lunchie

I have a 75 gallon tank I am in the process of setting up. It has been up a week now and so far so good. I don't plan on putting fish in for awhile and I am trying to plan out what fish I want and what order to put them in and will they work together. Here is what I want and though I have done quite a bit of research I wanted to get some input.

1 male betta
2 famile betta
12 Tetras
A few different Shrimp
Some other fish not sure what that are small and are top swimmers Can't make up my mind

My biggest concern is will Bettas live with small fish and with shrimp?

Thanks

Allie

Betta male or female should be kept alone...at least from my experience. They get aggressive over anything. Male betta seem to be prone to disease so I wouldn't keep with tank mates.
This question keeps being asked....a betta tank mate list should be pinned or stickied.
What am I a mod now.

Barbrella

No male and female bettas in the same tank, ever.

A male betta is likely to get his fins bitten off by the tetras, OR he may decide to kill them. They've also been known to eat shrimp.

In a tank that size, you can try keeping some females only but there's still no guarantee they won't fight.

armadillo

There's actually a 99% guarantee that they will fight (females). It's not a good idea to leave females together. They might be fine for some weeks, then fight to death at the drop of a hat, so you'd be coming home to dead fish.

pistorta

I once had a male betta who lived in harmony with a variety of tetras that had short fins. But take it from me, keep bettas away from all fish with flashy fins.

To be honest (and this could be a death sentence for me in this forum) I'm not a fan of bettas and I don't see what the attraction to them is. With the 75 gallon tank you mentioned, the thought of getting a betta would never enter my mind.

armadillo

ha ha! It's a free world, don't worry about it, LOL.

Noone's going to argue that we all have our taste. I used to not see the big deal about corys either. But one way or another, I always end up getting sucked in!

Barbrella

I didn't see the attraction either til I got my first betta.

There's lots of fish I have zero interest in, but luckily there's something for everyone!

lunchie

I guess in my heart of hearts I knew that was going to be the case...but I really appreciate your inputs...So now I need to replan the whole tank...

One thing I know is that we definately want shrimp so I need to plan the fish choices around compatibility with shrimp...

Like I said I have a 75 gallon that is 48 x 18. There is plenty of hiding places, there is also "free" space for swimming, and there are a variety of "silk" plants for hiding. I didn't want to go live plants.

Suggestions on Fish -- anyone??

Thanks again guys,
Deb

lunchie

I had a male betta for 4 years and ever since I have been amazed by them. They really do have "personalities" and I never believed it until I saw it myself...but I know there are so many other routes I could go with 75 gallons but I am just at a lose because each time I think I have a plan on the fish I end up finding out this one or that one won't work. I want to make sure that I provide the proper enviroment for the fish and have compatible fish...any suggestions would be appreciated.

I have a Rena XP3 Filstar filter so the water quality will be high and I use have a water filtration system (RO/Di).

Any input is really appreciated.

0morrokh

Fortunately most small tetras go with just about anything (aside from Bettas), so you've got a lot of options. Were there any other fish you were thinking of?

pistorta

If you really like the Betta, I would say go for it. As I mentioned, I housed a beta in a community setting once before and had no problems. I just had to be careful that the fish that were placed with the betta did not have flashy fins. Zebras, neons, black tetra, lemon tetra, cherry and gold barbs, rope fish, angelicus cats, corys are all fish that I think you would be fine with. Angels, very likely gouramis, long-finned serpae tetra, bleeding heart tetra are those that will pose a problem. I can't offer any advice on freshwater invertebrates (with the exception of snails) so hopefully someone else has advice for you on this. Hope this helps.

0morrokh

It is possible to keep some Bettas in a community, but there are also others who won't tolerate other fish, or ones who seem to get along for a while and then suddenly kill all their tankmates. It's pretty risky to keep Bettas with tetras since whether or not the Betta gets along depends on the individual's personality, and many supposedly peaceful tetras turn out to be fin nippers.

TheEssigs

I have had a male betta in my tank of livebearers since Easter... Hes still going, no problems...

The only livebearer I do not keep in the tank are guppies, as my pictus eats them for midnight snacks.... and I think out of all the livebearers guppys would create a conflict with a betta because of finage...

It will come down to the betta himself. I have had a few, some are good community fish, some arent. Bettas are full of personality... if you are willing to take the risk, its kind of a wait and see, but be prepared to have a 2 gallon handy... just in case.

pistorta

I have found that fin nipping can be reduced/eliminated if keeping groups of the culprit. Serpae tetra are one example of a fin nipping tetra that are quite peaceful in a group.

With regard to the personality of an individual betta not getting along with a fish of a specific species...I don't know. The betta I had was "nice".

TheEssigs

I wouldnt put a Betta in with tetras... unless they are neon tetras. IME, all the other tetras I had ever kept nipped fins. If you really want the tetras, skip the Betta.

pistorta

What is IME?

