It depends on the fish. Is he, she aggressive, or sweet? I would try guppies and/or tetras and see how they treat eachover. If the betta seems aggressive, Take the guppies and tetras out and put them in an old betta container or somthing until you can put the m in a different tank.
You NEED a filter. For a 20 gallon tank, doing water changes on that without a filter would be time-consuming, painful and annoying.
Tetras, especially neons NEED a filter and a cycled tank. Before you do anything you NEED to cycle your tank. Adding the girls all together will most likely be too much of a bioload on your tank.
Put the cup next to eachother, and see which one's flare the most. The ones that flare or act aggressive the most are the most aggressive. Add the least aggressive fish first.
You need to plan this out carefully, don't rush into this.
I have the girls, I had to take on out because she almost killed the other 3.
I'm asking my parents for a filter for Christmas, then I can put a few tetras in it with them. They have already established their order, Annie is the boss.
I actually got them today and I put them in one at a time, I had to reintroduce the one girl cause she kept trying to kill them, finally i took her out and put her in a temporary pickle jar.
So even though Kathstew told you yesterday you needed to get a filter and cycle the tank BEFORE getting the fish you got them anyway? You could have spent the money that you spent buying the fish on getting a filter and starting your cycle.
How do you expect to do the neccessary water changes on a 20 gallon tank that doesn't have a filter? Do you even know how much water to change?
I think you should save yourself the heartache and take the girls back. I'm sorry, but in the long run it will be for the best. :/
You can't just get a filter and stick tetras in. You need to cycle it. The bioload caused by the fish will likely be too much for a filter.
How "temporary" is temporary? Because it seems like you think a pickle jar is a fine home for a fish... I hope you cleaned it out well, AND I hope the one your boy is in is pretty large (by large I mean at least 1 gallon). :/
Edit: I agree with 1fish2fish. You should have bought the filter, and waited for the tank to cycle, cycling takes a few weeks anyway. More than enough time to earn some money.
I consider myself a very impatient person, but to start up a 20 gallon tank without a filtration system?! And your excuse for not following the advice given was that you had no internet for a day... Why ask for the advice if you obviously aren't willing to wait long enough to be able to read it?
I'd say at this point go ahead and do a cycle with fish, which is stressful on less robust fish but doable, but again, you have no filter. You cannot leave a big tank like that unfiltered for the next 5 months waiting for Christmas.
Hi PhilipPhish, You have a couple hundred posts and obviously own a couple betta's. In smaller tanks betta's are fairly easy to care for in regards to hand feeding, water changes, etc. For larger tanks - 5 gals and above, you have to "cycle" the tank. To learn about this process, you can go to the Betta Fish Care area and read the sticky's on various ways to cycle a tank. This process can take a few weeks, but it's required for the life of your fish. Without a cycled tank, they'll die. Larger tanks are also expensive as you really need to have a test kit to monitor your water parameters - especially during the cycling process. In genereal, when you upgrade to larger tanks, you're upgrading your experience level and it all takes time to learn and understand. Right now, the best thing to do for the fish is to return them. Start over. Buy a filter and some replacement filter pads. Buy a test kit. Cycle the tank. Learn more about sororities as they are really for a more advanced aquarist. I don't consider myself advanced enough for a sorority and I have multiple tanks and various fish! I tried one too and I quickly gave up for the peace of single-life bettas. You'll also need to learn the pH needs, water temp and feeding requirements of other tropical fish if you intend to add other species to your tank. It's quite a bit of work. But have patience and dive in! The last step is to add fish to the tank. That is, once you've done all the research and are comfortable enough with your experience level to move forward. Good luck!
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