Multi Betta tank question

[Wippit Guud]

Picking up a 10 gallon today, what I want to do is divide it to have 2 side-by-side betta tanks, but allow a school of cories to go between the two sections. But need it so the betta can't get at each other.

Is this possible, and does anyone have an idea on how to pull it off?

[ArkyLady]

Here is an article describing a cool way to cheaply divide a tank:
http://www.bettastarz.com/dividedtank.htm

As far as dividing it so the cories can roam the whole tank, I'm not real sure that could be done. Seems to me any openings that would allow the cories to roam around would leave an opportunity open for the bettas to escape and cause problems.

[Wippit Guud]

Was thinking of a small section of pipe hidden by rocks that the betta wouldn't want to go into, but I'll admit I don't know much about a betta's swimming habits to know how effective it would be.

[OrionGirl]

Won't be a gaurantee. My current beta delights in swimming though the holes in the wood in the tank--some of which are tight fits, and right at the bottom of the tank. I'd bet that you would eventually end up with a dead betta, and a very beat up one.

[Wippit Guud]

Well, I suppose we can go with plan B, which is 1 betta and 3 cories per half... doesn't seem as cool an idea, though.

[kveeti]

This is my divided 5 gallon betta tank. I put the skimmer attachment on the AC because this was the only tank where there was always a film on the surface. The "solid bar" points the AC filter output down so there is no surface movement.

edit… re OriginGirl’s caution… I should mention also that the top of the dividers should be snug to the canopy. The lift feeding lid on my canopy is rounded. It was very small but there was a space at the top. Once, early on, Cranston somehow jumped over the divider and was in Speckles’s side. I caught him there about 20 minutes after the last time I had looked in the tank… don’t know how long he was in but there was no fighting going on and no damage, so I don’t think long (they were just flaring at each other). So I closed up that space.

http://members.shaw.ca/kveetka/q5_top.jpg