Male betta in my community tank?

[paosquared]

Hi all, first post after lurking a while.

Was planning on getting a male betta as a solo centerpiece fish for the tank. Tank is a 37g tall planted with the following fish:

5 Longfin Leopard Danio
4 Longfin Cherry Barb
6 Neon Tetra
4 Dwarf Neon Rainbow
4 Panda Cory
1 Mystery Snail
3 Amano shrimp
unknown number of Red Cherry Shrimp (somewhere between 15 and 20)

Would a male betta be okay in this tank as a centerpiece fish? My concerns are the following:

longfin danios and cherry barbs might be seen as "rivals" by the betta
danios and tetras might get nippy towards the betta
betta might eat the shrimp
betta might attack the snail's antennae/feelers
skittish, active nature of danios and rainbows might stress out the betta

thoughts?

[MaisyDawgThirteen]

Maybe you should have 2 large schools of middle-swimmers instead of 4 small ones. It'll look better and the fish would be happier.

[Bombalurina]

First of all, I would increase the number of barbs, danios and tetras. All of those fish can be nippy and larger schools (I'd say 8 of each) will decrease the chances of nippiness. :)

As to whether a betta will get along with your fish, it really depends on the betta. Some make amazing community fish; some are angry little murderers. What is your water like (ph, hardness)? A dwarf gourami may be a better option.
The activity levels of the danio may indeed stress the betta out at first, but heavy planting and some refuges like the Zoomed floating betta log would help. :)

[lilyth88]

Originally Posted by Bombalurina

some are angry little murderers.

This made me lol.

[thekoimaiden]

As Bomba suggested, you need to up the numbers in your schools. These fish are schooling fish and not having enough "buddies" around causes them great stress even thought you can't see it. I think once you increase the numbers of your schools, you'll find that the tank is a bit crowded and adding a betta would be too much.