well i decided not to make my 10 gallon a split tank since my son has been doing the puppy dog face all week on wanting to get other fish for his betta to play with. so we have to redo the tank to the parameters of a nine yr old. he's going for a shark theme.
so im wondering what i can get him. he likes cherry barbs but i heard their fin nippers, he also likes glo fish he's looking for color im loking for something that can survive him.
this just means i get to go shopping for a 5 gal for my betta
Barbs, Sharks, Danios, Tetras, Guppies, Minnows, Mollies, Platies, Swordfish, Gouramis, Perch, Angels, goldfish, and Cichlids are not suitable for sure with Bettas.
Some small bottom dwelling fish can coexist in the same tank with bettas but bettas do not play with other fish. You and you son need to understand that bettas are not raised in tanks with other fish and they do not know how to relate to other fish. They have never been in a container with other fish and they do not play well with others at all. About the only fish they will tolerate with them are Corydoras Catfish and they need to be kept in groups of at least 3 and they will not play with the betta. They will also allow Otocinclus Catfish to be in the tank with them but they are mostly nocturnal fish who do not even come out until after lights out at night and your son will not probably see them at all in the tank. They are also fragile and difficult for the beginner to start as they are caught in the wild and mistreated badly so the mortality rate is high for them. If you can get them to live the first 30 days they usually will live a long time but the first 30 days the chances are not good. (they use cyanide gas to catch them as they are caught in rivers and they are rapid swimmers so the streams are flooded with cyanide to make them easier to catch then they need a special diet and a lot of stores feed them flake food which they cannot eat and they starve so half of them die before being bought.)
You would be much better to get a few nice decorations for the betta to play in and out of rather than taking the chance of the betta not taking to tank mates. Some bettas will not tolerate any other creature living in the same tank with them and if you have bought the fish and brought them home and put them in the tank you have a problem. Corys can be literally intimidated to death by a betta who keeps them upset and nervous. While we may like to try to make the tank our idea of what we want we need to remember that the fish has a personality and we cannot change that.
I understood fishonthebrain's post as saying, he is getting a 5g for the betta and getting different fish for the 10g....not the betta AND other fish in the 10g.
Flash has never had a problem with his cory tankmate, and sometimes follows him around, but doesn't do anything hostile at all. So I was totally surprised that when I put a snail in there with him he would not leave it alone. He would knock it off the glass, try to eat it's eyestalks and was totally fixated on it. I put it in with the girls and it has managed to hide it the plants.
I understood fishonthebrain's post as saying, he is getting a 5g for the betta and getting different fish for the 10g....not the betta AND other fish in the 10g.
actually it goes both ways i have 2 bettas fury who has a 2 and half tank and a new guy still quarantine to a 1 gal till we got the 10 gallon cycled. but my son asked to keep it for his and add some mates. the other is getting a 5 gal just for himself.
my son still want the glo fish so he's leaving fury in his 2 1/2 gal but wanted to know if he could mix them with the cherry barb and how many to get especially since im getting him an upsidedown cat to help with the alge. remember it's a 10 gal im trying not to over stock it.
According to the information I was able to find you could probably put in 3 glofish and 1 catfish without overstocking the tank but this would be the limit of the tanks capabilities or 1 cherry barb and 2 glo fish and 1 catfish. (the cherry barbs work to 2" each and the glo fish are 2" each adult size and the upside down catfish is 3" adult size) so you are limited to 3 of the 2" fish and the 3" catfish in the 10 gallon tank or the tank would be overstocked. It can be however you choose to divide the 3 2" fish (barbs and glo fish).
