FishPerson

How would this work out? the reason being, i was thinking of putting a betta in my not-yet-cycled 10 gal. tank, and am planning to put a pair of A. borelli in after it is cycled. would this work out?

HatchetHaven

FishPerson

thanks! wow that was a close one. almost went a got a betta. Thanks again Hatchet!

Jacko

I both agree and disagree with Hatchet. Yes, they could be kept together, I have 3 bettas (2 are fry from breeding) and a pair of A. viejita in a 38 gallon tank without any outward sign of aggression. I have never had an aggressive betta towards anything but another Anabantoid, I have kept them with shrimp, dwarf cichlid, barbs, tetras, cories, loaches, guppies, rasboras and even other bettas.

The issue is more that there isn't enough space in a 10 gallon for the betta especially if/when the apisto's breed or decide they want a territory. I had a pair of rams attack a huge gold gourami and a harem of female bettas when they were in the breeding mood.

FishPerson

thank you both. i won't be getting a betta for my tank. probably 2 corys or sumting like that.

HatchetHaven

FishPerson

Actually, Jacko is the one who reccommended the A. Borelli to me for my 10 gal. you should search these.

Jacko

I know there is enough space for a betta in a 10 gallon. I was saying there wouldn't be enough space in it with the dwarf cichlids. Trust me, it would be the betta that didn't have enough space if the cichlids paired up, a 10 gallon doesn't have a large enough foot print for 2 types of territorial fish and the cichlids would rip apart the betta. Trust me, I have seen it happen in my mom's tank. She thought that her betta would be fine but then here A. borelli got into breeding mode and killed it, this was in a 55 gallon tank too. Unfortunatly she lost her apistos in an 8 day power outage.

It wasn't luck, I knew what I was doing. Over the years I have had 15 or so bettas, most of which got returned to the LFS because my mom thought I had too many. Then I would end up getting another. My worst time with bettas has been during the last 6 months, I lost 3 to dropsy, 4 to jumping and 1 to a kribensis (a type of dwarf cichlid).

I plan on breeding my copper vtdt when I find a suitable mate.

As for the cories, they are best off in schools and populate the bottom of the tank, same area the apistos do so they might be in danger as well. I would go with a dither fish instead, like marble hatchets or a smaller tetra species.

chickadee

Well the pH needs of the Cichlids and Bettas are totally different as are the needs of the Cories. Cichlids need a different type of living condition than the other fish you are speaking of so this is all a receipe for disaster that you are discussing. Otos and Cories are not the only fish that get along with bettas, just the most common.

And all the resident betta folks do not have them in 10 gallons. A Great many of them do but not all. Some have them in 12 or 6 or 55 or 25 or quite a few still use the old standby Eclipse Hex5 I believe. There are only a few that are still in the small tanks that I know of and mostly those are new bettas waiting for new tanks, but there are many sizes and shapes recommended. The only things that are not recommended are those things that are not heated or filtered or too small to be heated or filtered. I have had bettas in vases and they can be heated and filtered (cycled) safely if it is large enough. The vase I had was actually 3 gallons and held a Duetto Mini Filter and 25 watt heater (Visi-therm Deluxe) and the betta did very well. I do not recommend it as the vase broke and I had to do an emergency rescue, he was not hurt but the experience was horrific.

Needless to say the practice of suggesting tank mates for other fish also means that you find out what the needs of the fish in question are and make sure that they are compatible physically with each other. They may not fight each other but if the water parameters are going to make one or the other of them sick or weakened, it really is cruel to put them together.

Rose

HatchetHaven

FishPerson

I want to get these cichlids, but they are gonig to be hard to find.

HatchetHaven

chickadee

There is a Cichlid Section and I would suggest taking this discussion to that area if it is going to be about Cichlids. This area is devoted to posts about bettas. I am sorry to be touchy but it is very hard to keep the forum under control and we need to put posts where they belong so people that are interested in those subjects can find them. Otherwise we have to go in and move things about all the time.

Rose

FishPerson

Sorry.

well , the thing is, i don't want to buy them off the internet.

chickadee

That is okay but the people who can help you find cichlids will more likely find it here than in the betta section. Thank you for the move.

Rose