Saw Platys With Male Bettas At Petstore

[spazzinout]

Ok well I was at my LFS today, and noticed they had male bettas in multible tanks with other fish. There was a male betta in about every rainbowfish tank, and even one in the platy tank!
I asked one of the workers and they said they get along quite fine and they just had to put the betta in a breeder box for a few days to get him used to the other guys.
WOW!

Now that I saw this , i really want to try it. But what do you guys think?
Have you ever seen this done?

I guess it could work, saying platys and rainbowfish dont have big fins or anything.

 

[Truck]

i wouldnt as he may mistake them for another betta and kill them

 

[kubora666]

why does everyone make bettas out like fish that MUST be kept alone, they arent even that aggresive. seriously. ive always kept mine in comunity tanks with peaceful fish like platys guppys tetras etc and they get on PERFECT.
the fighter dosnt bother anyone and they dont bother him, he eats loads too at feeding time, i honestly dont know what all the hype is with keeping these fish singularly. it saddens me to think that most the people on this forum have nice sized tanks with 1 betta in

 

[wilsonnw8]

Ive had a betta live fine with paty's before NOT swordtails though. I chose all female platy's in dull colours and as the guy said I introduced the male betta slowly. To be honest though for me after the initial oo it worked factor I quickly got bored of the platy's and when they died I didnt relpace them, bettas have such good personalities you forget a lot of other species of fish just arent like that, I was far happier just watching my little dude in his own territory than watching him get a bit agitated with the stupid invaders! I wouldnt do it again but i wont say absolutely no to you!

 

[Honeythorn]

Dunc was in a tank with guppies when we got him. He'd shredded most of their tails I tried to add some pygmy cories to his tank, I had only left the bag floating for a minute or two and he was right there barging up and flaring at the poor things and trying to bite the bag!

I think it depends on the betta and who was added first really.

 

[LauraFrog]

IMO if you're going to have tankmates you need about 8-10 gallons minimum and some hiding places. Platies are suitable but only if they are fully grown and lightly stocked, and well fed. I put a betta in a tank with platy fry for about five minutes while I cleaned his tank and came back to find them chewing on his beautiful long fins. A betta with four or five platies in a ten gal would look great. Personally if you're choosing platies I would suggest a 10 gallon minimum because I've kept platies in a 5 gal before and you would not believe the difference it made when I moved them to a larger tank. They were so much happier.

 

[modaz]

its not that we are totally against bettas being in with community fish but saying they are OK with them full stop encourages people to add them to aggressive tanks and they also tend to think they can keep males and females together too after hearing such things

 

[Mikaila31]

My betta doesn't really care for other fish. He will flare and chase them, but that said I keep him with other fish. Mainly cuz he can't catch them. He's in with an true SAE right now and they get along fine. He once lived with a rainbow fish who would tease him. Every time the betta flared the rainbow fish would flare all his fins up and swim around the betta in circles displaying. After a while he tends to give up and figures he will never be able to catch them.

 

[Night61]

my boys barely get along with the snails in there tank. storm gets particularly crossed when the snail stays near his bubble nest.
the girls are a little more dosile, however when i tried to introduce little myst to a comuntiy she was pretty quick in letting me know she was not happy. the male guppy in the tank came over and tried to mate with her and she quickly clamped her tail so i returned her to her own tank