Betta in community tank

[Amanda]

I have a betta in a 5 gallon tank. I just bought a 55 gallon tank & - NO IF AND OR BUTS - the betta is going in, lol. Can anyone please give me suggestions on what fish are compatible with a betta in a large tank?

[sirdarksol]

Small, peaceful fish and/or fish that live on the bottom. Nothing with a tendency to nip fins. If it's smaller than the betta, the betta is unlikely to recognize it as a fish, and therefore won't consider it a threat. This is a two-way street, however. For example, a betta won't recognize a small barb as a threat, even as the barb chews its fins to pieces. So you've also got to watch the other fish for signs of aggression toward the betta.

Anything with long fins is likely to be considered a target by the betta.
Anything with a labyrinth organ (like gourami or another betta) is 99% likely to end in a fight to the death.
A full school of cherry barbs (6 or more) is not terribly likely to nip fins.
Neon tetras are extremely peaceful.
Kuhli loaches are peaceful bottom feeders that are excellent at hiding. Even if the betta takes notice of them, they'll be able to get away.
Corydoras catfish tend to get on well with bettas.
Glassfish seem to be peaceful. I've never known them to nip fins, even during the period they were in a tank with a butterfly koi, but there is very little reliable knowledge about these fish.
Otocinclus catfish tend to get on well with bettas.
Plecostomus tend to get on well with bettas, when they're in a big enough tank.

A few more notes:
I will say that fully three quarters of attempts to keep bettas in community tanks end in violence. You seem to have made your mind up, and we can't change that. We're not here to make anyone do anything, but we wouldn't be responsible if we didn't tell people these things. Many, many fishloreans have attempted this, and only a few have gotten it to work. Most end up pulling the betta out. This is as much a matter of the betta's personality, as well as the personalities of the other fish in the tank, as it is of proper stocking. Fish are individuals. One betta may attack everything in its tank (down to the snails. My little Sun Ce did this), while another may ignore or even play with its tankmates. This means that half of the equation is out of your hands.

Second, an unadorned 55g tank is very deep for a betta. Bettas can drown. They need to be able to breathe air periodically. This part is pretty easy to get around, it just takes some effort. Anything that the betta can rest on that's close to the surface of the water is good. He'll especially appreciate resting places on the opposite end of the tank from the output of the filter (many bettas find the current from the filter fun to play in, but tiring if they can't get away from it). My betta really liked resting on the fronds of a water wisteria plant. Others have had success with floating mats of vegetation, or driftwood with Java moss tied to it. Anything that has a soft surface (easy on delicate fins) is excellent for this task.

Good luck and keep us updated.

[HatchetHaven]

Most catfish will get along with him. By this I mean, Dwarf plecos (Clown, Bristlenose...) Oto cats, Pitbull plecos or Corys.

A good plant for number 2 in Sir's post is Hornwort. It gets to a certain hight, then spreads across to top of the tank. It's quite a nice plant I reccomend!

[COBettaCouple]

Otos and Corys.. some small plecos like albino BNs tend to be the most accepted tankmates for Bettas, but it does depend on the Betta's personality. Fish that swim faster or are nippers or territorial often result in dead or injured Bettas.

[Dark_Rider2k3]

Well from personal experience having a betta in a community, I can say the following:

White Cloud Minnow (I never had a problem with them as they are very mild and calm)

Otocinclus

Mollys (though I'm not 100% sure on this one.. but i've seen a friends tank with a betta in with molly's that got along..)

Ones to DEFINITELY avoid:

Zebra Danio
Upside-down catfish (the asian one.. idk about the other one)

[sirdarksol]

Mollies would be one of the hit-or-miss ones. The betta might decide they're a threat (they've got kind of long, flowing fins) or it might ignore them. The mollies may be peaceful, or one could end up with a molly like mine, who killed her other tankmates by driving them away from the food at feeding time. She was so vicious that I couldn't even target feed. If she saw a tankmate getting food, she'd abandon a ready source of flakes to attack them.

