WHY does everyone wanna put something w/a betta???

[BettaMomma]

Imagine someone you despise.
Someone you want to whoop the living tar out of, whether it be verbally or physically.
Now, imagine someone locks you in a studio apartment with that person for life.
Would you be happy?

PEOPLE, DON'T PUT MALE BETTAS IN WITH OTHER FISH, PLEASE.
It's just not worth the stress to either the betta or the others.

I understand that it has been done before, but bettas are unpredictable and can turn on their tankmates whenever they darnwell feel like it.
Have you ever sat down over a cup of coffee with either the betta or the other fish in the tank and ASKED them if they're all comfortable with each other?

please, please PLEASE.

 

[ThinIce]

working on what i've read - the split of people who believe you can / can't do this seem to be about fifty fifty and split down the middle, largely by the looks of it on personal experience.

It would seem to me that obviously if you've only got a five gallon - its probably not worth even trying putting anything in, your fish will not be lonely. Where a fish does need company, its probably more for breeding (ie they pair off at a certain age ) or for security purposes (shoaling) rather than the human concept of lonliness.

Equally, whatever the size of tank, anything brightly coloured with flowing fins like the betta should be avoided - along the principles of if it looks vaugely like him, he'll twat it.

Additionally - anything thats known to nip is out - for the sake of the bettas health (Stress) and his appearance.

Conversely from what i've read ( must stress not experience ) if the tank is large enough for territorial posturing by the betta you may have better ( ) luck with peaceful, non-nipping, non colourful with no flowing fins fish.


I think in answer to the question of why do people want to do it, Personally its down to one of cost. I want to get the biggest tank for my Betta I can afford, but to offset this expenditure I'd like to put some cories for example to occupy the bottom of the tank.


Rather than this degenerating into an argumentative thread - why don't people post their experience based on the following

Tank Size
Type of Betta
Type of other fish tried
Age of Betta when introduced to other fish
Age of other fish when introduced
Outcome (length of happy co-existance or otherwise)

This may allow us to see which types of fish a Betta will ignore - OR if its totally random, and as BettaMomma says best avoided risking entirely.

I for one would definately find the information very enlightening in helping me make my decision

 

[Skylar]

Some people think that their tank gets boring when there is only a betta in there.

 

[BettaMomma]

Great suggestion!
I'd love to see that information also.

 

[BettaMomma]

Every day I'm amazed at some cute new thing one of my bettas does.
I don't think I could ever get bored with my boys, even if they were the ONLY thing in the tank. I do have a habit of dropping a new silk plant or some cool new thing in their tanks periodically, but I mostly do that to keep them from being bored.

 

[Raechal]

My male betta did fine in a 10 gallon with a few albino cories, I believe they were albino pygmies or just REALLY small since they were already full grown and only about an inch or smaller. He didn't mind them at all. He would swim to the bottom to check them out then go back up to the top. But then I made the mistake of adding a larger cory. I suppose my betta saw him as a threat since he was rather plump. So I put the cories in my 29 gallon and now my betta is in his 10 gallon with 2 remaining ghost shrimp.

The others died and one died and was missing it's head. I don't know if the betta saw them as a snack or what. I don't mind if he eats them though. Just a cheap snack for him. Although I've never seen him flare at them.

Today when I was gravel vacuuming and doing a 50% water change he was forced to go down towards the bottom of the tank since the water level was going down. Then he noticed one of the ghost shrimp. He came right up to it nose to...feeler thingy? and he didn't flare but kind of gave the shrimp a "what the hell are you doing down here?" look. And then I got too close with my gravel vac and he swam into it trying to eat the crap that was in the gravel. Then I added new water and gave him a small treat of bloodworms for stressing him out during the water change and gravel vac.

 

[RandomWiktor]

ThinIce - I like your idea. I made two very stupid mistakes mixing bettas with other fish (based on the advice of an LFS; I should have known better) before I really knew what I was doing. I now keep all of my fish singly, even social species (sorry to say) because I've had problems even with "nice" fish fighting. However, I keep all of my fish "next door" to one another so they can get some entertainment out of "arguing" through the glass.

My first experience with a betta and another fish was something that the store had labeled as an "algae eater," supposedly a social, small-sized fish that would eat tank algae and generally leave everything else alone. I placed the generic "algae eater" in a 5 gallon tank (yea, I know first mistake there; too small, but they said it'd only grow to 2 inches) with an agressive male betta. I knew he was a nasty fish but had heard that if it didn't look like a betta, they'd leave it alone; not true. The betta had already established the tank as his territory as he'd been there for a good month (another error on my part; should have taken him out, rearranged the whole tank, THEN put the algae eater in), and was not happy that ANYTHING was sharing his space. The only thing that saved the algae eater was that the betta had long, cumbersome fins that kept him from being able to swim fast enough to catch the algae eater. The algae eater took to hiding all day and lost weight from the betta chasing him whenever he tried to eat. The betta lost weight and stopped bubblenesting because all he did was attack that poor fish. In the mean time, the algae eater was getting very big... and one day, when the betta lunged at him all flared out and ready for a fight, the algae eater latched on to the betta's face and caused a small but bleeding injury. I split them up promply (not as soon as a should have!). Both survived the ordeal, and I have since learned that the algae eater was in fact a CHINESE algae eater, meaning he would grow to be several inches long, and would eat slime coats and eyes when he got big enough. So, that just goes to show you that you can't trust your LFS that a fish will be compatible, and that furthermore, the fish that gets hurt might be the betta, not the tankmate! (the betta and algae eater are both alive and well today, in separate tanks)

