Your Opinion On Keeping Bettas In Community Tanks?

What do you guys think about housing a betta in a community tank (e.g. with cory cats, platies, guppies, gouramis, mollies, shrimp, snails, loaches...) without separation?

I've been watching aquarium videos on Youtube and many of them have a betta as their 'centerpiece' fish.

Any past experiences with this?

 

I tried it, and my betta got beat up. So he's in his own tank now.

 

What'd you house it with and in what size tank? I'm surprised your betta was the one who got attacked Great that he's in his own area now though.

 

I have thought about it, my lfs put bettas with there other fish, to show it can be done.

 

I've done a couple of different things, some worked, some didn't.

a male betta with goldfish and weather loaches worked out ok, but not the best. idk if I would do it again.

a female betta with weather loaches worked out just fine.

a female betta with weather loaches and a platy; not the best (betta was kinda nasty to the platy).

a male betta with guppies didn't work out a ALL (totally harassed the guppies, maybe because of the tails)

a group of female bettas was a NIGHTMARE

I know other people have had different experiences; those are just mine.

 

He was with 6 neon tetras, 2 ADFs and 2 baby yoyo loaches in a 10g. The yoyo loaches aren't staying in there; it's just temp housing for them while I deal with a leak. But yeah, his tail got torn up. I never observed any bad behavior from any of them, and I couldn't tell if it was him doing it to himself or one of the other fish, but either way once I separated them he's had no more issues.

 

I had a betta in a 37 and the best way I can describe it was that he blew out his tail. It got a few long splits in it. Never got infected, never seemed to bother him, never healed.

A LFS employee told me that sometimes when you give VTs a LOT of swimming space, they can blow out their tails because those long flowing fins were selectively bread to be attractive, but aren't really that big naturally and aren't built for heavy swimming, and that I should be really careful to watch for fin rot, but that if it didn't seem like it bothered him then I shouldn't move him to a smaller tank just because of that. Idk how reliable that is; in general LFS employees aren't really very good, but the one I heard this from is usually pretty knowledgeable.

A 10G seems too small to incite that kind of damage, but I guess one more possibility to add to the list.

 

Don't believe everything you see on you tube.


Thread moved to the Hot Topics section of the forum since it is a highly debatable subject.

 

I had a betta in a 37 and the best way I can describe it was that he blew out his tail. It got a few long splits in it. Never got infected, never seemed to bother him, never healed.

A LFS employee told me that sometimes when you give VTs a LOT of swimming space, they can blow out their tails because those long flowing fins were selectively bread to be attractive, but aren't really that big naturally and aren't built for heavy swimming, and that I should be really careful to watch for fin rot, but that if it didn't seem like it bothered him then I shouldn't move him to a smaller tank just because of that. Idk how reliable that is; in general LFS employees aren't really very good, but the one I heard this from is usually pretty knowledgeable.

A 10G seems too small to incite that kind of damage, but I guess one more possibility to add to the list.

Interesting.

But I agree, 10 gallon isn't a lot of swimming space, even though he is pretty active and swam all over the place. Well, he still does, but you know what I mean.

 

My betta is housed with corydoras and neon tetras, and all of them get along just fine, even in their little 10 gallon (I do plan on getting a bigger tank, though). Whether or not a betta can be a part of a community tank is really up to the fish. Some bettas love sharing a community tank, and others will get nippy. It just depends on the specific betta's personality.

Also, neons can cause trouble for bettas sometimes, and putting them in the same tank isn't always a good idea. I just got lucky with mine, I think.

 

I've had mixed results. It depends a lot on the individual temperament of the betta. I've successfully mixed them with female guppies, skirt tetras, cory cats, and lemon tetras.


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I have a male crowntail Betta in a 20 gallon with a bunch of neon tetras, a platy and a couple cories. He doesn't bother anyone at all he just swims everywhere. I may have just gotten lucky, but it works perfect for me. I also added a lot of plants and a piece of driftwood so he goes in all the plants.

 

I have 2 female bettas with my 2 large angels and they don't bother one another.Looking to rehome the bettas though.

