I see this question all over the place? I myself wonder what will go with a betta and I only have a 5 gallon tank. Seems to be a range of opinions as to what can go with bettas for sure depending on there attitude, space and if they are male/female bettas.
I have ghost shrimp in my 5 gallon. From what I've read, you can't put much other than snails and shrimp with a betta in a small tank. I have otocinclus in my 29g with 10 bettas (9 females and a baby) and plan on adding cories and kuhli loaches at some point.
It really depends on the fish, some bettas will tolerate any tank mates and some will tolerate none.
Wanted to add::: You want to avoid brightly colored fish if you dont know how your betta will react to fish in general. I've tried just about everything common once or twice and nothing bright has worked. Not even female guppies! They seem to think that its another betta and they need to assert dominance. Remember, this is with females, Males are wayyyy more territorial.
So far the only thing I have tried that has worked is Cories, snails, and ghost shrimps. (but everything else I've tried has been brightly colored)
My betta lives peacefully with 4 platys, 2 oto cats, and a snail in a 29 gal. I have one "problem fish" in there now which is a bleeding heart tetra that nips at my betta's tail, but I believe this behavior is caused by his lack of peers (i.e. Tetras are schooling fish, without their school they become timid, nervous, or stressed and may feel the need to assert dominance in the form of fin nipping). Planning on getting him some more friends to regain order in the tank.
According to the Aqua Pilot App, bettas are compatible with:
African Dwarf Frogs
Bala Sharks
Balloon Belly Mollies
Black Line Rasboras
Black Phantom Tetras
Black Tetras
Bleeding Heart Tetras
Bloodfin Tetras
Blue Ram *
Boesemani Rainbows
Borneo Suckers
Bushy Nose Plecos
Cardinal Tetras
Clown Loaches *
Cory Catfish
Dwarf Loaches
Eclipse Catfish
Emperor Tetras
Ghost Catfish
Ghost Shrimp
Giant Danios
Glowlight Tetras
Guppies
Hammers Cobalt Blue Lobster *
Harlequin Rasboras
Hatchetfish
High Fin Platys
Lyretail Mollies
Mollies
Mystery Snails
Neon Tetras
Network Catfish *
Ocellifer Catfish *
Pearl Danios
Penguin Tetras
Platys
Sailfin Mollies
Scissortail Rasboras
Serpae Tetras
Silver Dollars *
Spotted Danios
Striped Raphael Catfish
Swordtails
Zebra Danios
Zebra Loaches
* Sometimes Compatible - Suggested for advanced aquarists only.
Always make sure your tank is big enough for the species you plan on stocking. And, like carbonxxkidd and aemaki09 said, it depends on your betta and the other fish. Sometimes compatible species might not get along due to individual personalities. As for my male, he doesn't seem to mind the platys (3 females and 1 male) since they keep to themselves, but he enjoys a short chase once in a while. When I had two bleeding hearts, they kept each other occupied and ignored the other fish in the tank. But again, since i'm down to one, he's began nipping the betta. This has only been happening when I fast the tank, though.
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