good tank mates for a betta in a 2.5 gallon?

[Armani33]

Okay so I have one male HM betta in a 2.5 gallon aquarium and I was wondering if there are any fish that would do well with a betta and I wouldn't have to ungrade his tank.

[LebronTheBetta]

Some Type of Shrimps might work. Such as Ghost Shrimp. They only get to 1 inch. They are better in Groups, though. They eat what your Betta doesn't, and are Translucent. Some Betta Fish eat them. But that HARDLY happens. There is only a 10% Chance that they would. They are really a Nice Tankmate. Just provide some Undergrowth like Java Moss and Lace Fern, to minimize their Chance of Death. Otherwise, their aren't other Choices for Tankmates. :(
Hoped this Helped!!! They even have a Very Small Bioload. :D

[djembekah]

you can't add another fish. its kind of small even for shrimp or snails. if you added them (at most i'd say one or the other), you'd really have to keep up on water changes, since invertebrates are very sensitive to water quality. i probably just wouldn't if i were you.

[Armani33]

okay thanks I am going to be getting 1 or 2 tiger nerite snails since they stay small so I won't add anything more than that. I was thinking maybe a 1 or 2 neon tetras but I guess a 2.5 gal is too small.

[youlovegnats]

IMO, I wouldn't get anything. ONE snail in a 5 gal. would be fine, but a 2.5 is just too small for any other animals.

[Mo]

There are a few Invertebrate options. No fish though as most fish dont handle a number of factors that a 2.5 gallon might encounter of regularly does, such as aggression from the betta, ammonia reaching high, toxic levels, constant stress due to netting, along with moving out of the tank, and a space issue, most freshwater fish are far too active to be placed in that small of a tank resulting in them not showing there full potential. Actually it is highly likely that the betta will become nippy, and start tailbiing as most fish will be seen as zooming around in that tank to the betta due to how small it is.
most of the options below, I have done with success which is why I recommended them. And I would highly recommend the amano shrimp out of all



-Malaysian Trumpet Snails, These would be a great choice, as they have very minimal requirements, along with a very small bio load due t how small they are. you dont have to feed them, no special care. and they wont have a population boom as they do in community tanks unless you feed flakes, or your betta doesnt eat all the pellets. they also will provide as great cleaner crews in respect to decaying plant matter. Please take into consideration that these are known to over populate the tank when given enough food, ideally you would aim for a maximum of around 5

-Pond Snails, These would be a great choice, as they have very minimal requirements, along with a very small bio load due t how small they are. you dont have to feed them, no special care. and they wont have a population boom as they do in community tanks unless you feed flakes, or your betta doesnt eat all the pellets. they also will provide as great cleaner crews in respect to decaying plant matter. Please take into consideration that these are known to over populate the tank when given enough food, ideally you would aim for a maximum of around 5

-Ramshorn Snails, These would be a great choice, as they have very minimal requirements, along with a very small bio load due t how small they are. you dont have to feed them, no special care. and they wont have a population boom as they do in community tanks unless you feed flakes, or your betta doesnt eat all the pellets. they also will provide as great cleaner crews in respect to decaying plant matter. When choosing these please be aware that when provided enough food they will over populate the aquarium, ideally you would want to aim for a maximum of 1-2. Make sure that you control numbers and keep excess nutrients and foods minimal so the snails don't have another thing to thrive on. Make sure you don't get the yellowish ones as they get very large

-Amano Shrimp, much hardier than the other shrimp and will tolerate 100% water changes alot better, along with not perfect water quality. They are very entertaining and fun to keep, Amano's will thrive with planted tank along with added supplements for food like shrimp pellets, and algae wafers. I would highly recommend these, very awesome shrimp

-Ghost Shrimp, shrimp would be a great choice. They ave a minimal bio load and little special requirements. The only things you should worry about with ghost or cherry shrimp would be the Betta eating them due to there size, bettas eating the shimp is not uncommon. They also require a varied diet and you would need to supplement it with algae wafers, meaty foods, etc. to keep it very happy. A maximum of around 2-3.

-Cherry Shrimp, cherry shrimp would be a great choice. They ave a minimal bio load and little special requirements. The only things you should worry about with ghost or cherry shrimp would be the Betta eating them due to there size, bettas eating the shimp is not uncommon. They also require a varied diet and you would need to supplement it with algae wafers, meaty foods, etc. to keep it very happy. A maximum of around 2-3.

[Bombalurina]

Originally Posted by Armani33

okay thanks I am going to be getting 1 or 2 tiger nerite snails since they stay small so I won't add anything more than that. I was thinking maybe a 1 or 2 neon tetras but I guess a 2.5 gal is too small.

Not to mention that tetras need schools. :) I would only get one snail. Actually, I'd get shrimp, but if you want a snail, stick with just the one. Two would be really pushing it in a 2.5 gallon.

[Aus]

Snails are really poopy. I got an accidental pond snail with some plants I bought, and wow did the ammonia rise. So yeah, he got the flick. My tank's 3.5 gallon, super heavily planted and I keep 5-6 RCS's in with my girl. I up the water changes to one extra small one (maybe 25%) a week to cope with the extra bio load, as they also poop a lot.. not like the darn snail though.. and they're happy as clams and even start breeding.

Until my fish eats 'em. She snacked on all six of her last tank mates, over a couple months.

This time I got a mix of very small (they can hide better) and very large (mature adults, she can't get a hold on them so easily) to see how they fare. They've all avoided her this past few weeks and a couple survived outright attacks. Cleo doesn't seem to hunt them as ferociously as the last lot, but I wouldn't be shocked if she ate them. That's okay, though, her life is more interesting with them in there, and I have a lot less white algae.

[Cargo]

Originally Posted by Armani33

okay thanks I am going to be getting 1 or 2 tiger nerite snails since they stay small so I won't add anything more than that. I was thinking maybe a 1 or 2 neon tetras but I guess a 2.5 gal is too small.

You can't have one or two neon tetras. They are schooling fish.

[Armani33]

I ended up getting one gold apple snail but that didn't work out because Armani is more aggressive than I thought and he bit the poor thing's tentacles off and the stress got Armani sick ( all better now ) so I was gonna just keep the snail by himself so I got a little half gal fish bowl and a live plant ( peace lily ) and some aquarium gravel but the day I had purchased the bowl and got him set up I went to check on him and he wasn't moving like he was earlier but he was in his shell but I picked him up to make sure he was okay and I accidentally dropped him,his shell broke and he died so I got another betta fish to keep in the bowl his name is georgio and he is a double tail male very pretty fishie.