More Fish

[paws]

I was wondering if I put some more fish with Casper he would be less bored and have more fun in his 10 gallon tank. Is this true? Will it make him excited? Or just irritated? And what fish do you recomand putting with him which one out of these would be best:platies, rasbora, white cloud minnow, pelcos, corydoras, pelcostomus, otos, cory cats?

[stephenmontero]

i would say get 3 to 5 corry cats

[paws]

but i am not that sure if there is enough algea for them to eat....

[okiemavis]

Cories don't really eat algae. They may munch on it from time to time, but they certainly don't clean up algae in your tank the way a true algae eater would. It's not a staple food in their diet. Besides, it's very rare that algae growth alone can ever support a fish in a tank. Supplements of algae wafers and fresh vegetables are almost always needed.

They should be fed sinking pellets, spirulina and algae pellets are good, but shrimp pellets are much more suited to the diet of cories (although a varied diet should always be fed).

What sort of substrate do you have? Standard aquarium gravel is too sharp for cories and will hurt their barbs. Sand, or smooth rocks is much better. Sand is my favorite because they will sort through it for food by taking it up, eating the food, and spitting the sand out of their gills- it's really funny to watch!

Cories are one of my favorite fish. A shoal of 6+ pygmy cories would be really great in a tank with a betta. I recommend pygmies because they are smaller, so you can fit a larger group, which will make them happier and more active.

[paws]

I have gravel. So i can not have cories i guess. What about a different fish that isn't a bottom dweller?

[okiemavis]

People generally favor bottom dwellers because they balance out the tank the most since they occupy the opposite part of the tank than bettas and they are the most likely to get along with a betta. However, there's no reason not to add another kind of fish. Here is the criteria you should consider:
-size and space requirements; will they fit with a betta in your size tank?
-activeness; very active fish will bother the calm betta
-nippiness; fish that nip will shred your bettas fins very quickly
-ornamental finnage; any fish with long flowing fins will be picked on by your betta, for instance, threadfin rainbowfish would be a poor selection
-water column occupation; bettas are territorial, so they prefer fish that will stay out of their way. Other fish that prefer the top region of the tank is a poor selection because your betta will want them out. Gourami, for instance, would not be a good tank mate.

[paws]

ok

[willow]

[quote="paws"]I have gravel. So i can not have cories i guess.quote]
as long as the gravel is not sharp then corys are fine.
they love sifting in sand and it's fun to watch them do so too.

[paws]

well i got 5 platies. Casper is just telling them who is boss right now. I will leave them alone till tommorow and see how they have settled in. I also go a silk plant and Casper has been swimming through it. No offense but bettas seem and look a lot more intelligent then platies. It is sorta funny to watch. But yeah.

[Neo]

great choice, i see i was the only one who voted on platy's though, lol, but my betta and platy get along, they follow each other around through the plants and swim together, i think they like each other alot.