Betta Newbie...advice?

b.greene

b.greene

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Jan 30, 2008
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Northern Michigan
I have never had a Betta before but I think they are so beautiful. I would love to have one but I have read such conflicting info about keeping them in a community tank.
Right now I have a 55g housing Mollies, Fancy Guppies, Rasbora, 2 ADF, otos, a cory and a snail.
From what I hear the male bettas can be guppy/snail nippers What about the females?

Should I get just one female?
Is my set up/fish mix suitable for one of these beauties?

I don't want to just do a "trial" and then have to move her to her own bowl. I already have a 10g QT tank and don't want to have an additional tank to clean.
THANK YOU!
 
If you get females, you generally will want to get a sorority. One alone may be agressive to others, and 2 or 3 will beat up on one another. Here is a link: Sorority Tank Setup

A male betta would almost definitely not like your fancy guppies- their bright colors will remind him of other bettas, and he may attack them as such.


Good Luck!

LeeAnna
 
I like to keep my sorority in a tank by themselves. Although they wil not likely be very aggressive with other fish, the other fish don't always reciprocate. My experience putting a single female into a tank with mollies, an angel, several harlequin rasboras and some black neons was that 2 days later I couldn't find her in the tank. I don't know who gave her the business but I feel better with less of the potentially aggressive tank mates.
 
Just to chime in, I have a Male Betta living in a 10 gallon planted tank with 5 zebra danios and three pepper cories. They all get along just fine! I think the trick is to not have any fish that will bother the betta, and also make sure you don't have any fish that look like the betta (Big fins etc).
 
I've had female bettas destroy guppies, as well... With snails, guppies, and ADFs, the safe thing would be to just skip the bettas.

On a brighter note, this is an excellent excuse for a new tank :D
 
Wow, I so appreciate that comment, Puffers! I wondered about my fancy guppies' tails. I thought the betta minght think the tails looked too much like another betta tail. Down the road I will consider a betta sorority tank:)
 
Please, look at my signature. Know that all my male bettas that live in my community tanks LEAVE MY GUPPIES ALONE. This is my actual experience. I have males in community tanks with fancy guppies.
The male in the 5G has 3 guppies for tank mates. The male in the 75G tank also has Discus,black and white plecos, and glofish. Male bettas GENERALLY will only be aggressive with other bettas. Please take a chance, if it doesnt work, you can always keep him in a bowl,or a display container inside your tank.

My $.02
 
Discus and bettas are actually fine since both thrive in similar conditions. Guppies, on the other hand..well, most of us are unlucky.
 
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