 

it's worked for me.

though I have to say, I don't understand all the commotion. It's not any different than any other stocking combination with the possibility of issues.

 

I agree, it just depends on the personality of the particular betta. Some bettas are fine with other fish, and others won't tolerate anyone in their tank at all.
My betta flares and charges at the new members in his tank and then just leaves them alone. I think of his flaring and charging as his way of checking out the newbies in his tank. He's in a 10G with 6 neons, 1 mystery snail, and 1 dwarf crayfish.

 

I've done it most of the time and never had any problems.

 

Having a betta in a community set up depends on the personality of the betta, how large the tank is, your stock other than the betta, and when you add the betta IME. A 10 gal minimum to try a bettta community but even with a 10 gal your pretty limited to what fish you can have.

Btw, I tried twice with bettas in communities and it worked. But now I keep them alone.

 

I have a betta in my 20h with an ADF and some otos...they do well, but my betta prefers eating the frog's food instead of his own. I do see them lounging around in the same hiding spots pretty often, and there's never any attacking, so it seems to be working pretty well. I think they've been together for about a year now.

 

I have seen it go wrong too often, both with regards to members of the forum and in my friends' tanks, to think it's a good idea to try.
In general, it is a ticking time bomb. Eventually, the betta will flip out, or the other fish will begin picking on the it. Or the betta will simply be so stressed by its fast-moving tank mates that it will become susceptible to disease, and will suffer from a string of them until it succumbs.
Bettas are used to being masters of their waterways. They aren't used to sharing them with other fish.
Better, in my opinion, to give the betta its own home and to keep a similar fish, like a dwarf gourami, in the community aquaria.

 

I did it with platies and cories with no problems until he got stuck in the castle decoration in the tank and died. I wouldn't do it with like fish such as gouramis, or nippers like tetras/ barbs.

 

I had a a55 gal. community with a female betta. It was fine - she was around 3 when she finally passed away. She loved interacting with the other fish.

 

It's funny, when I was keeping fish many years ago getting a male betta was always the first pick in our community tanks. Our favorite setup was a male betta, a school of neons & a cory cat of some kind. Never had a problem but if I was to do it today I would probably take some precautions. Maybe make sure to have some hiding places & pick smaller fish that aren't really "finny" if that makes any sense!

 

What do you guys think about housing a betta in a community tank

I don't think it should be done.

That's my opinion, simple and sweet. :

 

MatildaLjungberg- that's pretty much my exact set up right now plus a platy ha ha. I love it.

 

When I first got into fish keeping, from what I had learned, bettas should never be housed with other fish. Then I came to fishlore and heard of the success stories with them. Out of the five bettas that I've had, only one was aggressive toward other fish; so yes, I'd say bettas can work out perfectly in a community setup as long as precaution is taken.

 

it's worked for me.

though I have to say, I don't understand all the commotion. It's not any different than any other stocking combination with the possibility of issues.

I agree!

I've had it work, and not work. But mostly work.

 

I had my betta in my 60l with harlequins tetras guppies honey g's etc and thought he was fine...until we decided to upgrade the tank and realised most of his dorsal fin was missing ...he's in his own tank now with a loach and a couple of ottos he seems happy enough but his dorsal never grew back ...its like a little stick on his back now bless him, I wouldn't do it again :thumbdown:

 

I did it in my 90g which was a tetra community at one time everything was great and that Betta Julep- lived for 3.5 years. Now it's Blood Parrots in the 90 but it was a fun experiment.

 

it's worked for me.

though I have to say, I don't understand all the commotion. It's not any different than any other stocking combination with the possibility of issues.

Yep...exactly. I have had Betta's in a community and all was well. Of course they were bigger tanks- 90 and a 225. Betta's got left alone by everything. I even had 2 in the 225 for about 3 years. 1 died and the other is still around.

 

It obviously can be done but really, why take such a big risk for such a small reward?

 

Both me & my gf have our Betta's in community tanks and they are fine also they guy in my LFS who I do trust has always kept them in community tanks and has never had any problems hope this helps.

