Betta compatibility

N

novav

AC Members
Mar 17, 2008
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hey everybody,
i have recently aquired a male betta living in a one gallon bowl by itself. i have read that bettas can live with other fish/non fish. i am looking to expand (maybe dwarf frongs or ghost shrimp) and was wondering if anyone had advice or a good link regarding a tank setup. (tank size, heated/nonheated, other species, amount of other species, etc). i have read several articles on this website about bettas, but am looking for specific setup suggestions. i am new at this, excuse me if i have overlooked an existing article. thanks
 
With betta's, you just have to try them with other fish to know if they will work. Sometimes they will, sometimes they won't. Some guidelines are not to keep them with nippy fish such as tiger barbs.

For a tank setup, I would go for a 10 at the minimum if you want to add other things. In a 10, you could have your betta, and possibly three of the dwarf frogs that you like. You could also have some ghost shrimp (or cherry shrimp for example). I would heat this aquarium around 76 - 78, and probably have a simple sponge filter. If you wanted to go bigger (say, 15 gallons and up) you could have a school of fish with your betta, such as harlequin rasboras. I would not have the dwarf frogs in with a school of fish because it can be hard for them to get food if there is too much competition.
 
I'd be wary of shrimp with the betta, unless the shrimps have plenty of hiding places. Betta's will often decide a shrimp is a tasty snack.
 
just make sure you don't put any fin nippers in with them or anything with flashy fins either is asking for trouble, on a whim I put a feeder goldfish in with my betta and the betta flared out and started to chase the feeder around the tank (a 2.5 hexagon) I thought the poor goldfish's eyes were going to pop out of its head :rofl:
 
See my sig. I keep my betta with RCS, Ghost Shrimp, Otos, Guppies and 2 Panda Corys (yes a bit overstocked...)

Now I would be remise if I did not say that before my plants grew out I did loose a few RCS... :eek:

But now that the tank is established all is well my 10G.
 
Before you really try adding anything, I would really advise getting a 5g+ tank for him. He would be alot happier in said tank. It also needs a heater and a filter. If you think he looks colorful now, just put him in that setup, My bettas are showing colors that they didn't even show while stuck in those horrible cups. Heated and filtered water has something to do with that.

BTW CT, I don't think that tank is OS at all, shrimp hardly add to the bio-load.
 
And he'll display a lot more interesting behavior. Bettas are very inquisitive and often spend hours exploring. :dive2:
 
Cory Keeper,
i have read that bettas are to be kept in shallow water (6" or so). do you think that is an accurate statement? should i keep his new tank on the shallow side?
 
novav said:
i have read that bettas are to be kept in shallow water (6" or so).
Click to expand...
Odd...

I do know that in their natural habitat they often are exposed to stagnant water that often leaves them in shallow water (puddles effectively), but they have evolved to survive these conditions. I would not consider duplicating them for ideal habitat.

They'll do very well in 6" of water, but they will do just as well in 6 feet (without the predators!) IMO
 
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