Bettas and Fruit Tetras

LaRues Lady

LaRues Lady

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Aug 8, 2007
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Hello all! My 10 gallon tank is finally cycled and I added three Fruit Tetras Sunday evening. I have a friend who had mentioned wanting to "flush" her male Betta, and I was wondering if the Betta would be okay in my tank with the others. One of the Tetras was a bit defensive the first couple of days, but is playing well with the others now.

I was planning on adding a few more Fruit Tetras in about a week (allowing two weeks between adding the fish) anyway. So far, water readings have been good - the ammonia was up a little yesterday, but I've been changing about 30% of the water everyother day and it's staying right around .25 (.2-.3) on the days I don't change the water.

So, do you think adding the male Betta would be okay in the tank? He's never been in with any other fish before - always been in a 1 gal. by himself. Thanks for the help!
 
the betta should be fine with the tetras.

if you did a fishless cycle you should not see any ammonia ever. i dont think your cycle finished.
 
Don't add any more fish yet. .2-3 Ppms of ammonia = deadly. Once the ammonia is gone, same with nitrites, absolute clear 0, and the nitrates are around 5-15, add 3-4 more fruits and the betta (different times, of course, probably the betta then the tets).
 
Sounds good...so should I be doing more than 30% pwc each day? I did one yesterday and the ammonia was barely registering in my test today. I did another 30% just now and there was very little of anything that came up in the vaccum (just waste, from what I could tell). So keep up the 30% every day? My nitrites are 0 and nitrates are usually right around 10 (sometimes lower).

Anyother suggestions? Thanks!
 
I have 8 neons in with a betta and they do fine together, i think the only way it would be a problem is if you were gonna put a fish in that looked kinda like a betta
 
Flushing a live betta...:mad2:

Good you saved the betta.
I think the betta will be ok your fruit tetras. At any rate...the betta will be better off with you then being flushed.
 
I don't know if she was really going to flush it or not, but she really did want to get rid of it...she doesn't have time with school and all to take care of it the way she needs to, and I was wanting to get one anyway, so I offered to take it from her once I was ready to put more fish in (which will be as soon as my ammonia goes away). She doesn't mind keeping it until then.

And no worries...I'm only gonna put some more tetras (probably just 3) and a Betta now, so there won't be anything for him to feel threatened by.

Also, will the Betta eat the flakes I'm feeding the Tetras, or should I feed him the Betta pelets? I don't mind getting them and feeding them to him, but I want to make sure it's safe for the other fish to be putting the pelets in (I don't want them to become distracted by them and try to eat a pelet and get sick on one). Anyway, thanks everyone for your help and suggestions!
 
i don't think the tetras would become sick from betta pellets....there have been lots of threads on here lately though about bettas being constipated, bloated, or having issues from feeding. I would recommend at least once a week you fast the tank (no food) and then the following day feed a pea popped out of the skin and squished to your betta. This roughage will help aid in his digestion. Good luck!
 
i would be cautious about buying more Fruit Tetras. . . . fruit tetra or mixed fruit tetra is a common name usually given to any kind of larger white tetra that has been dyed or color-injected. do some research on the fish you have and see if they are indeed dyed fish, and if you want to support that.
 
I'm against color injected or dyed fish myself, but I also observed how fast the color faded at my local Walmart. At one visit they had a nice assortment of colors, but within 2 weeks they'd faded to barely different shades of pale. Next week, they had bright fish again. Hmmmm....
 
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