Our Fish with Bettas

[PJGuppies]

My son has a Male Betta in a 5 1/2 gallon tank..and he is wanting to put 1 or 2 other fish in with him..what fish could I out in there with him? He sorta wants guppies (which I am breeding) But the man from the pet store said that a betta will fight them? and I read that other people have guppies with Bettas..So I am really confused, can someone help??

PJGuppies

 

[Tanked]

I would say do not add guppiesto the tank. the betta will tear them to shreds. I keep 3 albino corry's in a 5 gallon tank with my betta. and when my work tank finishes cycling I will put about 10 ghost shrimp in the tank with him.

 

[wuvmybetta]

my betta has lived with 4VERY long finned guppies for about 4 months and he's NEVER touched them.NEVER. he doesn't even mind that they top feed with him & they sometimes try to horn in on his betta food or special treats, all he does is swim to the other end of the tank so I can feed him alone , don't be mistaken and assume he's a pushover because it's quite the opposite, he's done his fair share of killing in the past (4 fish,1 snail, and tooo many shrimp to count), but NEVER a guppy (and trust me I wouldn't mind if he DID take one or two out , my daughter simply won't let me bring them back to the lfs so I guess they're staying with us, they're just so busy all the time and distracting )
but I have heard people recommend no guppies with a betta, I guess it depends on whether you have a REALLY stupid betta or one who can tell the difference between a fish of his own kind and a fish that's clearly not like him

 

[PJGuppies]

OMG I put my Male Molly in the tank with my sons Betta and "Bubba" (thats what I cal him) tried to fight him...My Molly didnt know what to do, he was so scared he couldnt move, so I hurried up and got him out of there before any damage was done..So I guess "Bubba" is one Betta that cant have any tank mates LOL....I was funny though

 

[wuvmybetta]

aaaww that's too bad , good thing you were right there to save the molly though. Guess Bubba prefers to have the place to himself I have a solid red betta with a REALLY bad attitude, all he does is flare at his reflection and swim right into the side of his tank...HARD, so I wouldn't even attempt to put him with other fish, I gave him a ghost shrimp once and he cracked it in half ,like he was at red lobster, within a few minutes .
But at least you tried and now you know...so I guess your stuck with that bully of a molly

 

[pondfreak4365]

I keep my male betta, Red with guppies and he never bothers them at all! I guess they each have personalities as different as their appearance

 

[gadazobe]

I think it's easier to keeps bettas with other fish in a large tank - that way there are plenty of hiding places. In a small tank it might be better to have only the betta coz they're quite terratorial and regard the whole of the tank as his.

 

[Lipreader]

The only thing that sucks is that when you go out to buy a beta fish, they are usually in a small cups and it's kinda hard to know what their personality are since the don't move around much. Is there any tricks on knowing which beta may have a good loving personality? Or is this more like "take your chance" sort of thing?

 

[SneakBetta]

Will Work-
gourami (probably)
platy (for sure)
neon tetras (for sure)
cardinal tetras (for sure)


Fish that WON'T work-
angelfish
Black Skirt Tetra (it might work, it doesn't work for me)
Any fish with long fins and that's colorful won't work

 

[SneakBetta]

my black skirt tetra does work actually

 

[Alien Anna]

A friend of mine had a betta shredded by neons, so I'd never recommend putting one with neons.

Corys are definitely safe from a betta, and so are cherry barbs (and vice versa).

 

[Kossy]

I think it's easier to keeps bettas with other fish in a large tank - that way there are plenty of hiding places. In a small tank it might be better to have only the betta coz they're quite terratorial and regard the whole of the tank as his.

Thats a good point the larger the tank the more hiding spots. This allwos the betta to set his territories and gaurd them (Fish will learn).

A friend of mine had a betta shredded by neons, so I'd never recommend putting one with neons.

Neons and tetras are fine with bettas like I said before all bettas are different but generally there great with neons, danios, corys....

my betta has lived with 4VERY long finned guppies for about 4 months and he's NEVER touched them.NEVER.

Thats quite amazing...most bettas hate anything with long colorful fins they get jealous...but like I say all bettas are different.

 

[Missy]

I heard too that neons will destroy your Betta. I would try a few ghost shrimp in with Bubba. Their really inexpensive, if your son's paying, and are suppossed to be great with the Bettas. Their really hardy too. I'm getting a few ghost shrimp for my Betta in a week or two.