anpa1019

I have a 6.6 gallon bookshelf tank with one male betta in it. It has a filter and a heater and some fake silk plants. I know a betta needs about 5 gallons so I was wondering if there is some kind of small fish, shrimp, or a snail I can put in there with him. This is my first tank so I really need fish that are pretty easy to take care of.

Thank you everyone!

angelfish220

you could add some shrimp, but some bettas find these quite tasty.

Shawnie

cory's are good also...but its a hit or miss sometimes with those betta boys..just have a back up plan in case he isnt a good sharer

ShaynaB

If you want, you can try a ghost shrimp or two or maybe a couple pigmy cories. I'd have another tank ready if the betta doesn't find his new tank mates too appealing (or maybe if he finds some of his tank mates TOOO appealing, if you get what I mean! haha)!

Blub

Shrimp are incompatible. When the shrimp are molting, they are vunerable and make tasty Betta snacks! Many people will tell you they are fine together - because they have not seen their shrimp molt yet.

tkfury

Snails should be good but I've only had a few tiny MTS - my girls would pluck them right off the glass, watch them fall and then leave them alone. But ideally, bettas do very well on their own. As long as you are giving your little guy attention, he's going to be a happy fella in a tank like that with a filter, heater and some nice plants.

angelfish220

As long as you provide plenty of cover, the shrimp are fine. I've had shrimp in my betta tank for a while now, and some HAVE molted but they hide in either a big wad of java moss or in the many rock caves in my tank.

Blub

Well, I've had no personal experience with keeping the two together, but Rose has told me it is best avoided because since Betta are so inquisitive (They acctualy swim into the Java moss wads you know!) it's not an ideal set up for the shrimp.

Martinismommy

I have yellow Apple snails in with my boys...They seem to do fine.....The boys will flare at them but the only one I had to remove was the snail from Jaggers tank....He was head butting it and making it fall off the glass.....Needless to say Jagger lives alone now lol

fishbum

I kept one in a 10 gallon tank with small tetra,cories,and otos.There were no problems as far as fighting or fin nipping.As long as tetra are kept in a decent sized school,6 or more IMO,they really are not nippy.
The problem I had was at feeding time.The tetra are so much quicker than my Betta,I felt like my Betta was not getting enough food,so I moved him into a 5 gallon tank by himself.
So even though you can find fish that your Betta won't pick fights with,you could run into other issues like I did.I know people will say that they can be kept in community tanks,I used to say it myself,but I think they do much better if left alone.One of mine does have a mystery snail in his 5 gallon tank,and that does not cause any problems.Or maybe if you have a tank big enough for bottom dwellers,that can be fed sinking food,but other than that,I would just leave them by themselves.
There is my on the issue,lol

Heidi125

I keep a apple snail with my Bettas, and they are fine together.

zambize

I have the same 6.6 gallon bookshelf tank with a large male Betta, Bruno. It's a great tank, and plenty big, but not a bunch of room to add much. I love Java Moss but don't have any in this tank because the Betta needs lots of swimming space. I have provided slimmer, big-leaved plants along the back that provide cover but don't take up much of his exercise room.

Knowing this tank like I do, I would stay away from Cory or Tetra. I have Cory and have had Tetra. Both of those fish can be very frenetic in their energy level and Betta like calm waters and will be agitated or just hide if there is too much activity. Besides, Cory need to be in groups of at least 6 and Tetra more than that.

I have had 2 Otocinclus with Bruno for about a month and so far so good. He was VERY inquisitive and followed them everywhere flaring all the time but he never touched them. And Bruno is very aggressive. He ignored them after a week, and they ignored him from the moment they hit the water. LOL Oto are sensitive to water conditions so you may have to change the water more often to make sure they are happy.

I have a 10 gallon tank with a female Betta and two African Dwarf Frogs and that's going well. If you don't *really* know this frog you should seriously research them. They work great with a Betta but there are special considerations that are a must for these frogs.

Zambize

anpa1019

The African Dwarf frogs sound awesome. Would it be ok to have one in there with my male betta? What are the special considerations besides their special diet?