Betta Question?

[nraposa]

anyone have any luck with their betta in a community tank?

Was thinking of having some swordtails, tetra's , Cory Cats, and mollies, and maybe some of the lesser aggressive barbs. would this work?

Anyone able to get their betta and tiger barbs in a tank together. I heard if you put 6 in the tank they'll leave the betta alone fact or fiction?

any other suggestion on possible mates with a betta?

[cocoa_pleco]

any slow, peaceful fish would work. not barbs, too fast.
often fiction with barbs. still may nip long fins.

[kimmers318]

And always remember that it is always up to the fish personality as to whether it will work in a community setting or not. I do have a betta in my 65 gallon, but it is understocked and plenty of space. The only fish he really doesn't care for is my dwarf gourami, but never any nips and the gourami just ignores him.

[bettaboy691]

in my opion, keeping bettas in communties depends on the fish itself,i have one betta in a community with platies,tetras, sucking loach and shrimps and hes been fine but on the other hand ive also have other bettas in communties with platies, mollies,corys,ect and hes attack them all untill i removed him.most of my bettas are peaceful with other fish,i only have 1 thats on its own but the rest are in community tanks.with the barbs, i wouldnt risk it, i have heard the more barbs you have the less aggressive they are but all it takes is an hour or too for the barbs to get nasty and kill the betta,or vice versia.tank mates ive found to be good with most bettas are platies, tetras, corys, sucking loaches, other small fast fish such as danios, ADF and shrimps.if you have a big enough tank, you could put the betta in a community(understocked) tank and if it doesnt work out buy a devider and seperate them,thats what i did and you have the pleasure of having the same fish but not able to kill each other.and you don't need another tank.

[Rue]

On Thursday I decided to add 4 bettas to my community tank, 1 male and 3 females...(but I just isolated 1 female - she has fungus near her tail)...

The other fish include 1 large molly, and two of her babies (still small), 3 wagtail platys, 5 rosy tetras, 4 zebra danios, 1 lone neon tetra and 5 corys...

So far, no conflicts involving the bettas...

In fact the only conflict is the big molly chasing her teenaged offspring around the tank...

If anything changes...I'll let you guys know...

[bettaboy691]

what sized tank are they in, the tetras,danio and corys are very often just left alone by the bettas, sometimes,the bettas can take a disliking to mollies and platies because of their size and color, but see how it goes, good luck

[Betta_noob]

I also hope that none of the female bettas get beaten up most would be jumping down your throat right now and calling you crazy for putting a male in with females, but I'll be nice cause I don't want to look like a jerk.
But I will put in my 10 cents (haha way more than 2) and say that I really think you should take the male out.

As for the origional question cories are always good, I don't really consider my tank a community tank only because it's just the bettas and the cories, I'm honestly afraid to chance it with other fish.
And as for tetras watch out as well, recently introduced a male betta to a 30 gallon community. A school of black skirt tetras ate all of his fins, he literally looks like an eel right now, so I say if you have the space don't put them in the community.

[AquaQueen]

Red eye tetras are said to be great with Bettas and I have mine together and they are all doing great...well..he did eat a few of my baby guppies that were left behind(they were good hiders) I also heard they will bully Neons but I have three and they cant be bothered by my Betta...I also have a blue gourami and two Black Phantom tetras in this tank and all are great buds..well Ol' blue is an old grump with everyone but the rest if they stay outta his way ALL is fine. So as stated before it depends on your fish's personality...it all comes down to if you want it and have another tank ready to house your new pet if they don't work together, is so then try it out. Good Luck!

[AuroraAustralis]

I had a 10g set up for my husbands male betta. He was the first occupant. Soon he was joined by a bristlenose, who he wasn't too keen on but tolerated and never seriously tried to attack. I added a small school of neons and he never had a problem with them. I removed the tetras to my 29g and added a small school of harlequin rasboras. By day the rasboras were fine but by morning there would be one dead. With only one left (with his tail missing) I turned the lights off and watched. The betta was chasing him and I suspected he was responsible for the other deaths. I switched the light back on and as soon as he saw me, butter wouldn't melt.. lol. Over the next few weeks I left the light on at night and left my daughters huge pooh bear sitting on the seat facing the tank (I swear, when he thought he was being watched he was fine) :thumb: and it stopped after that. I added more rasboras during that time and they and the only remaining original one all did fine and I still have them now.

[minabird]

anyone have any luck with their betta in a community tank?

