Hey guys! I'm going to get a new betta in about two months, and I was wondering what other fish I should get. I'm thinking about some balloon bellied mollies, some zebra danios, and some ghost shrimp. They would probably be in a five gallon tank with filtration. Are those good choices, and what else would work?
Yeah read it's only 5 gallons, can't keep more fish in a 5 gallon, 1 betta with a snail or 1 betta with two shrimp. Anything more than that you will likely kill your betta and his tank mates by ammonia poisoning or aggression and stress issues.
Last edited by LadyVictorian; 01-20-2013 at 01:17 PM.
10 gallon minimum for ANY other fish in a tank, even if it's just one molly you need a 10 gallon tank.
Also mollies are schooling so having one is really just dooming it to a bad life from the start. They get stressed without others of their kind which opens them to illness or simply just die of stress.
Edit: Also mollies are brackish not freashwater as I recall.
Ha, I wish, nope you need 1 gallon per inch of fish and even then that's faulty as some fish produce more waste and things like mystery snails need 2.5 gallons alone as do Betta in all reality for long health. Most smaller schooling fish need twice that because you can't just have one or two, you need at least 5-7 to make schooling fish happy. So that's average of 10 gallons though 20 gallons for community tanks is better and 30 gallons is what i consider (safe community tank size).
I would say get one nerit snail or pond snail for a 5 gallon (no mystery snail they get too big for 5 gallons). Either that or cycle your tank and then get a few shrimp but shrimp are so sensitive I do not recommend them to begginers.
Edit: Here is fish and tank requirements.
Tetra, dwarf pygmy's, guppies:
Tropical freashwater 10 gallon min
Mollies:
Brackish water
10 gallon min
Danio's:
20 gallons (highly active fish, need tons of space)
Shrimp, snails:
5 gallons
Last edited by LadyVictorian; 01-20-2013 at 01:27 PM.
Yes, a 5G is too small. As you may know, a lot of info in the Internet is pretty much wrong. It's all based on the real deal, their bioload. As registered said, a small nerite or 2-3 shrimp is it. Remember to cycle it. IMO, mollies need 20G at the least, they're also best in brackish since in freshwater their immune system is weaker.
Wow. Well, thanks for the advice. When the time comes, I'll see if I can squeeze in a 10 gall, but for now I think I'll have to get the 5. Both of my bettas are in their own 2.5 gallon tank, and I didn't think that that was the minimum. The workers at the pet stores always tell you that you can get away with much less than needed. I read on the Internet (and right away I knew that this was not true) that each fish only needs about a half gallon!
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
Similar Threads