TheEssigs

In My Experience.

lunchie

Because I was looking at the Betta I was sticking to mostly all small fish ie tetras and planned on getting at least 12 neon and then one other tetra and getting at least a group of 6 with them.

What are livebearers?

I am not sure if I want to do the Betta since I can only do one of them. I was under the impression that you could put a female with a male but that is why I did the post because I didn't trust the source of that information. I used to have a salt water tank and ended up giving it away because I had so much bad advice...this time I am doing the research and planning out every step. I have several weeks before the tank will be ready for fish and I want to have a plan ready to go...

As for other fish I am open to any. My goal is to have "action" in the tank. My husband is determined to have "shrimp" so I need fish that will work with the shrimp. In the saltwater tank our "shrimp" were a blast to watch with so much personality.

I think to satisfy my want for a Betta I will get a small tank just to have him in...

So with all that said...I need suggestions for a community tank that will work with shrimp.

Again, I am open to any suggestions...

Thanks everyone for the input, I really appreciate it!

Deb

0morrokh

The most common livebearers are guppies, platys, mollies, and swordtails--they're called livebearers cause they give birth to live fry rather than laying eggs. They are colorful and active and if you like them, they would make a nice addition to your tank. If you want both males and females they should be kept in a ratio of one male to two females.

You might like to have an algae eater in the tank--a shoal of Otos would be nice or just about any species of Pleco. I'd probably avoid the Common pleco though (which is what they sell at most stores) as they get huge and destructive.

You could also get some interesting bottom-dwelling fish like Cories or loaches, or even a "shark" (the freshwater kind, related to barbs), though research any species you want as some loaches and sharks can get big and aggressive.

Nearly any of the small shoaling fish would be suitable--tetras, barbs, danios, rasboras, rainbowfish, etc.

If you like a fish similar to a Betta you could get a Gourami. Research the species as some get large and aggressive (guess I've said that a few times already...).

That's all I can think of for the moment. You really do have a ton of options.

Oh a last note I'm not sure whether sharks, loaches, or gouramis are compatible with shrimp. All the other fish I listed won't bother adult shrimp but will eat any babies.

lunchie

I think I have a starting list now thank you so much!!! I am researching them but have 1 question:

Possible fish:
Rasbora
Barb
Danios
HatchetFish
Corydoras
and of course Shrimp

I would love to get a Kissing Gourami but I don't know if it will work with the above fish? Do you think it would

Thanks
deb

JMatt1983

i would not recommend a kissing guarami just because of their size and aggressive nature with you having much smaller fish in the tank, if you want guaramis, there are some very nice dwarf guaramis available at most stores that just as good as their full sized cousins, and they seem to be more peaceful because they are the same size as most other aquarium fish

0morrokh

There are many species of danio, barb, and rasbora-have you found a specific one you like? (There's a lot of species of cory too, but they don't differ as far as compatability.)

I agree that Kissing gouramis are probably not a great idea. You could have one of the smaller gouramis though. Pearl gouramis would be nice...they're really pretty and peaceful. Some dwarf gouramis are peaceful tankmates but others tend to be aggressive bullies, so you're taking your chances if you decide to get one. However your tank is so big there is much less of a chance of problems.

COBettaCouple

I think that most of the time a Betta in a community tank doesn't work out and even when it does, I'm not sure that you get to see the full personality of the Betta. And with male Bettas, you have to make sure everything that goes in won't tear the long fins so it makes things that would be good for those other fish not good for the tank. Gourami do a bit better in community tanks, but you want to avoid other fish that are territorial or fish that would enjoy nipping at the gourami's long feelers or fish that would look like snacks to the gourami. I think the best Gourami for a community tank would be a pearl gourami.

lunchie

Not sure which species of the danio, barb and rasbora yet but I am researching them all as well as the cory. Once I decide for sure I plan to do another post with the complete list just to get input on compatibilty and so forth. I have a couple of books and have researched the internet but seems like each place says a something a little different...I am sifting through it all...

What about dwarf puffers?

Deb

0morrokh

Dwarf puffers aren't good community fish...super aggressive.

Let us know when you've got your tentative list.

Barbrella

Good thing you came here, since most advice you get in petstores ranges from useless to catastrophic. e.g.Someone I know was sold a Red Tailed Catfish for her 30 gal. tank. The staff either didn't know or didn't care that it would grow to 5 feet long and 100 lbs.

Those are good choices. Just remember you need to stick with smaller fish, as larger ones, like big gouramis or tiger barbs, will eat your shrimp. Dwarf puffers will certainly eat them.

COBettaCouple

LOL.. how about when they send a trio of Red Bellied Pacu home with a 10g.

Dwarf puffers are great little fish, but big poopers and like mentioned, very terrritorial so they don't play well with others. They love snails.