ricktavious

I just had to readjust things with my fish a bit. I bought a new 10 gallon tank so one of my bettas wouldn't pick on my BN pleco. Took the pleco out of the old tank and put him in with a betta who is more mild mannered.

If this betta picks on the pleco, I have two options. The first one would be get a divider for one of the 10 gallon tanks and let the pleco live pretty much alone. The other option would be some kind of "dither" fish. I am not too familiar with these though. I wouldn't want to overstock or have anything in there that would give the betta problems. Any suggestions?

MissMTS

If the betta and pleco don't get along, I would divide the tank. Bettas are viscious little guys and could seriously injure the dither fish. The dither fish (depending on what kind) could also nip the bettas fins. Bettas shouldn't be in community tanks, but I'm guessing that your pleco should be fine with your betta as long as the betta behaves himself

ricktavious

newbee, that's kind of what I thought.....the last betta with the pleco did not behave, so maybe these two will get along better. He's generally very mild mannered and usually stays in one place. In the last tank, he stayed at the corner closest to where I sit when I'm on the computer and it looks like that trend is continuing.

MissMTS

Good to hear I have had bettas who were fine with other fish and then a betta who ended up killing a pleco. It sounds like yours should be fine. Keep us posted with any changes though.

Barbrella

Dither fish are used to encourage a shy species to come out in the open.

Target fish are used to prevent breeding pairs of fish, like cichlids, from turning their protective aggression onto each other.

I would use neither with a betta!

chickadee

I would not put dither fish into the tank with a betta. It would make him more aggressive if anything and cause you a bigger problem or else make the opposite true and depress him. (yes, bettas can suffer from depression and it can be serious)

You will be better off just to allow him to be himself and if he is leaving the pleco alone and they are at least getting along then let things be and allow him to be just the Mr. Betta that he wants to be.

They will probably not interact and you can be thankful for this as a betta and a pleco will not in any normal situation interact as they live two different lifestyles to begin with. You really do not want them having anything to do with each other.

Rose

Butterfly

The only thing I can add is to make sure the BN has hiding/sleeping places if he needs/wants it. That will go a long way to making the tank work.
carol

ricktavious

I had asked on here earlier, and the general consensus was that bettas and plecos get along fine Are some of you saying otherwise, or am I just misreading (it's late here)

Right now, I have two caves, a chunk of mopani wood, and a bridge in the tank, so that would make four places anyways. If there is any aggressive behavior this time around, I will end up splitting a 10 gallon between Andre and Deuce and let the pleco be on his own in the 10 gallon. I really enjoy watching Jeeves, he's a pretty neat fish

MissMTS

Bettas and plecos are usually fine together. They get along in the sense that they can coexist in the same tank together. By no means will they become best buddies or even pay eachother much attention. It sounds like you have plenty of hiding spaces to make your pleco comfy.

sirdarksol

Any attempt to keep bettas with any other fish is chancy. With bottom feeders like plecos and cories, there is a possibility that the betta will ignore the other fish. However, if a betta recognizes another tankmate as what it considers to be a fish, there will be war, as it feels like its territory has been invaded.

This, combined with the fact that bettas simply don't recognize smaller, fin-nipping, fish as threats, makes bettas so difficult to keep when they aren't alone.

One thing that seems to help is to have the other fish in the tank first. If you have a Q tank, pull the betta out for a little bit and rearrange the appearance of the tank. There is a chance that, when replaced, the betta will see the pleco as part of the decor, accept that this strange bottom-dwelling critter is in his space, and be fine with it.