Bettas are not speed swimmers due mostly to their finnage. So most community tank fish are going to be a problem. They do not realize first of all that they ARE fish. They were raised alone in a jar or spent most of their lives in solitary. They do not know about other fish and whether they are allowed to be in the same water with them. They defend their territory to the death with some tank mates and others they do not see as enemies and allow them to eat their fins off and do not even fight back. It is really better not to have them with ANY other fish but if you absolutely must do it then lower level bottom dwellers that are nocturnal are the best bet. They are totally out of the bettas way and the chances are he will not even know that they are there.
MY personal favorites are Otocinclus Catfish for the betta tank if you want others there. They are not a good beginner fish though unless you plan to quarantine them for 30 days before adding them to the tank. They are very mistreated and abused fish (actually worse than the bettas) and are fragile usually for the first 30 days of your ownership of them. They are usually NOT covered in the LIVE GUARANTEE that the pet stores offer. They are captured in the wild exclusively as there have been nearly no fish bred in captivity and those that are have a hard time making it. They are gassed with cyanide to slow them down for easy capture and this kills about half of them. Then they are not fish that adapt to a great many food options. They do not eat flake, or pellet foods and most pet stores feed this type of food almost exclusively for ease in handling. This starves the already hampered fish and another half of the survivors die leaving less than one quarter of those captured for sale. In the meantime, the ones who do survive may have gone without food for a long enough period of time to make the bacteria, that inhabits their stomachs to help the digestion of the algae they eat, die for lack of use. If this is the case their little tummies begin to look emaciated and thin. They may develop red streaks on their tummies. This is the look of a fish who is going to starve to death even if you feed it a mountain of food because they have lost the ability to digest any food they eat and will die. So if you ever decide to buy any of these sweet and adorable little fish (and if you are lucky you will) be sure that their little tummies have a bit of a pounch and they are white or at the most only a little pink on their bellies. They should not be bloated but should look like they have swallowed a tiny little melon or something. (at least a rounded and full looking little tummy) They are so loving and cute they are lovely to own but hard to start. If they live to be 30 days or longer, you will probably have them for a long time. But you need a real plant or two in the tank and you need to buy at least 3 or no more than 2 otos per 5 gallons of tank size. Otherwise there is not enough algae for them to eat. They will need to have an algae disk added to their tanks at least every other day unless you have a lot of algae (brown algae)
If you are wanting something not so fragile but not large, a Clown Pleco is lovely. I have one and I also have in other tanks, a Queen Arabesque Pleco, and a Gypsy King Tiger Pleco. They are a bit more pricey and get a bit bigger but are doing well in my 12 gallon tanks.
Here are fish I have with my Bettas, but as I said they would probably really much rather be alone.
Otocinclus catfish
Sterba's Cories
Chain or Dwarf Loaches (same fish just different places call them
different names)
Yo-Yo Loaches - need at least 3 and a big enough tank for them
15 gallon minimum would be probable
Clown Pleco
Queen Arabesque Pleco
Gypsy King Tiger Pleco
The Queen Arabesque Pleco is fast becoming endangered so if you see them for less than $20 they are a bargain. They will become fewer available and are similar in appearance to some of the more pricey ones. I love my little one and it has not grown a lot. It is staying in the 4" range.
The Clown is my favorite and it is very tiny. The little one is only about 3" at most and very shy. He does a fair job of eating algae which the Queen Arabesque does NOT do at all. (it is a carnivore like the betta.)
The Gypsy King Tiger is by far the biggest of my plecos and does do some algae removal but is kind of lazy and much prefers me to do the feeding of
spirulina Wafers. I do make him work for his food some though so I do not have a problem. He only gets supplemental food about 2 to 3 times a week.
I use a product called Waste Eliminator in my tanks and it does a good job of helping to keep some of the sludge and inside of the tank walls cleaner but I also remove the water from my tanks at water changes with a syphon with a bulb in the line that I squeeze to help hurry the removal of the tank water. The suction does a good job cleaning the gravel and substrate and makes water changes go so much easier. It is hooked to 40 feet of 1" tubing that leads out to my flower bed and so I do not have water buckets to carry.
Rose
P.S. I would not personally put shrimp in with Mr/Ms. Betta as they are given shrimp as "First Food" when they are fry. As long as the shrimp has its shell it is probably safe, but when it molts to grow a new shell; it is DINNER.
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