Betta, danios, ottos, shimp - new tank

M

mrkeeg

AC Members
Aug 29, 2003
47
0
0
46
Alberta
Visit site
ANOTHER fish compatablility question! *L*

Sorry folks... I wonder if the regulars get tired of these, or if it is sort of fun?

A girl I know is wanting to set up a tank.. around 20 gals. It is her first tank so she wants something relatively easy, but a bit unique, and colorfull/ interesting for her 2 yr old to watch.

I cautioned her against the usual beginner thing of picking one or two of everything pretty in the store...

I thought a Betta and a small school of danios might be nice (a loosely "east asian" tank), supplemented with a couple ottos and perhaps japonica shrimp for cleaning and extra interest. She could decorate the tank with a few peices of wood, and some easy potted plants (maybe a small bunch of cabomba and some annubias? Unless we build her a better hood she will have just a single flourescent tube)

I have heard of keeping Bettas with small schools of unagressive fish, and have read that danios are quite harmless (though they may chase un-harmfully sometimes) but have never heard specifically of danios and bettas together.

Thanks for any thoughts, or any other ideas. I had also thought of guppies or a pair of convicts for the interest of easy breeding fish

Keegan
 
Sounds like you have a nice tank planned. I dont see anything wrong with it. The convicts i wouldnt put in neither would I put guppies since some bettas think guppies are competition.. but really its up to the betta so i dont really know the answer to that.
Other than that sounds like a great tank plan :D
 
right... yes... I had meant a tank of guppies or a tank of convicts as alternatives.. not in the same one as the bettas et al.

Thanks

Keegan
 
As long as you have a decent sized school of danios, they shouldn't bother your betta. But some people seem to believe they are fin nippers, I haven't had any problems though.
 
Bettas seem to vary in aggressiveness from fish to fish, so be sure to watch the one you get. Some of them will attack any fish their own size, and others won't even attack other bettas. No way to know without watching them carefully after you get them.
 
The only problem I had with a betta in a mixed community is that my bettas have always been slow picky eaters and the other fish much less so. So I was always worried the betta was not getting his fair share.

As for a good mix of fish, white cloud minnows and cories are a great mix. I would skip the ottos as they tend to be not easy to keep and are best kept in heavily planted tanks. With white clouds though you really have to try and keep the temperature down to the low 70's F.

Perhaps a fun fish would be either swordtails or platies. Both are colourful and active and breed very easily. The one thing I would caution though is that before you "try your hand at breeding" have some sort of plan as to what will happen with the babies. A tank with live bearers can quickly become over run and many pet stores don't care to see you walking in with a bag of guppies or platies or swordtails as they probably already have a tank full. And convicts are a dime a dozen these days.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom