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OK, I have a planted 10 gallon, wanting to stock it with a male betta, 3 otos, and a couple ghost shrimp (the only kind of shrimp I can find around here)...my question is, what other fish could anyone suggest I add to it? Nothing schooling, as I will only have room for one or two more fish. And it has to be something that will get along fine with the betta, and not harm my plants either.

Right now the tank is cycling, whatever fish I decide on will be the first residents, along with the shrimp. Then come the otos, lastly the betta in hope he wont get territorial. PH is about 7.4 and temp 78 to 80.

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
Most of the small fish that are available are school fish. Gouramis do fine alone but are well noted for getting into fights with bettas.

Perhaps add a bunch more shrimp and another otto or two?
 
You could always get 2 female bettas... they're not as pretty as the males, but they're pretty enough, and maybe you'll 'get lucky' and they'll mate!

What about a pretty molly or platy? You could get away wtih 3 or 4 neons, they stay pretty small (and I've kept a 'school' of 3 neons and they did fine).

Good luck!!

~Tara
 
2 females should not be kept in with a male betta in a small tank. Without enough room to get away, his attentions can kill the females. Keeping 2 females instead of a male might work--it depends on the temperment of the females. Some are as aggressive as the males and may kill off one another.
 
Cories? A few pandas might do nicely. Otherwise I would just stick in a couple more otos and more shrimp.

IME ghost shrimp are tricky to keep alive. I have had much more success since I started dosing the tank with a few drops of marine iodine (Kent, among others, makes it) at each water change. FWIU, the iodine helps them molt.

Tom
 
Mollies and platies are social fish and should have friends. They will do fine without them but not thrive. Neons could work as could white cloud minnows but now you are getting to have 8-10 fish in a 10 gallon tank. If you are diligent with large weekly water changes it could do fine. Heavily planting the tank will do fine as well.

I personally like understocked tanks as they are easily maintained and have less of a chance to crash when I am on vacation.
 
Originally posted by OrionGirl
2 females should not be kept in with a male betta in a small tank. Without enough room to get away, his attentions can kill the females. Keeping 2 females instead of a male might work--it depends on the temperment of the females. Some are as aggressive as the males and may kill off one another.
Click to expand...

I didn't know that Orion Girl! I thought the bettas were the same as guppies - you know, have 2 females to every 1 male to 'spread the lovin'!!
 
dwayne--in a large enough tank, with lots of hiding places, a group of females and one male can work. It's still risky, but not as bad as in a small tank, where the females will most likely be killed. There are many species that shouldn't be in mixed groups--the males can and often do kill a female, especially if she is not ready to spawn.
 
Well thats kind of a bummer, basically more otos or more shrimp is what you guys suggest. Well I appreciate the responses.

I dont want to do female bettas as my next project is a 20-30 gal female betta tank that I'm going to as close as I can duplicate a rice paddy.

And NO MOLLIES even if I had room for them! They are too much like tribbles, I would end up with 100 of em.

Neons are out as I've heard they can be hard to keep, and I dont even want to get close to overstocking.
I will check into cories though, just in case, and the mt minnows.
And thanks for the tip on iron and the shrimp.

And I agree with Oriongirl on that issue, I had a female betta that was aggressive as any male, she flared at all bettas, she built bubblenests as big as any males and if I had ever put her in with any other betta there woulda been trouble. She also would kiss my finger, so she wasnt all bad.
Bettas are just unpredictable, I wouldnt put a male and female together in a tank this small, but apparently some ppl have with success.

Anyway, thanks for the responses guys.
 
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