[Christi_22]

Ooops Sorry about mentioning the Snails lol.

Don't Mention the Snails !! (To be read in the voice of Basil Fawlty).

Shrimps are definitely cool though!

 

[love4aquatic]

Ooops Sorry about mentioning the Snails lol.

Don't Mention the Snails !! (To be read in the voice of Basil Fawlty).

Shrimps are definitely cool though!

you could add small loaches depending on your tank size, i have a comunity tank and my betta is fine with the dwarf chain loaches