# 20 Gallon Betta Community tank ideas??



## livwatermeloon (Mar 23, 2021)

Hiii, I best get straight to the point or I'll be here forever!! Long story short, a friend is moving and has to rehome his Betta, I offered to add him to my 20gal Community planted tank that I had just started stocking. I was intending to do a dwarf cichlid pair with some tetra's, but now I am going to have a Betta instead I have to rethink my choices. Currently, my stock is 10 Rummy nose tetras and a few Amano Shrimp, plus the Betta in a few weeks time. Luckily, He was in a community tank previously so I know he isn't the aggressive type.
The question is, what other fish would I be able to add?
A. Bottom feeders? What would you recommend, if any at all. Corycats, Otos, Dwarf Snowball Plecos??​B. I know shrimp is a no-go for Betta's, but would you say my young Amano's may be ok as there are plenty of hiding opportunities?​C. Probably not worth mentioning, but would a small school of Harlequin Rasboras or a handful of Endler Livebearers be too much on the bioload/or an overall bad idea?​The tank is filled with plants, driftwood, rocks and a dedicated coconut hide cave (intended for Kribs) which provides plenty of hiding places. The filter is internal and shifts only around 360L/hr, I plan to upgrade to the Fluval 207 in the future. The Temp is at around 26 degrees Celcius but I can easily adjust it. Any other questions about the setup feel free to ask, I would love any advice about Betta's as I haven't had one beforee


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Welcome to the Forum!

I believe you will find this useful as a stocking guide http://aqadvisor.com/

Is the tank a 20 long or tall? Can you post a photo?


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## livwatermeloon (Mar 23, 2021)

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> Welcome to the Forum!
> 
> I believe you will find this useful as a stocking guide http://aqadvisor.com/
> 
> Is the tank a 20 long or tall? Can you post a photo?


Thank you!! Some people recommended against aqa so I thought I'd ask the pros. Sorry for the late reply,
















It is a 20 long, the picture is a bit at an angle because there was a nasty glare and the rummy nose's were asleep at the back since i took it early this morning. I have some more plants to fill out the annoying gap in the back but they are currently in my quarantine tank.


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## Mother Of Fish (Feb 11, 2021)

For bottom feeders IMO a small school of 6 cory catfish are the best. They are really active and cool little fish. You do have to tongue feed them into the gravle though so they get to eat cuz they other fish eat all of they food before they get it. Go with something like bronz or panda and stay away from green as they get bigger. (6 in a school is the minimum that they can be happy). Cory's need sand or a fine gravel that won't injure there barbeles as you have in the tank. Yes BARBELES. That is what there cure little whiskers are called!
😍😂

I would get 5 rasboras or 3 endlers of the same sex, 1 male and 2 females if you don't mind babies. They are little French fry ovens, every month the pop out 30 more little fry. Make sure you have somone that will take the fry and you have a breeder net for the mommas or you can leave them in the tank and they will get eaten .I dont know about that shrimp species but all of my boys do good with ghost shrimp. I have seen others noddy boys make a meal out of them though!

Your tank is absolutely gorgeous btw! You did an amazing job aquascaping it!


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## BettaloverSara (Oct 15, 2020)

I love aqua advisor and use it any time I am adding fish to a tank.
Any of the small cory’s would be fine for bottom feeders, pandas are my favourite. Oto’s are not considered bottom feeders but they are good cleaners. 
It is my experience that endlers are best in groups of 6+ butI really love them with bettas. I currently have 12 in with mine.
Rummy nose tetras can be nippy so you may want to have a backup for the betta if they start to get feisty. 
keep in mind that shoaling fish are always a minimum of 6, for most tetras and rasboras I like around 10 but that’s just my preference.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

I asked Rachel O'Leary (msjinkzd on YouTube) how many shoaling fish should be housed with a Betta. As one of this country's foremost authorities on Nano fish I tend to take her word for it. Her answer was 12. If not with a predator, a minimum of 10.

Technically, Endler's Livebearers are not shoaling fish. However, Endler's breeders tell me they should be treated as shoalers. I have kept all males with no issues: 15+ in a 20 long.

I used two filters as 1) I am paranoid about filter failure if we're out of town; 2) I tend to overstock; 3) Two allows for more circulation and better cleaning. The later is strictly an opinion so take it for what it's worth.

Avoid "skirted" Tetra like Black Skirt. People on the Forum and the Internet say they are more aggressive than the non-skirted.

When stocking do it by levels: Top, middle and bottom.

In my 20 long:

*Top:* Betta
*Middle:* Tetra (Ember, Green Neon), Rasbora, Dwarf Panda Guppies, Pygmy and Hastatus Cory; Oto. Three shoals in a 20 long worked for me.
*Bottom:* Habrosus Cory, Cambarellus crays and Vampire Shrimp.

All over the place but often at the top: Endler's. If you decide to get mixed the ratio it must be kept at 1:2 male to female.
Toward the bottom: Celestial Pearl Danio.

FWIW, I've never had to target feed bottom dwellers.

Oh, it's "barbels;" not barbles.


