pestonoodle

Hi, I my sister has a betta who's in a far too small tank without filter or heater. I am planning on moving him into my larger tank which has 1 Blue Gourami, 4 Zebra Danios and a Pictus Catfish. Will a Betta (male) be OK with these fish?

agabr123

he might (and i stress might) be okay with the danios and the pictus cat, but i seriously doubt that he'll get along with the gourami...how big is the tank?

if $$ is an issue (and i KNOW it is for me, *broke college student*), you can get him a 5 gallon kit (only about $36 at wal mart or petsmart) with a small heater (hydor mini, about $13) and gravel and decor pretty cheaply....it's the best thing i can recommend really...

good for you for rescuing the poor guy!!!!

pestonoodle

its a 20 gallon

Lucy

Unfortunatly I'd be afraid the danios would pick at the betta. How big is the tank?
Can you're sister get a nice 5g or even 2.5g tank with a heater?
Walmart had 3g tanks on clearance for $20.00 a day or so ago.

Edit: I see the above post answered the tank size question. I wouldn't take the chance.

agabr123

2.5 may sound cheaper, but my 5 gallon kits actually ended up being cheaper overall than my 2.5 gallon tanks....mer, makes me wish i had though to get those way back when...

Lucy

As soon as I wrote about the 3g kits walmart had, it makes me wish I had bought it. lol, it was in my cart and everything!

Good luck petsnoodle, I hope you and your sister find a suitable home for her betta.

pestonoodle

If possible I would like to try to put my betta in the 20. Is there any way to monitor him or something because it would work out great if there's room for him in there.

agabr123

yeah, my 2.5's were $10 for the tank, $16 or $18 for the filter, i cant really remember now, $13 for the heater (plus shipping for the heater)! maybe not "cheaper" in terms of total cost, but certainly if you compare tank size, AND the 2.5s are too small for hoods/lights, buying one would be ridiculously expensive. i end up having to top off water just about every day/every other day...eventually i'm going to get rid of those and change them both over to 5s.....after i've gotten all of my other tanks of course, so who knows how long that will take

pestonoodle

lol any responses to:

If possible I would like to try to put my betta in the 20. Is there any way to monitor him or something because it would work out great if there's room for him in there.
??

agabr123

i suppose you could try it and keep a very close eye on him, but IMO it's better for him to be on his own. if you ARE going to try it, you'll need a back-up plan if things don't work out, and you'll have to be very vigilant in watching them

Lucy

Possibly a divider and give him 5 or 2.5g's of the tank for a temporary solution.

pestonoodle

yeah i don't have a devider

pestonoodle

FYI the Blue Gourami is brand new, I don't know if that makes him any less protective or anything though...

agabr123

it would make him slightly less aggressive having just been added to the tank, if you add the betta after he's been in for a while i'd remove the gourami and mix the decorations up some to hopefully cut down on aggression. that way the gourami won't feel as much like the betta is in "his" territory

dividers are pretty cheap, but i'd say definitely get a mesh one, not solid glass, so that filtration can get to both sides, and every once in a while move the filter to the other side of the divider too

Lucy

I'm sorry petsnoodle, I know you want us to tell you it would be fine, but no one can predict how fish might react to one another. Especially the Betta. I don't know anything about Gourami's, so I can't comment on their behavior.

pestonoodle

im gonna give it a try tonight with out a barrier and watch for about an hour, wish me luck!

agabr123

good luck

pestonoodle

no problems yet! 1 hour in!