Betta Companion (10g)

[Wholystang]

Ok, so my new Betta tank is close to being fully cycled, and I've been researching companions for my fish (Serious Black). My fish started out all black, and over the course of a month has started getting brilliant red near the body with iridescent blue after that out to the tail. Im assuming that is a good sign? I have been doing water changes every 2-3 days to keep ammonia down to .25ppm, now now nitrite to below .25 ppm. I wish the cycling would hurry! Its a Heated (80 degrees) 10 gallon Marineland tank with a Penguin 100 filter.

Right now I only have 1 Marimo ball which I bought to see if my LED lights would support plants. I'm going to add one plant at a time and see what happens. If my tank supports it, I plan to switch all fake plants to live plants. So, as far as fish go; I really like Corys, Ghost Shrimp, and Snails. I was thinking I could either go Cory shoal (maybe with a snail?). Or, a couple of shrimp and a snail. The end goal being a healthy tank for my Betta fish. Any ideas and thoughts would be appreciated!

[Crowntails]

Cories like cooler waters than bettas IMO. A nice school of 6-7 Harlequin Rasboras might do nice.

A single betta would be super happy though, with 10 Ghost shrimp and 2-3 Nerite Snails!

[registereduser]

One nerite would be good, especially if you can get some direct sunlight and grow a little algae for him. They poop a lot. A small school of peaceful fish like rasbora or tetra will work. You can't have too many fish in a 10 gallon or the output from the fish will be too much to handle. 8 fish of any kind might be pushing it.

Have you thought about dividing the 10 gallon and getting 2 males?

Cories and betta do just fine together IME.

[fishy314]

+1 registereduser.

Originally Posted by Crowntails

Cories like cooler waters than bettas IMO. A nice school of 6-7 Harlequin Rasboras might do nice.

A single betta would be super happy though, with 10 Ghost shrimp and 2-3 Nerite Snails!

Please do your research. Cories, although not nessesarily suitable for a 10g, are a great tankmate for bettas. 10 ghost shrimp is WAY overstocked. Don't even ask about the nerites.

[Wholystang]

I appreciate the replies. If I did Corys, they would be Pygmy Corys (if I can find them). I had thought about doing a split tank. However, my end goal is a better environment/more efficient tank for my Betta. So, I was looking to add something to accomplish that goal. There are so many varying opinions on snails, that for now ill count those out. I haven't looked into Rasboras, so I will definitely read up on them. Again, thanks for the replies! Any extra info is always nice when making a decision!

[Crowntails]

Pygmy cories are very cute! You could fit 10-12 in there and it wouldn't be overstocking.

If you are not afraid of buying fish online, these guys have some nice pygmy cories and for cheap! http://aquadesigninnovations.com/shop/shop/pygmy-cory/

Edit: Some other fish I highly recommend are:

-Celestrial Pearl Danios (school of 6-8)
-Ember Tetras (school of 8-10)

These guys are small and perfect for smaller tanks like yours.

[LebronTheBetta]

Originally Posted by fishy314

+1 registereduser.



Please do your research. Cories, although not nessesarily suitable for a 10g, are a great tankmate for bettas. 10 ghost shrimp is WAY overstocked. Don't even ask about the nerites.

Actually, he didn't say they make bad tank mates. It's just their temperature. Cories like the low to mid 70's while betta fish like the highs. As long as it's 76F it should be okay. :) Ghost shrimp hardly produce ammonia so 10 is a good number. They don't take as much space either if that's what you meant, too. Nerites will do just fine, they're smaller than mysteries.

[LebronTheBetta]

IMO danios need a 20G long at the least to be happy, they're really active fish.

[Crowntails]

Originally Posted by LebronTheBetta

IMO danios need a 20G long at the least to be happy, they're really active fish.

Celestial Pearl Danios are much more different that they regular Zebra Danios and only reach about 1.5–2 cm which is very tiny. Many people keep them in 5.5 gallon tanks or larger. They look like this

I never said cories and bettas aren't bad tankmates, it's just the temperatures they like it at are very different, so I don't think of them being very good together because of that.

[PhischAndChips]

I keep 3 Glass Catfish in with my betta, Chip. They live in a 10G and they do just fine. Chip chases them around, sure, but that's about it.