FrankCastle

in a community tank with bettas and guppies. Serpae tetras or tiger barbs

clinton1621

Umm... I would say neither, they are both agressive type fish... and they would probably kill the guppies and possibly the betta =(

RandomKayos

Agreed, Barbs are very rough on anything with flowing fins. I've not had experience with serpaes but have heard the bad results from others.

RK

FrankCastle

crud. I really liked those two the best. What tetras or barbs would work then?

RandomKayos

I would not personally recommend anything with a betta except albino corys or otos. And I just reread your initial post. I hope you only plan on one betta in a tank. They fight with each other. And often a Betta will chase and nip guppies. Better to keep the Betta on it's own. They like the attention they get in a solo tank and are much happier all the way around.

RK

Allie

Betta should be kept with bottom feeders only.

FrankCastle

its a boy and a girl betta. they dont bother the guppies at all, they ignore them.

Allie

How long has the tank been set up?
No Betta male or female should be kept together unless its a HUGE tank. Or for breeding purposes, even then they are removed after the eggs are laid. Eventually one will stress the other to death.

FrankCastle

about a month. the male stays to himself and the female swims all over the place

Allie

For now...it hasn't been set up long enough to say they get along. I had 4 female betta in a 10g tank. Two month later the dominant one was the only one left. She stressed the others to death. Betta are very sensitive fish emotionally and sense when others are weak. A 10g was much to small even the 20g I had them in for awhile.

FrankCastle

I dont know. the woman at the pet store said you could put a boy and a girl together but not 2 boys. the male runs her off when she tries to swim near him but that abuot it.

Lonely Angel

I'm afraid pet store employees don't always instruct their customers on what's best for the fish. In many cases, it's just that the employee doesn't know too much about the fish, but also keep in mind that they are salesmen, whose job is to sell their product (in this case the product just happens to be a live animal)

Even if the female hasn't been injured yet, it is a very stressful situation for her (and the male too, actually) Imagine if you had to share an apartment with a strange man who chased after you and threatened to hurt you every time you got too close to him. It would be very stressful and I know I certainly wouldn't want to live like that.

COBettaCouple

I heard the manager at a pet store tell a customer that a bloated male betta was pregnant.. definitely can't always go by what they say, especially if it's sales-driven advice.

They definitely need to be in seperate tanks and would be best with either no tankmates or bottom feeders (otos or cories in smaller tanks, albino bn plecos in larger tanks).

Martinismommy

Betta fish need to be kept alone...There are very few exceptions.......On a rare occassion they can live in a community tank...