Was thinking of having some swordtails, tetra's , Cory Cats, and mollies, and maybe some of the lesser aggressive barbs. would this work?

Anyone able to get their betta and tiger barbs in a tank together. I heard if you put 6 in the tank they'll leave the betta alone fact or fiction?

any other suggestion on possible mates with a betta?

I've kept bettas in a community tank on several occasions. For the most part, they didn't mind the corys. I did have a betta that nipped and chased away a cory I just added to the 5 gal tank he was in. They were the only 2 fish in the tank, and the only time the betta chased the cory was when the cory ventured into his territory or too close to his favorite cave. But after a few days, he tolerated the cory and would let it hang out in his territory; he would just park himself between the cory and his cave.

I've also kept them with neon and cardinal tetras, upside down catfish, and a golden algea eater without any problems.

It'll depend upon your bettas and his tankmates personalities and how much space everyone has.

Good luck.

[minabird]

On Thursday I decided to add 4 bettas to my community tank, 1 male and 3 females...(but I just isolated 1 female - she has fungus near her tail)...

The other fish include 1 large molly, and two of her babies (still small), 3 wagtail platys, 5 rosy tetras, 4 zebra danios, 1 lone neon tetra and 5 corys...

So far, no conflicts involving the bettas...

In fact the only conflict is the big molly chasing her teenaged offspring around the tank...

If anything changes...I'll let you guys know...

I've read on sevaral different sites that it isn't recommended to keep male bettas with females unless you intend to breed them due to the aggressiveness of both the males and females toward each other. I can attest to the females being just as aggressive as the males when I tried to have a community of 3 females in a 10 gal....lots of torn fins. But it took a few days before it got to that level of aggression among all 3 females. First couple of days was just posturing and alot of gill flaring.

Hope you have better luck with your community of bettas, but be prepared to separate all of them.

[Betta_noob]

I know this is somewhat off topic but I've read it everywhere as well as seen it demonstrated that cories are insanely social creatures and that it is not approrpriate/advisable/kind to just keep a cory by itself.

[minabird]

I know this is somewhat off topic but I've read it everywhere as well as seen it demonstrated that cories are insanely social creatures and that it is not approrpriate/advisable/kind to just keep a cory by itself.

That is true for all the cories I've had. I had a betta and an albino cory in a 5 gal and wherever the betta went, the cory wasn't far behind. When the betta would rest near the bottom of the tank, the cory would hang out near him. When my ludwigia got tall enough to reach the water's surface, the betta would rest on the leaves at the surface, and the cory would be directly under him on the bottom of the tank.

I know have 3 otto cats, 1 bumblebee goby, and 1 baby leopard cory in that same tank, and I've found the cory resting next to the bumblebee goby on occassion, but he mostly stays close to the otto cats.

[Rue]

Yes, corys are schooling fish...should keep at least 3...I try and maintain 5 at any one time...doesn't seem to matter which ones...my current 5 are of three different types (not intentional...they came from the same tank at the store)...


I've read on sevaral different sites that it isn't recommended to keep male bettas with females unless you intend to breed them due to the aggressiveness of both the males and females toward each other. I can attest to the females being just as aggressive as the males when I tried to have a community of 3 females in a 10 gal....lots of torn fins. But it took a few days before it got to that level of aggression among all 3 females. First couple of days was just posturing and alot of gill flaring.

Hope you have better luck with your community of bettas, but be prepared to separate all of them.

I've read so much conflicting info. about bettas, it's not even funny! However, it's a bit of an experiment...it's been a week today...and so far so good...

Each of the girls seems to have a preferred area...the male isn't doing much of anything except patrolling the top of the tank...maybe the plants are helping to define territory?

If it doesn't work...I can split them up...not a problem...

[minabird]

I've read so much conflicting info. about bettas, it's not even funny! However, it's a bit of an experiment...it's been a week today...and so far so good...

Each of the girls seems to have a preferred area...the male isn't doing much of anything except patrolling the top of the tank...maybe the plants are helping to define territory?

If it doesn't work...I can split them up...not a problem...

The plants and other ornaments help define the territories. I have 2 pieces of bogwood with lots of live plants in my 10 gal to help break up the tank into territories. I was hoping that my 3 females would do the same thing as yours have and split the tank up into territories witht he bogwood forming the boundaries between the 3. My tank probably wasn't big enough for all 3. Sounds like your 4 bettas have broken up your tank into territories. How big is your tank?

[Rue]

It's a 25 gallon tank...an old one...

I'm looking at bigger tanks at the moment...still in the research phase...