Betta's and platies together?

W

Wat2Go

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Feb 23, 2007
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My daughter had 2 mickey platies in a 3 gallon. We had to empty the 3 gallon because we couldn't keep it cool enough in the summer, so we put the platies in the 55. Now she has a ten gallon with two female betta's (who get along marvelously). Can I put in those two platies with the betta's? The ten gallon is new (4 days old) but was filled with gravel from established tanks and with filter media from an established tank and reads (this morning) amonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10. We put the betta's in yesterday.
So...can I put the mickey in? If so, now? Or should I wait a while?

L.
 
I'd wait a few days just to make sure that the ammonia/nitrite levels don't rise.. If everything is ok, then it would probably be ok to add them, and check the levels again for a few days to make sure everything is good.
 
I've had a betta in my 45G community that I've been running for, eh, about a month now. I won't add anything on the nitrogen issue, but I'll share my compatibility story.

I originally had the tank stocked with zebra loaches, a banjo catfish, a goodly handful of rainbowfish, a sword, a pair of platies, and a betta. The first betta died after a couple of weeks, but I didn't notice any behavior problems. Shortly after I put the betta into quarantine I noticed my male platy was being harassed by the sword, so I put them both into the QT (10G). The betta flared at the platy at this point, but the tank was bare and the fish were stressed. The betta died and I replaced him with another. The second platy was further harassed by the sword and was placed into QT with the original; they both died but that seemed to be an issue with compatibility with the sword (and I don't know that the batch of platies I purchased from were terribly healthy) rather than anything else. The new betta hasn't had any compatibility issues once both we and the fish learned how to eat in the environment; I doubt two platies would make feeding difficult. The betta is a little shy, but he's barely over an inch in length (not including the tail.)

When I was searching around on the forums to figure out what I could put in with the betta, I never got the impression that platies would be a problem with bettas. If you want to be cautious wait to mix the fish until you'll be able to keep an eye on the fish for a couple of days. If a fish is being picked on you should be able to tell, and I (doubt) you'll have more of a problem than a chased fish.
 
I had 9 female bettas in my community tank, along with platies, neons and cories. Had absolutly no problems at all, except for one betta thinking she was a cory and "protecting" them from everyone else.
 
My Betta gets along fine with all my fish which includes platies but my danios annoy him sometimes and he tries to nip them every now and then but he can never catch them.
 
Hey. Sounds like you're off to a good start. Your nitrate reading indicates you've effectively cheated on your cycle so kudos. ;) However, I'm very much a believer in gradual stocking regardless so I'd probably wait until the tank has been going for at least a week before adding the platies. I've kept bettas and platies together with great success. Good luck to you. :)
 
jm1212 said:
it should be alright, but every betta is different.

BTW, keep watch on your female bettas. having only two together can be iffy, because it doesnt allow for a pecking order to be formed.
Click to expand...

:iagree: Generally 3 or more females would be the best.
 
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