A fish to keep my betta company?

[luvsheidi]

recently i have realized how bored Darth Vader (my fish) has gotten. my dad was suggesting giving him a little friend to keep him company. im not so sure though because i dont know because my tank is only five gallons and i dont know if thats too small for two fish to live together. is it a good idea? i mean i know he is bred to fight but i think thats only with other males of his species right? and even if i got another fish it would be a small one not a big one. i dont know im just confused i need some help! thanks!

[Tabbie82]

I don't know what size tank you have, but you don't want to overload the tank. I personally don't have other fish with my bettas at this time. You can't keep any other bettas with him. He will fight both male and females. I know that you can keep neon tetras with bettas. They are schooling fish, though, so you would need around 6 of them, and again, if your tank isn't big enough, your bio-load will be too much. You might want to consider a snail or some shrimp. I think he would be entertained by those. Hopefully someone with more experience keeping different fish with bettas will weigh in! I know it can be confusing, but you'll figure it out!

*EDIT* I just reread the post and saw that I overlooked the part where you have a five gallon... *facepalm* Sorry! So with a five gallon, you wouldn't have enough space for schooling fish.

[BarefootPixie]

If your tank is only five gallons then it would really be a stretch to put any other fish in it. Like Tabbie said, you could get some snails or shrimp. Darth Vader might attack them though, depending on how aggressive he is. My Oberon attacked and killed one of my snails before I moved him to a different tank, but Mokiki has no problem with them. If you do get shrimp or snails you'll want to have a spare tank on hand in case things get hairy.

[Alcemistnv]

If you have a 5 gallon, your options are limited.
You can:

-divide and get another betta
-get shrimp or snails

[BulletToothBoris]

Red cherry shrimp if it's planted or a snail. My betta loves his buddy Gary the blue mystery snail.

[Crowntails]

I'd get a snail.

[lady124]

i think a cory cat would do

[LittleBettaFish]

Corydoras need to live in schools and even for pygmy corydoras I think a 5 gallon tank is much too small.

[Ronbeast]

I recommend a snail, they're fun to watch and they definitely keep betta's entertained. My betta is extremely aggressive ,he will flare at my finger any time I put it near the tank and he will even flare at me if I look at him. He flares as big as he can go and swims around the tank in a fury.

He's aggressive, but my snail is tough enough to take anything he throws at her. They've been living together now for 5 months and haven't had any problems.

[Sanji]

I'd definitely go with either a snail or an adf. I have a 2.5 gallon with my male betta and a male adf. They get along very well and its plenty of space for the two of them. I was a bit nervous about getting the frog at first because my betta Sanji was a bit aggressive, but because the frog looks nothing like him, they get along. As far as feeding, I take my little froggie out and feed him separately