[chickadee]

If you want a Pleco let me recommend the Clown Pleco. They stay small and stay out of the way of the bettas by mostly staying quiet during the day (at least mine did) and then there are Otocinclus catfish which if you are not totally new to fish are my favorite betta tankmates. I have had bettas who have loved their otos so much and then had a couple who chased them but they do not get ruffled. They are quicker than the bettas and they just swim away faster and hide. The trick to keeping these is to have at least one live plant in the tank. They have the reputation of being fragile to keep the first 30 days so always quarantine them and keep them with a floating plant or some plant in the quarantine tank that you intend to plant in the tank you will be moving them to. If they make it through the first 30 days they will likely be some of your longest living fish. The reasons they are fragile when you first get them is the fact that they are frequently mistreated very badly in being caught for purchase (they are wild never being bred in captivity) and a lot of pet stores try to feed them flake food which they do not eat so they starve before getting food as the store employees clean off the glass walls of the tanks every morning so no brown algae which is their main source of food can be eaten.

the trick is to buy little ones who have not been in those tanks long and who have little rounded white (not reddened) bellies. If their bellies are sunken or flat or red streaked they are on the way out. Once they have sunken bellies it generally means that the bacteria that resides in their stomach to digest their food has died and they could eat half a cow (figuratively) and still not be able to get food value from it and die of starvation.

Never populate more than 2 otos per 5 gallons of tank space. They need that much room to be able to survive handily the tank will not support them. You can still have other fish but not other algae eaters.

Rose

[ThisGuy]

Be careful if you put him with neons.. We put our betta in our 30gal, with a school of tetras and he was attacking and eating them, even though everyone said they would be fine.. lol maybe its just mine, he can be a bit of a jerk. We get our house tomorrow, and will be moving all the tanks to the new house (not fun). Im gonna be setting up my 50gal, and would maybe like to try and redo my 30gal and put the betta in again and try some other fish with him..

[sirdarksol]

Good to know, Thisguy. Another example of the differences of betta personality.

[Amanda]

I have (2) 5 gallon tanks, each with a betta residing in it. Now that I have the 55 gal. I don't also want the 2 little tanks. I was hoping to eliminate one by adding it to the big tank. I want to get rid of my one tank & my blue betta, as I was given him by my biology teacher after he was used in a science lab (2 male bettas were put into little tanks with a glass divider or mirror & we had to document how it reacted). It would seem that he hasn't forgotten this, as he is VERY aggressive. Does anyone know how I should go about trying to find him a new home? None of my friends are interested. OR DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS ON HOW I CAAN DIVIDE MY 5 GALLON TANK??

[Lucy]

You might try Freecycle or Craig's List and I think your teacher is cruel.

[Amanda]

Trust me, I agree Lucy! I went to the principal about it and everything. She was originally planning on putting 2 in a tank with NO dividersto see how they would react. That's why I took mine, because I was afraid of what the other kids would do to them. I was thinking maybe just putting the betta, pleco & snail in the 55 gal. with a school of peaceful tetras. Just to get the hang on everything & keep this set up for a while. Sound good? Any suggestions of a peaceful tetra?

[Barbrella]

Does anyone know how I should go about trying to find him a new home?

Hopefully, someone here may live near you and be willing to give this a guy a good home. You could also post on the Buy, Sell and Trade forum.

2 male bettas were put into little tanks with a glass divider or mirror & we had to document how it reacted

That was pretty dumb of your teacher. It's hardly a new discovery that male bettas are aggressive towards each other.

Good luck putting the other one in a 55 gal community. As long as you have no big fish, no fin nippers, no cichlids, no gouramis and nothing very colourful it should go fine.

[COBettaCouple]

I wish you were closer, we'd be glad to take him in. I'd post a thread on finding him a home to see if any fishlore members near you had a place for him.

[shellbell4ever]

I too would take your blue guy and tank in a heartbeat, where in NY are you?
I also had my Miss Bonnie in a community with guppies and she beat the heck out of them And ate my fry She now resides in her own tank

[peacemaker92]

Putting Bettas with bottom dwellers are good enough. I'm gonna buy a cory cat soon for my betta in my 10g.

[COBettaCouple]

Get at least 2 corys. They're social and like buddies.

[Amanda]

Originally Posted by shellbell4ever

I too would take your blue guy and tank in a heartbeat, where in NY are you?

I'm about a half hour north of West Point, if that helps. I think I may just end up going out & buying a 10 gallon tank & divide that for my 2 bettas. That way they can be happy & I don't have to worry about them in my 55 gallon. This also opens a lot of doors on what I can have in my community tank.