fishluver101

what fish are compatable with neon tetras without question? that is, besides neons. my betta is sick and if he dies i kinda want to make a tetra tank or something. i have 5 neons in a 10 gallon and i want a bunch of different fish. i dont care if it is stuffed to the brim i luv it when there's tons of different kinds.

also, ide like something easy to take care of. maybe a female betta? i luv bettas

Allie

TFA101

well you should care if its stuffed to the brim. the more fish you have, the less stable the water, and the more water changes you'd have to make. And correct me if I'm wrong but isn't your 10 Gallon divided?

PS

cories and ottos are best bets for neons. maybe a sparkling gourami

fishluver101

its not separated, the betta and neons unusually got along. i just want to go to the limit. i dont care if i do a lot of water changes. i just dont want any space left over so ide go with the small fish so i could have more i luv having lotz of fish :P

Alessa

We all love lots of fish, the problem is that they need space to swim, not to count bioload.

In a ten gallon you could have 5 neons, and that would be pushing the limits. The problem with that tank size is that you have a very limited amount of options.
Neons, and tetras in general are definately not suitable mates for a betta. The neons will nip at the betta or, if the betta happens to be a fiesty one (most likely) he will chase and kill the neons one by one.

You have to know that bettas are very different from one another, the fact that you had a mellow betta before does not mean that the next one, regardless of gender, will be a peaceful one as well.

Lucy

5 neons fully stocks your 10g.

Edited per request

sirdarksol

Alessa has it down.

Each time you put a betta in with neons, you're taking a huge chance. If someone is insistent on doing something like this, I always say that that person should be prepared to split the two groups if something goes wrong. In your case, you need to think about whether or not you'd even be able to do so. I'm guessing that your mom doesn't want you adding another tank until you've had one going (without problems) for a significant amount of time, and I wouldn't blame her.

Aside from this, though, you should be focusing on your betta, not on what you'll be getting next. When my last betta, Sun Ce, died, it was several weeks before my wife and I decided we were going to get another betta to put in the tank.

If the worst happens and your betta doesn't make it, give it some time and make sure you've got your tank well-balanced. Remember how the past few days have been, and remind yourself that rushing to add more fish will likely result in similar circumstances.

In the end, if you find yourself with a tank sans betta, and you have given the tank a couple of weeks to verify that it's stable, up the neon count to no more than 6. You can do a mix of regular neons and black neons for variety. They will school together.
If you want something interesting about the tank, think about upgrading it to a planted tank. You can get low-light plants like Java fern and Java moss for pretty cheap. Neons swimming through the fronds of Java moss are really, really pretty.