non-aggressive betta and a community tank?

[retrogradenova]

I've had a community tank with a betta and several zebra danios, a couple glo-light tetras, and a couple black neon tetras for several months now. I recently moved them from a 10gal to a 20 gal. We are thinking of restocking and my boyfriend wants to find a way to add a bit more color.

The betta i have is not very aggressive, since i got him in the beginning of August i have yet to see him flare once (i'm starting to think i want to name him Ghandi). a fish guy/manager at a pet store told me he would never put danios or tetras in with a betta but insisted that guppies would be a could choice. i told him he was crazy and told him how in my inexopirenced youth i put my old betta, Aries, in with 5 guppies in a 10 gal and he proceeded to eat thier tails.

so my questions are thus: with my new betta's temperment being the polar opposite of Aries would it be unwise to try putting a few guppies into my community tank?

Is it possible to do a community tank with a female betta? Also would it be impossible to put a female betta into the community with the male there? i can't pretend i know anything about female bettas. i have heard of a few people putting a few females in with a male but those were 55 gal tanks.

[Nauriel]

I'll try to answer all your questions as best as I can.

If you're looking for more fish, you can try mollies, platties, and wags. They come in different colors, from bright red http://www.tropicalfishforum.net/pho...latyFemale.jpg, to yellow and black http://www.tropicalfishintl.com/imag...xedoPlaty2.jpg, to blue http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi.../Platy_blu.jpg .

I can't say for sure, but I would still be wary about putting guppies in with bettas, especially if they (the guppies) have long tails. If you want to try to add guppies, try rearranging the tank right before you add your guppies. By moving everything around you can somewhat disorient you betta fish. This will make him less territorial and less prone to attack other fish.

It is possible to have a community tank with female bettas, but unless the tank is huge (I'm surprised females and males got along in a 55), then you can't keep males in there as well. Females can be kept together, but be sure to either have one or three or more. When female bettas live in pairs the dominate one tends to beat up on the one that is submissive.

That's all I can think of right now. If you have anymore questions, just post them.