what kind of fish can bettas cooexist with?

[hermione]

well okay.. I doubt my betta is lonely. But he's definitely kind of bored. I am going to be moving him to a fairly big tank, and I was considering putting in some other little fish with him.. I did some research and found a site that says that I can possibly add angelfish, platies, mollies, swordtails, danios, gouramis, a school of clown loaches or bala sharks, ghost shrimp, white clouds, or a group of corydoras

anyways.. how accurate is this list? what do you guys reccomend??

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

NONE of those fish can safely be kept with bettas, particualy males ones, and some of those fish grow over a 1ft long.
What size tank is he being moved to and are you planning on cycling it? what kind of substrate i.e gravel or sand are you going for?

 

[Bettabelieveit]

Yeah what she said ^^^ that sounds more like the list of what NOT to put in. I'm not exactly sure what goes well, sometimes snails are.

On a side note, how are red tail sharks with Betta?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I suppose corys can be put with male bettas, livebearers are dodgey though because of their bright colors they usually have and im not sure about rtbs although i've heard they are quite terotorial so probably a no-no.

 

[Ethos]

I have a gourami tank of females that I'd like my betta to go in....but I heard thats a really bad idea, true?

 

[WeeMan]

Just to let you know that tetra's seem to be ok although I have heard that they fin nip I havent experienced and mine seems happy enough also small catfish are fine. Mine shares the tank with a spotted black synodontis

 

[oneponygirl]

I'm not an expert, but I had a five gallon tank with a betta, three whiteclouds, a couple of ghost shrimp and the snail. This set up worked for years. The whiteclouds seemed to work because they were faster than he was and because there were more than one or two he couldn't tire them out by chasing them. The ghost shrimp and snail he left alone although I've heard from others that their betta killed theirs so I guess it depends on the betta.

 

[Jezah]

Mine got along fine with my Blue Gouramis....but my new one got his fins ripped by my Moonlight Gouramis. So it depends on the gourami, and this was in a 29g tank too.

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

I have my male with young rainbow fish. (The rainbows will end up in a larger tank once they get bigger.)

They all seem to get along fine. (no chasing, no nipping, no flaring) It certainly has changed the bettas behaviour. He's more active and not so picky about his food. He even built a nice little bubble nest yesterday!

I rearranged the tank before adding the rainbows, though. Lots of rocks and plants so there are places to hide if anyone feels the need...

As mentioned above, I think it depends on your betta's disposition.

 

[Polardbear]

My female bettas happily and peacefully coexisted with my swordtails. However, when I tried putting a male betta in with my swordtails he spent the entire time herding the swordtails in circles around the tank. The betta seemed to enjoy it but the swordies definately were unhappy about it. I gave him 3 days to get it out of his system but he was still going strong and I seperated them. I think the swordies were still looking over their shoulders for a week afterwards.

 

[Chrissy]

Depending on the size of the new tank you could put in some albino corys. I had a betta live peacefully with them for about 3 years.

 

[Kiarra]

No:
Angelfish
Mollies
Gouramis
Bala Sharks

Those are the ones that never or almost never work, and should not be tried at all, from your list. Gouramis SOMETIMES work, but it's rare.

USUALLY good tankmates are:
White Cloud Mountain Minnows (kept in a group of 5 or more, as they are a schooling fish)
Zebra Danios (when kept in a group of 6 or more, they will usually leave the Betta alone in favor of each other, but does require some watching to be sure of this)
African Dwarf Frogs
Ghost Shrimp (which will probably be eaten, but make a fine edible tankmate if you don't mind them getting eaten)
Coryadoras Catfish

This does all depend on the temperament of the Betta. Some are highly aggressive, and some are so laid-back that they even love Guppies (most Bettas kill Guppies).

 

[daudy_dojo]

sometimes they can go with dull colored gouramis!


here is the funny thing Kiarra gouramis are cousins of the bettas if they are dull colored they CAN and WILL co exsist! we keep bettas with gouramis all the time... nothing ever goes wrong! check up on your gourami info and betta info!

 

[Kiarra]

Actually, I know this one from experience. I have a pair of Croaking Gouramis that CANNOT live with my male Bettas, even though they're fairly pale-colored and completely non-aggressive. My male Bettas go after them even through glass dividers.

And, again, everything depends on the temperament of the fish involved. I just refuse to say "yes, that can go together" when, more often than not, they can't.

 

[daudy_dojo]

how big are they? how big is the tank? how much planting is there? how many hiding places are there?