Brut

Is it possible to put a betta in a community tank? I think there really beautiful fish both (male and female).

nmwierman1977

Yes, it is, but you need to be very carelful with the type of fish that are with it. Natalie

chickadee

With GREAT caution and a secondary back up plan just in case, you could try it. *It is not usually advised as Bettas are not used to having other fish around and they are very defensive about their territory. *They also do not have the defenses against some smaller fish that they do not see as threats and will allow them to nip their fins. *This can lead to a rampant case of fin rot or bacterial infection of their fins. *

Fish that are known to have had problems with bettas in the same tank are: *GOURAMIS (bettas are of the gourami family and will fight gouramis as if they were other bettas); Barbs; Sharks; Mollies; Platies; Tetras; Guppies; other Bettas ~ BOTH male and female, you cannot keep a male and a female together in the same tank except for a very short time while spawning; any fish with long fins that may be mistaken by the betta as another betta.

Bettas are grown up in small containers individually and do not know that it is allowed for other fish to inhabit their territory so they are culturally deprived when it comes to manners. *They do not usually know how to react to the other fish. *Now, I say usually because there is going to be someone come on here and say how they have a betta who lives in a community tank and does quite well. *It does really depend on the fish. *If you get a really calm betta and he is not afraid of the other fish and the other fish are really quiet and you have a really big tank with a lot of hiding places and nooks and crannies for little fish, you may be lucky enough to get away with it. *

I personally would not chance it. *But as long as you have a second tank warmed up in case of a disaster to remove the betta to, there would be no reason why you could not try. *I would not go far from the tank for a few hours after adding him to the tank though.

Rose

Brut

i see. well i can always set up another tank if i want one :P

atmmachine816

Ya just make sure you use matured filter media so the tank doesn't recycle.

Just my two cents, I'v kept a betta in a community tank and it's a lot of hit and miss. The bigger the tank the more options you can have, you just need to put floating plants and have a gentle filter because he/she will hang at the top a lot. Good thing to have are the caves that suction cup onto the walls, mine loved those.

atm

poefox

Chickadee is perfectly right.

I kept Rusty in his last month or so with some bloodfin tetras, who never bothered him but were too fast for him to catch. Some have kept them with cories, but both chickadee and I have had cory deaths from bettas. So as you can see it depends so much on the betta that you need a backup plan. They are often highly individualistic fish. If you have a very big tank that might help, it seems to have worked in cases where a very large at least 20 to 30 gallon tank was used as a community tank.