 

ive kept a crowntail male betta with corys and he did ok. he also did ok with adfs. I had a king betta with harlequin rasboras, columbian tetras, corys, platies, a pleco, and a blood parrot (not all at the same time) he was a very laid back betta though.

 

I had a Betta Guffy(double tail delta) grow up in a community tank with neons,clown loaches,fire eel,yoyos,royal pleco,fire gouramis, feeder Danios, bleeding hearts,and a very bossy Mable angel and he lived for 3 yrs until my dad stucked him and three neons up with the vac. Needless to say he is still not allowed to vac my parents tanks or the pond lol. I was mad at him for three months to the point I would not talk to him( yes it was all over one fish but I had that fish since he was one month old)

 

My first tank I got was with a Betta. Then I wanted to get more fish. I got Zebra Danios. I had heard that as long as you don't get flashy long-finned fish then the Betta won't get upset. And he didn't. He seemed very happy, he would greet me when I came in the room. I know that there were a few minor quarrels here and there but generally they were happy no ripped fins. Also I had a simple gold mystery snail.

 

It obviously can be done but really, why take such a big risk for such a small reward?

well actually it's not a small reward it just shows u not to judge a book by its cover ;D

 

My betta "ToyBoy" is in a hanging tank within the 75 gallon bigger one. I let him out to "walk" most of the day. He seemed easily tired at first after being in the jars shown in pet stores. But after only a few weeks he now darts all over the place. He even swaps places with the bristlenose & pleco in their caves. Sometimes they take over his partly submerged double breeder tank where he sleeps at night.

 

I don't think its a big risk to be honest. It seems like its been reported done lately then not done, and if done then it was fine rather then a disaster. Sort of like some dogs like pit bulls can be mis judged. Betta's are fighter fish, but they've been breed so much now and kept with communities that most are just a nice fish.

 

My moms dog stare at her blue Betta for hours at time....its in a community 50 gal with neons, guppies, cory cats, a ghost shrimp. The fancy fined guppies did not do well...Betta was chasing anything with big fins. Once the fancy fins were exchanged for a coloful short fined version there hasn't been an issue. Dog gets to keep its fish and no one is now chasing or stressing each other. Can be community fish with limited tank mates

 

Airey and Callie where the only two Bettas I have had in a community tank. Airey was in a 10 gallon with guppies until my female got pregnant and went all ninja on him and torn his fins up I could not get the net fast enough poor boy jumped on the rI'm of the tank to get away from her. He went in a 5 gallon until died of old age.Callie started as a baby(1 month old) in the 10 with guppies and cories until I upgraded them to the 30 and was great until I put a new plastic plant in and she cut her stomach on it and I had to put her to sleep. So I would say it all depends on the temper of the Betta. But I always have a back up tank ready just in case.

 

"Can" is very subjective with almost anything involving what we know/don't know about bettas. For that reason, I would never house a male betta in particular with others.

Can a betta live a moderate to long life in a 1 gallon? Plenty of lesser experienced fish owners will say "yes." Some more experienced ones can even argue for it.10 years ago no one had qualms about putting a betta in a vase. Can a betta survive ammonia spikes, 100% water changes, lower than tropical temperatures, even JUMPING OUT the tank? Yes.

Is that justification for doing those things? Not in my opinion. Fish don't have the intellect to say if they like something or not and make do with what's offered.

The history of these fish is pretty interesting. Wild bettas only fight briefly and are fairly solitary--however, domesticated ones were bred for the sole purpose of fighting for many years, creating borderline viscious/territorial fish. Name other species that flare at themselves in a mirror lol.

My point? The fish "can" live with others but it isn't anywhere close to what it would prefer. Also, as someone else said, these are domesticated fish and the fins put them at a huge disadvantage in a huge, fast paced tank. Few fish have fins like them and you'd imagine it makes them very different. They're slow moving, and just don't care for fish drama, lol. Science will tell you they never historically played well with others and a "friendly" betta is a rarity not worth the risk.

A betta would prefer five gallons to himself than 100 gallons with company, if you asked me.