Betta and Platy tank mates.... Doesnt seem to be working for me.

[AJp34]

I first off wanted to start by saying I am very new to this hobby and have found that this forum is by far the best one I have found. I have one male betta and one platy. They have been togethor for nearly twenty four hours and they seem to be alright togethor (at times).

However, when I checked on them earlier today, I found that the platy has a nice little U-shaped chunk missing from his tail. The only suspect being the betta (since there are no other tank mates). The guy at the fish store told me that they would work well togethor.

I'm not sure what I should do to solve this problem. I dont know if getting a second platy woud solve the problem, however, my tank may not be big enough for that.

I can watch them as the betta slow harasses and stalks the platy. Any ideas would be much appreciated.

[KILO]

first off what size is your tank and i may be wrong but betta's typically need to be alone or they will try and kill everything but maybe a larger tank. but get a second opinion

[willow]

hello and welcome.
personally i would only keep the betta on his own,
he won't hate you for it,he'll enjoy the tank to himself.
as already asked what size tank are they in.

[AJp34]

The tank im working with is a 2.5 gallon. I feel that I may have been mislead by the guy at the fish store. He seemed very knowlegable for the most prat though. The more articles that I read say that two fish in a 2.5 gal is not a good idea, however, the next article I read totally contradicts the last. I dont know who or what to believe. It seems that its mostly based on opinion.

[veganchick]

That would be a GREAT mix in a larger tank! Atleast 5 gallons if you want a tankmate 4 ur betta!

[dramaqueen]

I would keep just the betta in the 2.5 gallon. In a large enough tank, sometimes bettas can tolerate tankmates but they are very territorial and some just don't do well with tankmates.

[Kim]

Originally Posted by dramaqueen

I would keep just the betta in the 2.5 gallon. In a large enough tank, sometimes bettas can tolerate tankmates but they are very territorial and some just don't do well with tankmates.

Agreed. I think it would be wisest to separate them before more harm is done.

[Rikesh]

In my first few months of fishkeeping, i had a similar problem. One of the reason of having my second tank( and a temporary hate for my first betta) was that one morning, I saw it with the rear side of a platy fry sticking from the mouth of my betta. I immediately banned him from the tank, and got another little tank for him.

[mitcore]

bettas can be good community fish, but it has always been better if they are out numbered, i currently have a male betta in a com tank with angels, gouramis, congos, widows and a few others, now i have had no issues,
but yes they are right bettas are happy on thier own,
but like i said they can live in a com tank, just out number the betta

[Rikesh]

yeah.. I currently have 2 females in my com tank. They chase each other sometimes but they are fine. No signs of fin nipping. I keep them seperated from the male. Last time I put a male to the comm tank, it spawned right in the middle of the tank