My second (stupid) mistake with tankmates was 2 female bettas. I figured since the store had about, oh, 20 of them crammed in 10 gallons, two would be compatible in a 5. Even thought they were from the same tank, same day, they greeted each other in the new territory with fin slapping, biting, and chasing. They calmed down within a day and a assumed everything would be OK. Not so. They got along for about 2 weeks with the exception of fighting a bit at feeding time, then all of a sudden I came home one day to find the larger of the two absolutely mauling her tank mate; the poor things fins were in shreds, she was bleeding around her oviduct, and was generally a mess. I split them up promply, and both survived the ordeal. However, the female who was injured had trouble with constipation ever since the incident (probably from one of the wounds) and passed away prematurely.

So, there's two STUPID mistakes that harmed the fish involved. Not because I'm a cruel jerk, but because I was new to fish keeping and had been mislead by my LFS. I suspect that many people who keep bettas with other fish - esp. the wrong kind of other fish - had the same problem. So, go easy on 'em, but give them accurate advice please!

IRE to BettaMamma's origional question, I believe the reasons would be (1) More for your money (they want their tank to be "worth" the cost, which means more fish usually) (2) Ignorance (they just didn't realize bettas don't need the company of other fish) (3) Misinformed (another person, an LFS, or a book advised them to keep bettas with other fish)

 

[The-Wolf]

I have had in the past

4x12x15 tank with 1 male betta, 1 female betta and many danios.
The male betta kept at one end of the tank and the female at the other end, occasionally he would go find her and chase her; there was many a plac for her to hide and he was soon back to his bit. I never had any trouble keeping them together due, I believe, to the ammount of respective territories.

Now having said that I would never do it again, as I have had no luck with bettas
I lost Ryan & Cathy to a secondary infection caused by lice and I lost Splash to
some kind of abcess.

I currently have 1 female betta in a 13 gallon tank with a few danios and WCMM's, she sems happy enough, but when she is gone there wll be no more bettas for me.

 

[OohFeeshy]

I think some people want something to help keept he bottom clear other than vac ing it every week. And as I said on another topic, nothing beats the novelty of having a froggie in your tank

 

[SRC]

I think they just want more then a betta in teh tank. Most people who want to keep fish want a tank with numerous fish..not just 1 fish in a 10 gallon tank. Bettas are really pretty....so of course people want pretty fish...just is unfortunate that most betta's like to be alone lol.

 

[Synirr]

Most of my males are in 1 gallon bowls, so they don't have tankmates by default... but I've kept many a thing with my female bettas without problems. I currently have three in a 10 gallon with a bumblebee catfish and two platies (yes, I know I should have at least 5, but I took these two from a friend who couldn't house them anymore.) I hear that when keeping female bettas together you should have at least 4, but I'm down to three after Ellen died, and my girls are unnusually docile so everyone still gets along great.

 

[cation]

I hear that when keeping female bettas together you should have at least 4, but I'm down to three after Ellen died, and my girls are unnusually docile so everyone still gets along great.

Well, you started with 4, I think that makes a difference. By the time Ellen passed, they had already established their pecking order.

 

[veen]

i kept my female & male together with a pleco, some glow lights & rummys and an angel. all got along great with no fin biting, chasing, etc. the male & female ignored each other other than the occasional flare during feeding. the only reason i took my male out is because he caught ich from some of the rummys & i quarantined him. by the time he was done being treated i decided to get a smaller tank i could divide & put him in there with another male.

 

[mandi]

I agree with you, BettaMomma

My feeling is -- Sure, go ahead and try keeping your betta with other fish (of whatever kind) but realize you're taking a RISK by doing so -- you never know how they're going to react or how other fish will react to them. You can ask others' opinions (if they've tried the same combination of fish) but every bettas personality is different, so there's never 100% assurity that it will go well. If you're willing to take that risk... well ok, I guess.

Personally, I adore my bettas too much to even considder risking it. So I keep them side-by-side in their own tanks -- there's cardboard between each tank so they can take a break, and I remove the cardboard for an hour or two each day so they can stretch their fins & flare at eachother. And I move the tanks around from time to time so they can "socialize" with other fish. I think they're pretty happy.

 

[Grim Reaper]

Some people think that their tank gets boring when there is only a betta in there.

i dont think my tank is borring i have my 4.4 in my room i have 1 beta in there and 4 amano shrimps which i hardlly see and i had my 4.4 for 6-8 months but then it all depends on the persons opinion