Betta Fish mixing with others in 20gal? Is it safe?

[JHK30]

Originally Posted by fishman09

JHK30, it is a femlae, not male, the fins are to short, they wont bite at them unlss the fish is known to do that to all fish,they only nip on the males cause there so long

it doesn't matter how long the fins are. fish just nip fins no matter the size.

[JHK30]

from experience

[fishman09]

not nessicerilly, they usually bite at males, not females cause they are shorter

[bxtorr19]

It depends on the breed. I had a Barb who had a suspected kill count of 6 and a confirmed kill count of 4. The tank was a 20 gallon with an emporor tetra, 2 diamond tetra, 2 neon rosy barbs, 2 black lace angel fish, and 4 black neon guppies along with Taz the killer black strip barb. None of my fish had dramatic or flowing fins but his breed of barb liked to nip the fins off from the unberbelly. You have to research the breeds before you introduce them together in a tank.

[onefish2fish]

Originally Posted by bxtorr19

It depends on the breed. I had a Barb who had a suspected kill count of 6 and a confirmed kill count of 4. The tank was a 20 gallon with an emporor tetra, 2 diamond tetra, 2 neon rosy barbs, 2 black lace angel fish, and 4 black neon guppies along with Taz the killer black strip barb. None of my fish had dramatic or flowing fins but his breed of barb liked to nip the fins off from the unberbelly. You have to research the breeds before you introduce them together in a tank.

if you keep barbs in 6+ they will be so confused and caught up with eachother that this shouldnt happen

[GuppyColorMaker]

Well, good news! I set it up, put the gravel and the filter and heater in, and I did the first test... -after- my sister put in the dechlorinator drops... this is what it read::

nitrAte : 0, and the thing said Safe
nitrIte : 0, and it also said Safe
total hardiness: it read as 75, and the words were Soft
total alkanlinity : it said it was at 40, and the words were Low
pH : it was at 6.2 and on the thing it said it was Acidic.

How can i jump start it? I've heard of people putting fish food in the water to start it, should I do that?
Is the amonia in the nitrIte? That's what I've read, but i am not sure.

[bxtorr19]

Originally Posted by onefish2fish

if you keep barbs in 6+ they will be so confused and caught up with eachother that this shouldnt happen

Thanks, for the tip. This tank was over 10 years ago and I learned to research BEFORE introducing any new fish to a tank. I also learned not to let my nephews just pick a fish because the looked cool.