Beta in my tank?

enrique4jc

enrique4jc

AC Members
Oct 17, 2006
615
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18
Russell Springs, KY
Real Name
Eric
I have a 29 gallon tropical tank that houses fancy tail guppies, neon tetras, headlight/taillight tetras, mixed fruit tetras(?), tiger barbs, algae eater, and a few ghost shrimp. I know the tiger barbs are supposed to be aggressive, but all of these fish live peacefully together. Would it be safe to add a colorful beta to my tank as a sort of centerpiece fish?
 
your betta will definately attack and nip the fins of the fancy guppies. the tiger barbs will also attack the betta. i would find a way to remove the tiger barbs from the tank, as they will become more agressive later on. you seem to have a mixture of a lot of species, which could be a bad thing unless balanced right. also, what do you mean by "algae eater", that could be anything.
 
Tiger barbs are tricky to house with any other fish, even each other. If one dies it throws off the whole shoal, and they can turn their agression outward. I have a sick tank with tiger barbs, and as one dies the rest fight until things settle down or another dies. Though I have another tank with tiger barbs, where they school together and don't fight. Neither of these tanks have any other fish--I would even hesitate to put snails in. My barbs have been known to kill snails as large as mystery snails, just by harrasing them to death.
 
chances are good that it's a common pleco. return it or you're in for some trouble.... amd not to be insulting or anything, I mean this strictly in an informative sense and am saying it in a friendly manner, but it's pronounced and spelled betta, as in, bet-ta.
 
enrique4jc said:
I have a 29 gallon tropical tank that houses fancy tail guppies, neon tetras, headlight/taillight tetras, mixed fruit tetras(?), tiger barbs, algae eater, and a few ghost shrimp. I know the tiger barbs are supposed to be aggressive, but all of these fish live peacefully together. Would it be safe to add a colorful beta to my tank as a sort of centerpiece fish?
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I agree,take the pleco back,they can get up to 20",way to big for your tank.
as for a betta,if you get rid of the tiger barbs then maby,I have kept bettas that live happily with fancy guppies and other that tried to rip thier tails off,it depends on the betta,have a back up plan if the betta doesnt like the guppies.
 
it definitely depends on the personality of your tigers. i have a tiger that i have kept for years now, with various bettas, and i haven't had any problems. However, he does chase one of my blackfin tetras around pretty regularly. But I've never seen him harassing the bettas. It may also help that he's fairly small and has never really grown much, though he has the room. They're much larger than he is.
 
Bettas can be unpredictable when it comes to other fish, especially fish with flowing fins. I wouldn't recommend a Betta with fancy guppies.

Tiger Barbs are another one that can, and frequently does become a problem. As noted by others, they can become aggressive and chase / nip other fish until they eventually kill them, either directly or through stress.

As to the sucker fish from Wal*Mart, I'm not going to jump to silly conclusions that it must be a common plec, because with no more information than that, it is absolutely impossible to determine what it is. The Wal*Mart store here sells common plecs, but they also sell SAE's and frequently Rubber Lip plecs.

Try Googling Siamese Algae Eater, and also Pleco and see if you see something that looks like what you have.
 
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