bettas and gouramis

[austinpetemo]

are they compatible with one another? as far as im concerned bettas are gouramis but that doesnt necessarily mean it will work. if i decide to get gouramis instead of a betta (i plan on pearl gouramis) should they be kept in pairs trios or single.

[ChrisK]

IME Betta's and gouramis don't get along. I would keep the gourami single if your going to have it in a community tank, and 3:1 female to male ratio if your gonna have a species tank. :)

[Lupin]

Bettas are not gouramis but they certainly are related having been looped into one category called Anabantidae. It comes down to the species and personality for the combination to work. If you wish to mix bettas and gouramis, try the wild betta species (minus the Betta splendens) with pearl gouramis, moonlight gouramis, licorice gouramis or samurai gouramis. Samurai gouramis and licorice gouramis are trickier to keep due to their requirements particularly low KH, live food supply (unless you are lucky to encourage yours to eat commercial foods heartily), etc.

If you insist on using Betta splendens, please be sure your fish is not too dominant or aggressive nor the tankmates too flashy that the betta will mark them as its rivals and proceed to attacking them mercilessly. You'll have better chance using female ones instead of males.

[austinpetemo]

i guess that means no betta then but i find the pearl gourami alot more attractive and eye pleaseing (i can feel the negativity for dising the betta) but will they eat smaller tetras or are they safe??? i plan on cardinals and otoclinus with them and i wanted to make sure that the fish just wouldnt become $3 snacks

[Lupin]

Pearl gouramis should be absolutely fine with your fish of choice. They are by far the most elegant gouramis I've seen and kept, and also docile pretty much so you'll be okay with your planned mix.

[owl]

i guess that means no betta then but i find the pearl gourami alot more attractive and eye pleaseing (i can feel the negativity for dising the betta) but will they eat smaller tetras or are they safe??? i plan on cardinals and otoclinus with them and i wanted to make sure that the fish just wouldnt become $3 snacks
yup bettas and gouramis never ever can mix , and i don think gouramis will bother the tetras ... i had 2 pearls and some tetras in my very first tank and they were came along well ...

[austinpetemo]

cool. so i guess i have that tank locked in on fish stock. now i jsut need to decide what plants im going to keep and wiether or not im going to keep any inverts and what kind ill keep if i do.

[Lupin]

If you do hope to keep the snails, just make sure the pH does not fall below 7.4. pH is not an issue with fish but it is for snails as acidic water can erode their shells quickly. Assassin snails are prone to shell erosions.

For plants, if you want, stick to low lighting ones such as Java moss, Java ferns, anubias and Cryptocoryne sp.

[austinpetemo]

ive already got some java moss as well as java fern (i currently have some narrow leaf and some windolov) as well as several crappy amazon swords that all have a little bit of hair algae growing on them. im thinking of possibly some anachris because i read it emits a toxin that supposedly kills or prevents blue green algae. i want a jungle in my tank with wall to wall plants so there will be floaters and tall stuff as well as bottom plants. im not the best aqua gardener ever though and this is my first attempt at keeping plants in sand (which seems hard to clean) and i was wondering just how to clean the plants without disturbing the roots in the sand. i have like 5 MTS in the tank and i dont actually have any assassins but its just a thought right now. my P.H is like way freakin high at 8.7+ (im assuming that its 9) and i have a KH of like 14 so i have no problem with snails with weak shells

[jpappy789]

yup bettas and gouramis never ever can mix , and i don think gouramis will bother the tetras ... i had 2 pearls and some tetras in my very first tank and they were came along well ...
I wouldn't say they can never be mixed. As Lupin said, it depends a lot on the individual personalities that you are dealing with. But most of the time it doesn't work out, or at least those are the stories you hear the most about.