Betta in community tank

Good news...my wife's fear regarding the Johanni was premature. He was not dead, just incredibly stressed... I was able to net him after coaxing him out of his hiding place with some food and took him back to the LFS. They were nice about it, but I pointed out to them what the sales clerk had said and went through the fish I have in the tank. The manager said," yep. That ain't gonna work." As it was partly my fault for going for the impulse purchase rather than get my money back I just traded the fish for some plants.

Severum, I don't think it was a water quality issue as none of the other fish were effected at all. The Johanni was picked on constantly by the male krib and a large blue gourami. And, he was much smaller than the other fish (but much faster). I really wish I could have kept him as he was amazing to look at... but not at his expense of the expense of my other fish.

EDIT: forgot to mention that I am in the process of thinning out my herd based on the above comments. I have rehomed four of the zebra danios and will likely be rehoming the tetras this weekend. Could I trade the three tetras for two cory or would that not make any difference in the bioload.
 
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I have kept bettas with endlers, platies, cories, shrimp, snails, loaches - all without any problems. In general, it's the betta that needs to be protected from other nippy fish, not the other way around so much - with the exception of other bettas.

Also, the 1 inch per gallon rule is BS. Going by those standards you'd be able to have a 4 foot fish in a 50g tank with room to spare.
 
sorry if i'm repeating what someone else has said, but i wanted to help if i can. betta's do well with well mannered fish. In regards to them fighting, despite my bully angelfish, (who used to run the tank), my bettas have done very well (the previous one died due to an unfortunate lobster incident :( ) and have been very compatible tank mates. The newest one even seems to enjoy the company of my cories, and more recently has befriended my lone female swordtail (my other swordtails didn't survive when my nitrates spiked after a power outage) I would suggest waiting to get a betta until you have already set up and cycled your new tank, and then putting him with non aggressive fish who are at LEAST the same size. (my angelfish is kept in check now by my columbian shark and rainbow shark and doesn't harass the other fish anymore. we'll see what happens after the columbian is slowly moved into my marine tank)
 
Bettas can do very well in community tanks, but several of the fish you're keeping would not be compatible. Bettas can be fun to keep in their own small filtered / heated tanks, though, if someone's heart is totally set on a betta :)
 
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