Suggestions For 5 Gallon Hex

[mommyof2bettas]

Females and males would both be aggressive, or non agressive, depends on the individual fish. I say try the betta you have out, you can't lose anything, flaring isn't always bad. My male betta was put with my cories once, because they couldn't go in their own tank right away. I put him with my mellowest betta. The betta started flaring like crazy!!! Some bettas will flare, but not attack, until they get used to it, then they'll be mellow all the time. Some bettas don't know how it's like with a fish in their bowl, and they will act different, you just never know!!! Once again, give it a try. Bettas are always surprising! If you want, you could add some snails as well.

 

[andyw823]

Why not 2 Bettas??!!!

 

[Tessla]

i agree with tessla, try your betta out first,
male or female bettas, doesnt matter, both can be nice or nasty.

I'm a little confused. While I get your and the previous poster's recommendation to try my betta in theory, I really don't think he would work b/c I have noticed that he seems particularly fearsome--he flares at chopsticks I use to pluck stuff out of his tank, he flares if he sees me using a pen when I'm writing and get what he considers to be too close to his tank, he flares when he wants more food (but has already had enough). Sometimes I'll look across the room and he's just flaring at what appears to be nothing. On the other hand, he dances for me when I get up in the morning and come home from work/school, and he knows what side of the tank I feed him on and will go there and wait for his food. He also loves to build huge bubble nests everyday and I'm afraid the flow from the filter in my 5 gallon would mess those up, as well as afraid what might happen if one of the ADFs messed up his nest in one of their mad dashes to the surface for air.

Can you please explain why you think it's a good idea to try him in the 5 gallon tank first, as opposed to getting a female or scouting out the LFS for a male who's kept in a community tank?

I'm not disagreeing with you, just don't quite get it.

The main reason I'd suggest trying your betta first is that you have about as good a chance for your betta to get along with the ADFs as you would a new betta. Even a community betta may change behavior with new tankmates, you may as well try the one you already have. I'm sure he'll show some curiosity for the ADFs but you should be able to quickly find out if he's agressive towards them and move him back to his current home before any damage is done.

Most bettas will flare at absolutely anything, but they won't necessarily attack what doesn't appear to be another betta just because they flare at it. Both of my boys will flare at and even nip smaller fish that swim by them (the smaller fish are in another tank now) but completely ignore the bottom feeders, one is even scared of the kuhli loaches and amano shrimp. You can never tell how fearsome they really are until they are kept with tankmates. I wouldn't worry too much about the filter unless you're getting a lot of current out of it, but even then you should be able to adjust it down with little trouble.

 

[Trina]

OK. I get it now. Thanks for explaining.

I think my curent male betta blows bubble nests b/c he is happy and healthy. He was listless when I bought him and not very attractive, but he kept staring at me at the pet store. I felt some sort of weird connection to him and bought him. It turns out he had what I think was fin rot--sad, droopy/almost shredded looking fins, with red at the base. I treated with an all natural Betta med (tea tree oil, a brand called Splendid Betta Fix) and he now has nice fins and no red at the base. Within 2 days of starting treatment, he was swimming around and blowing the nests.

Anyway, I'm rambling . . . I get what everyone is saying now about trying out the situation.

Any thoughts on female bettas? I know each fish is different, but are they known to be less aggressive than males in general. I've been thinking it might be nice to rescue a girl from the dreadful life in a bowl at the same place I bought my boy. Thoughts/comments on female betta with ADF?