New to Bettas - What fish mingle best with Bettas?
Hey guys, i'm new to this forum but i like bettas so decided to sign up I recently purchased a 6.1 'Clear seal' fish tank and have cycled it for about 2 weeks. i have had a smaller fish tank in the past with different fish, but i think this time i am deffinately going to have a Betta. i purchased a heater (With gaurd ofc.) and an air pump (does 98Lt an hour but need to buy some tubing and an airstone), so they should arrive soon hopefully off Ebay. I also have a filter which was used in the cucling process. I was wondering though, i am going to buying a Betta soon, hopefully this or next week, but would i be able to have any small fish that would go well with the Betta? I will try and post some pictures of my tank later so you can see what i have so far.
Honestly, a lot of it boils down to personality-- bettas each have their own! For instance, I know my guy would definitely not appreciate tankmates, with the special exception of his pet snail :). Basically the major determining factors are:
-Is there enough space for a tankmate?
-Do they share the same water preferences?
-Will the creature nip at the betta's long fins?
-Bettas are slow swimmers... will the fish hog all the betta's food?
-Will the betta mistake the fish for another male betta and try to fight it?
-Is the creature small enough for the betta to eat?
-Will the betta pick at it?
Thanks for your help so far. Mine is a 6.1 Gallon tank (Glass). I currently have a small water snail, so would i be able to have him in the tank with the Betta, or would i have to remove him? Ill try and get pictures of the tank soon
i've uploaded two pictures of my fish tank as an attachment (i currently have a black moor in there, but will probably move him to a different tank when i get my Betta). I also decided to post the links of the heater and air pump i purchased - Will these do?
You will have to move the black moor. As far as what you can put with the betta like it was said above it depends on the betta. I have had male and female bettas with Neons, Swordtails, Fancy Guppys, Playts, Corys, and Otos just to name the ones I can remember and have never had a problem with any of them. But a friend of mine had his betta with neons, playts, and glass fish and the betta attacked the neons. Another option for you is to get a divider and divide the tank in two and get two bettas.
Well if your betta seems to be a gentlemen with other fish, I would suggest white clouds, they have worked in every community tank I had with a betta. They are great for leaving fins alone and just chasing each other. Also corydoras are great too and they feed at different levels of the tank for the most part so no competition. Plus coris are pretty fun to watch and they help clean up food your betta missed :) Otos are great for cleaning some algae species and I have never heard of them bothering a betta.
I had a siamese algae eater in with my betta, but it grew really fast and yet the betta was still a dominant fish I was afraid the siamese algae eater would get aggressive towards him as he was doing so towards my cori, so I removed him to my bigger community tank. I think otos would be best for your tank size just because of the algae eaters fast growth rate.
I also have discovered that blue ram cichlids make good tank mates, but they seem to be pushovers so if your betta is aggressive they may not mesh well in your tank size.
I have Scissor Tail Rasbora's (6) with one of my bettas. They are still all getting use to each other and boundaries as its only been 3 days since I introduced them but they tend to stay in the group of 6 or 3 at once and my betta chases them for fun. No major fighting going on. I think there is a lil nipping but harmless as its early.
Thanks for the advice :) my heater arrived yesterday, which ive placed In the tank. My air pump also arrived so Im heading to my lfs today to go
and get some tubing, an air stone and a non return valve. While I'm there I'll have a look what fish they have in stock, but I'll probably get my betta next week.
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
Similar Threads
I recently purchased a 6.1 'Clear seal' fish tank and have cycled it for about 2 weeks. i have had a smaller fish tank in the past with different fish, but i think this time i am deffinately going to have a Betta. i purchased a heater (With gaurd ofc.) and an air pump (does 98Lt an hour but need to buy some tubing and an airstone), so they should arrive soon hopefully off Ebay. I also have a filter which was used in the cucling process. I was wondering though, i am going to buying a Betta soon, hopefully this or next week, but would i be able to have any small fish that would go well with the Betta? I will try and post some pictures of my tank later so you can see what i have so far.
I've decided to go and get the betta today, so i'm leaving my heater on to warm up the water. How long does it take to warm up?