Rose
Last edited by chickadee; June 3rd, 2008 at 10:06 PM.
my son and i went to get his fish for his first 10 gal. he'd said he wanted glo fish, but fell in love with the tetras once he saw them and they cost less so after hearing the whole speech on how cost effective and pretty and only god knows how many reasons i should get them later. i bought him four and a panda cory. i had a very happy boy that wouldn't stop staring at his fish on the bus ride home.
anyway the tank was set up filter air stone going temp at 78 and cycled. left them floating in their bags for an hour and did a very slow water exchange between the bag and tank. they look great happy fish happy boy. untill one started to swim funny didn't last half hour. no problem 3 left a couple hours later another started to swim funny. boy not so happy anymore. a little while later we watch as the third swam into the bubble stream. dear god he got tossed around like a rag doll, 20 minutes later he laid dead. at which point my son accused me of putting a tetra killer in his tank. . we removed it immediately.
i guess im going to the LFS tomorrow can't leave the remaining one all by himself now can we.
Here's some information on the upsidedown catfish. They don't have a sucker mouth and are not good algae eaters.http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog...species_id=334
After the tank has matured a couple of months otos would be a good choice for algae eaters. They are especially sensitive to water quality so overcrowding is not a good idea with otos.
Carol
You may possibly have just gotten really unlucky and had sick fish. You said in your tank info that you dont know about the nitrogen cycle. Do you know what your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels are for your tank? Neons are sensitive to ammonia and nitrites so if you had these in the tank it could be thier problem.
like Annabelle said neons are very sensitive to water chemistry so you need to know your readings. once i bought 10neons, put them in my tank at night and the next morning most of them were gone and all because i didn't know about the nitrogen cycle.
i had the water tested by the store and was told it was fine thats why i got him the fish. the tank had been doing the cycle thing for almost 2 weeks now.
he ended up falling in love with the neons got 4 they all were dead by morning i had the water tested at the store and said they would fine. oh 1 panda cory which is beyond cute and doing well. but he want more tetras dont know if their to sensitive a friend told me they die easily after i told her what happened. you should of seen his face when he saw them it was heart breaking.
Was this tank newly set up before you put them in? Did you use a seasoned sponge or floss, or put in a new one?
Neons are very sensitive and cannot survive a cycling tank or any bad water conditions.
IF you decide to get more fish, cherry barbs are very hardy and tough, but you must never get just one or it will hide unmoving in the tank/behave in a bizarre manner, and may even refuse to eat. You need at least 3 - two females and one male.
I've actually watched neons die in a healthy tank while black neons thrived in the same tank. The ones sold at most pet stores aren't usually the healthiest bunch.
Same here sir, I just lost a neon and another one looks like he's going the same route. My water tests 0,0,5. So who knows.
I feel lucky I've kept them for 5 months.
Move and merging of posts from betta and disease sections
Since this thread has now become one about a new tank and has nothing to do with bettas it belongs in this section where perhaps something can be helpful with a newcomers tank.
Please do not post and double post topics in multiple sections of the forum for the same issue. We had a post about this and it does not help to get the issues resolved. Please do limit the issue to one area and you will find it is easier for people to be able to concentrate their answers and know what others have suggested and be able to respond.
Rose
Last edited by chickadee; June 6th, 2008 at 07:59 AM.
I kept danios with my betta for awhile. 4 of them with a betta in a 10 gallon. The betta I had was peaceful. Some betta are bred to be aggressive and some are quite peaceful but I wouldn't take the chance to mix anything with the mighty betta haha
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he likes cherry barbs but i heard their fin nippers, he also likes glo fish he's looking for color im loking for something that can survive him. 
I heard they can stay in the same tank with a betta...
I understood fishonthebrain's post as saying, he is getting a 5g for the betta and getting different fish for the 10g....not the betta AND other fish in the 10g.
that wouldn't stop staring at his fish on the bus ride home.
a little while later we watch as the third swam into the bubble stream. dear god he got tossed around like a rag doll, 20 minutes later he laid dead. at which point my son accused me of putting a tetra killer in his tank
. 
. we removed it immediately.
I've had new fish go quickly, but never that fast. So sorry to hear about that. 
