Tank mates for young male betta

[mcd26]

I got my first ever (male) betta yesterday (eek) and want him to be able to interact with other fish. I know there are several compatible options but I was wondering if perhaps I should wait until he has properly settled in and how long that would be.

Another thing is that he is still quite small, only between 6 and 7 weeks old according to this: http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/bettagrowth.html
Should I wait until he is at least as big as his potential companions before introducing them? I don't want him to be bullied or dominated (as the companions would be there for his benefit), especially if this means that when he grows bigger than them, he will have to overturn the hierarchy, creating trouble for everyone.

The tank is 24L / 6.3 US gallons / 5.5 UK gallons.

[Mo]

I wouldn't get any fish tankmates for a tank of that size. Nerite, pond, ramshorns, bladder, and Malaysian trumpet snails are great, I would also recommend ghost, cherry, and amano shrimp

[MaisyDawgThirteen]

Originally Posted by Mo

I wouldn't get any fish tankmates for a tank of that size. Nerite, pond, ramshorns, bladder, and Malaysian trumpet snails are great, I would also recommend ghost, cherry, and amano shrimp

+1 to snails. Some bettas think the poor little shrimpies are a tasty snack, though. D:

[Mo]

The same goes for snails. The little antenna like things on snails are also known to sometimes get chopped off by some bettas

[mcd26]

I guess that simplifies my life but I do feel bad for the little man.
I know absolutely nothing about keeping snails. What kind of care would they need?

[Mo]

Little to nothing if yu get easy ones such as pond, bladder, ramshorns, and Malaysian trumpets. But if you have nerites, or rabbit snails then you should add food supplements such as algae wafers for them

[MaisyDawgThirteen]

I have a nerite. He is in my avatar. (: I feed him the occasional algae wafer and slice of cucumber, and that's it! Nerite snails cannot breed in fresh-water, so you wont be over-run by baby snails!! They eat algae too. I highly reccomend them !! :D

[dramaqueen]

The drawback is that they stink to high heaven when they die.

[MrVampire181]

DQ: Dead snails is the worst smell... EVER. Gah luckily mine don't die often DX

That chart is good but can be misleading. My B1 spawn is six weeks and the largest ones are bigger than the chart shows. If you can tell he's a male, he's probably stunted. Lots of clean water and food will get him to grow over the next month to full size.