Siamese Fighter - Shy?

[deansplit]

Called the aquarium - told me Bettas and Gouramis do get on and advice from forums can be misleading! God help me!! They've been in business for 40 yrs and would not ill advice any fish mixes. I put him back in this morning, he's spent his time having mad spurts of frantic flipping around and now hiding. I'll see how they go!

 

[Cazgar]

Lfs are there to make money, if your fish dies you'll go buy another, that's how they make money.
The advice you get here is unbiased & is based on experience.
I hope you don't suffer any more attacks, but imo I think you will

 

[Paradise3]

Simple, Betta's and Gourami's do not get on at all. Your LFS is giving you ill advice so that when the betta and gourami fight and one or the other dies you'll go buy another one.

I currently own 2 betta's and neither of them is shy, they are very different is personality but they're not shy.

 

[Amanita.m]

Male Gouramis and Bettas usually fight because they are in the same family, have similar traits and are both territorial. Will it work on occasion? Probably...
Will it usually work? No, esp not in a small tank. I have heard some success keeping female Bettas and female Gouramis together, or by keeping them in large tanks where they can have separate territories. Large meaning 3x or more the size of yours. If u have males of each in a small tank, if they get along, that is not the common result.
Your tank has already erupted into chaos, an "advice war" between the folks at the aquarium, and the folks on the forum, is irrelevant. You can see yourself the combination of fish you have does not make for a happy tank. No matter what anyone says gets along with anything else, if fish in your tank are killing each other, it isn't working for your tank.

 

[OldMan47]

Hi there deansplit, I have not noticed you here before. In that case let me extend you a welcome.

In my opinion, and it is just that, you have fallen victim to the fantasy that simply because a Betta splendens will not tolerate another member of his own species, it is somehow not suitable to place with other fish. I disagree strongly with that opinion. I find a Betta splendens to be a rather mild mannered fish in most situations who will almost always yield to other fish in a community setting. Let's get real here. That poor guy is likely to become a victim in anything but the most peaceful of tanks. I keep my big veiltail male in an endler tank where he even fails to control the population explosion caused by fertile endler females. He is a real gentleman when it comes to interacting with my endlers. Why people insist on treating Betta splendens as aggressive tank mates simply eludes me. I have never seen a truly aggressive male in my many years of keeping Betta splendens with other fish.

 

[Paradise3]

Hi there deansplit, I have not noticed you here before. In that case let me extend you a welcome.

In my opinion, and it is just that, you have fallen victim to the fantasy that simply because a Betta splendens will not tolerate another member of his own species, it is somehow not suitable to place with other fish. I disagree strongly with that opinion. I find a Betta splendens to be a rather mild mannered fish in most situations who will almost always yield to other fish in a community setting. Let's get real here. That poor guy is likely to become a victim in anything but the most peaceful of tanks. I keep my big veiltail male in an endler tank where he even fails to control the population explosion caused by fertile endler females. He is a real gentleman when it comes to interacting with my endlers. Why people insist on treating Betta splendens as aggressive tank mates simply eludes me. I have never seen a truly aggressive male in my many years of keeping Betta splendens with other fish.

I was never saying they were all aggressive, although my Plakat used to be quite aggressive before breeding. I was merely pointing out that the Betta and the Gourami would fight one day or another. All may seem well now but one day, all hell will break loose.
My now calm Plakat lives in a 3ft with 4 Kribs, 2 Angels, 5 Apple Snails and admittedly one female Betta but this is only temporary until I can get my 2.5ft divided tank set up, they will in no way be staying together as they shouldn't be together. I'm just lucky they have been OK with each other so far.