Master Betta finally has some friends :-)

[New2Betas]

It took 10 weeks to cycle my tanks and now Master Betta is living happily in a well planted 10 gallon heated and filtered tank with 4 glow tetras. He flared at them when they were in the plastic bag floating for an hour, but after I let them out he followed them for a min and then has not bugged them since. He minds his own business and some times even swims with the 4 of them. Maybe he does not know he is a betta. lol. After a week or so I'm going to ad some ghost shrimp. With only a betta and 4 tetras the tank looks so empty! Oh, and since I put him in the 10 with the tetras his color is great and he is much more active.

[fishmadcraig]

Congrats on your new tank mates, but i wouldn't consider adding any shrimp to the tank just yet, or at all really. A betta and 4 neons is overstocked as it is, let alone with 2 shrimps aswell!

[1fish2fish]

A 10 gal planted with a betta and 4 neons is not overstocked. Not to mention ghost shrimp are almost negligible when it comes to stocking because they have a very low bioload. You could easily add 6 or more shrimp.. especially since you have plants.

[fishmadcraig]

Oh, was it a different kind of shrimp then? I recall in another post on the forum a member saying they had a betta and was considering adding two shrimps to the tank but a member posted and said that the bioload of the shrimps was very high, i think this was a 5 gallon though, so i assumed that in a 10 "some" shrimp would have the same affect.

[1fish2fish]

I don't know who posted that.. ghost shrimp and cherry shrimp are very small and would do fine with a betta in even a 3 gallon.. the only problem is that bettas will eat the shrimp.. so a bigger, planted tank is more desireable. Shrimp have very low bioloads and they are awesome at breaking down plant matter and algae.

@ OP.. I do have one piece of advice.. tetras (from what I've read) do better in groups of at least 5.. so maybe you could add one more tetra and your shrimp. Also.. be very vigilant with the fish.. bettas will kill tetras and tetras are notorious for biting betta's fins.

[New2Betas]

My LFS only had 4 of the tetras left thats why I dont have 5 or 6. I dont think my betta could eat a shrimp if he wanted. He is soooo small. His body is only an inch long. But I still want to wait a week or so before adding the shrimp. I was going to add corys but I have been told that they can some times nips at the bettas long fins. I'm home all this week so I'm able to keep a close eye on them. Right now I'm really loving my 20 gallon with dwarf Red Gourami, Pristella Tetras, and corys. That tank is fun to watch since they are all so active.