TFA101

Love bettas, unsure of compatibilty. I have just officially settled out my new tank stock and I'm going to lock it up and temporarily throw away the key (it's on a paper). I was considering a betta to top it off. I'll be having black widow tetras (five to reduce fin nipping) cardinal tetras (either 8 or ten [locked up my stock paper already LOL]) and a few cories. I may have a platy depending on whether or not he lives from now till then. Are these compatible?

Shawnie

betta's loved to be spoiled all on their own...the norm is to be by themselves but on the occassion there are weird ones (my rafikki)

TFA101

my friend has a betta. She put it into a tank with ZEBRA DANIOS! I know that bettas shouldn't be added to a tank containing active fish, so I discouraged her. But I'm getting a resonably large tank for comfort and space and I really want on too.

Shawnie

No one can tell ya what to do, only give their opinions bettas like to be alone but there is an exception to every rule ..goodluck

Lucy

Get one in a 5 gallon!

TFA101

hopefully my parents will allow me

LetDiceFly

I had a betta that was very happy living in a tank full of platys. The only problem is you have to go to great effort to keep them from eating the flakes you feed the community fish. This betta I had ended up getting constipated and eventually dying. I currently have a take with a mixture of 3 female bettas and 2 platys. I basically have to feed each fish a little bit at a time so that I can ensure that they all get no more or less than they should. If you just toss in a pile of flakes and let the fish go for them like a normal community tank the betta will surely overeat.

COBettaCouple

The most compatible fish for Bettas are Otos and Corys. Other fish are hit and miss and result in failure FAR more often than success. Bettas are, by nature, not community fish. Most Betta species, including the Splendens, prefer to be solitary fish so putting them in a community tank is fighting their natural instincts.

TFA101

Typically, it's the catfish (mostly suckermouths and cories) That'll be fine with one? I've seen a successful betta comunity with turbulent waters and a shoal of tiger barbs. If I try, do you think I'll be able to get him to be fine with my black widows and soon-to-come cardinals?

COBettaCouple

It might work, but the odds are against it and the most likely end would be a dead betta.

LetDiceFly

I you choose to try this, you must have a backup plan in case it doesn't work. If things go wrong you will have to pull him out and place him in his own tank.

chickadee

Please think again before you try this. It is almost certainly going to end in tragedy and at least one injured or dead fish. You can think that all is going well and when you leave or turn away or go to bed the horror begins. It is a wrong thing to put fish together that you are aware do not belong together simply because you want to do it. In the wild, they have a chance to defend themselves and get away but in a tank with walls they do not stand a chance. It is wrong.

Rose

Lucy

That's a very good point.
I've often wondered how they could live in the wild and not kill each other to extinction, I've never taken into consideration that in a tank they are confined by 4 walls.

nmwierman1977

I definitely wouldn't recommend doing it. If you want a community tank and a betta I highly recommend you get 2 different tanks. Natalie

COBettaCouple

Yea, they're territorial but not really fish that are out looking for a fight, the territorial fights in nature aren't prolonged and it's pretty easy for a Betta to decide to move on rather than get beat up. Their nature is to run from a fight when it's been decided but a tank won't let the loser leave. A community tank is also instinctively unnatural to a Betta and rarely goes well.

TFA101

So, that 1 out of 100 remark was my buddy then? She put a betta in with danios and mollies. I'm guessing she was just lucky right? (PS he's in a seperate compartment after some scolding by me, so am i a hippocrit in this case? Whatever..) The danios never bothered him, the mollies the same.

COBettaCouple

Yea, it's an unknown combination of all the right factors clicking just right with a betta that has just the right personality and temperment for it to work.

TFA101

well, i (again..) altered the stock... I think i'll invest in some glass catfish

Saya

As said everyone has their right to their opinion -

IF you do choose to put your betta with other fish DO have a backup plan...

I have heard of people putting them with neons or cardinal tetras, white could minnows... If your tank has lots of hiding locations you have a better chance of them being compatible...

You don't want to put them in with anything that fin nips - that would be asking for trouble.

I read somewhere in the last week that cherry barbs can make good tank mates for a betta, but haven't spoken to anyone who has done it...

My betta is currently living alone, but I wouldn't mind getting him some friends... (under a watchful eye)

chickadee

Okay, neon tetras are known nippers and as far as I am aware the ONLY tetras that are really safe with betta are the Cardinals. Mollies, platies, danios, guppies, goldfish, minnows, barbs, gouramis, sharks, swordfish, angels, discus, and cichlids to name a few of the more widely held fish are definitely not appropriate for one reason or another with betta. They either are going to attack and kill your betta or vice versa. Tetras are nippers with the exception for some reason of the Cardinal Tetra I do not know why.

The fish who do seem to get along with the betta are few and seem to include:

Corydoras Catfish
Otocinclus Catfish
Dwarf Loaches
Yo-Yo Loaches
Plecos

All of the above fish suppose having big enough tanks to support them as most of them need to have schools of at least 3 and sometimes 6 to maintain a comfortable number to keep them happy. This means having a larger tank than the standard 5 or 10 gallon tank. There are some exceptions to this rule. There are some very small plecos that can go into a 10 gallon tank (Clown Pleco, Queen Arabesque Pleco) but it would be a single fish with the Betta and that is all the tank could support. The others would be a 3 fish minimum for each type and more happily 6 for each type. Cories need 3 minimum except for the Dwarf varities and then you need 6. Otocinclus need 3 at least. Dwarf Loaches and Yo-Yo Loaches need at least 3 and do better the more you have. Dwarf Loaches become more active with the more you have. I have 2 tanks that I have only 2 in and they are pretty sedate, but I have 1 tank with 10 in it and they are absolutely nutso. I would not have only 2 in the smaller tanks but they also have an oto to play with them and the 3 of them get along fine together. The Yo-Yo Loaches get quite large so it takes a bigger tank just to house 3 of them with a betta.

Glass catfish that you have mentioned are great companions for bettas as they will have nothing to do with each other but they are timid and need to have a school of several to be comfortable and will seldom be noticable in the tank as they are shy and retiring fish. I consider them to be fascinating if you can keep them going but you need to keep them in groups so they are not frightened.

Rose