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## Mother Of Fish (Feb 11, 2021)

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> I asked Rachel O'Leary (msjinkzd on YouTube) how many shoaling fish should be housed with a Betta. As one of this country's foremost authorities on Nano fish I tend to take her word for it. Her answer was 12. If not with a predator, a minimum of 10.
> 
> Technically, Endler's Livebearers are not shoaling fish. However, Endler's breeders tell me they should be treated as shoalers. I have kept all males with no issues: 15+ in a 20 long.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the spelling correction Russell. 😂😁


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## livwatermeloon (Mar 23, 2021)

Mother Of Fish said:


> For bottom feeders IMO a small school of 6 cory catfish are the best. They are really active and cool little fish. You do have to tongue feed them into the gravle though so they get to eat cuz they other fish eat all of they food before they get it. Go with something like bronz or panda and stay away from green as they get bigger. (6 in a school is the minimum that they can be happy). Cory's need sand or a fine gravel that won't injure there barbles as you have in the tank. Yes BARBLES. That is what there cure little whiskers are called!
> 😍😂
> 
> I would get 5 rasboras or 3 endlers of the same sex, 1 male and 2 females if you don't mind babies. They are little French fry ovens, every month the pop out 30 more little fry. Make sure you have somone that will take the fry and you have a breeder net for the mommas or you can leave them in the tank and they will get eaten .I dont know about that shrimp species but all of my boys do good with ghost shrimp. I have seen others noddy boys make a meal out of them though!
> ...


Thank you!! I was thinking along the lines of corycats, I didn't know the little whiskers were called Barbles, i love it 



BettaloverSara said:


> I love aqua advisor and use it any time I am adding fish to a tank.
> Any of the small cory’s would be fine for bottom feeders, pandas are my favourite. Oto’s are not considered bottom feeders but they are good cleaners.
> It is my experience that endlers are best in groups of 6+ butI really love them with bettas. I currently have 12 in with mine.
> Rummy nose tetras can be nippy so you may want to have a backup for the betta if they start to get feisty.
> keep in mind that shoaling fish are always a minimum of 6, for most tetras and rasboras I like around 10 but that’s just my preference.


Some people say that aqa advisor is inaccurate if you have a lot of hardscape and IMO, I have a lot!! I heard you can mix a few different types of cory's, have you done this without problems before?? I'll be quarantining the betta in a 15l already cycled tub and ill keep that running as a backup until I get a 'better looking' backup tank I can have permanently ready. I have another slightly larger quarantine tub (25l) for quarantining other fish in case some get ill (Just had to pull out the Tetras for ich so that has gone and postponed my plans for the next two weeks).



RussellTheShihTzu said:


> I asked Rachel O'Leary (msjinkzd on YouTube) how many shoaling fish should be housed with a Betta. As one of this country's foremost authorities on Nano fish I tend to take her word for it. Her answer was 12. If not with a predator, a minimum of 10.
> 
> Technically, Endler's Livebearers are not shoaling fish. However, Endler's breeders tell me they should be treated as shoalers. I have kept all males with no issues: 15+ in a 20 long.
> 
> ...


Woah, that is a *lot* of fish. Have you got around 12 of each of the schoolers and 6 of the cory's??
Once this Ich situation has cleared up, I was thinking of an eventual stocking list of:
_Top: _Elton John the Betta
_Middle: _10 Rummy-nose Tetras, 6-10 Chilli Rasboras
_Bottom:_ 6 Mixed Corydoras
_Other:_ 4 Amano shrimp

For the sake of this i used aqua advisor:







(I put Bronze cory's just for the sake of the calculations)

I was of the impression that Endler Livebearers and Guppys were a no-go for male betta's as they are on the colourful side and that the Danio's were known fin-nippers, is there no aggression in your tank??

Thanks for the advice guys I honestly really appreciate it


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## BettaloverSara (Oct 15, 2020)

I have kept endlers with bettas for years and never had any issues. Danios, like the rummy nose tetras can be feisty little creatures. I don’t really like them with bettas.
There is mixed reviews on weather or not different breeds of Cory will form a shoal. I have always stuck to single species so I don’t have any personal experience on that one. I also have never target fed any of my cory’s and I’ve never had issues with gravel.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Zebra Danio are terrors. IME, CPD and Emerald Danio are not. Rummy Nose are also terrors. I think I rehomed mine after a week; the Zebra Danio after three or four days. Interestingly enough, Neon Tetra are nippy but IME _Green_ Neon Tetra are not. Have you looked at Ember Tetra? They do real well with Rasbora because they are about the same size.

As BettaLoverSara noted, one type of Cory. I don't know where people get their ideas. It's amazing how much misinformation is batted around the Internet.

Didn't mean all of those fish were in my 20 long at the same time; they are species I have found do well together. 

Finally, I'd be very worried housing 12 fish that can reach 2.5" at the same level as 10 that are .75". The Rummies are also near the size or bigger than a Betta and that is something that can be a problem.

Just my 2 cents.


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## livwatermeloon (Mar 23, 2021)

BettaloverSara said:


> I have kept endlers with bettas for years and never had any issues. Danios, like the rummy nose tetras can be feisty little creatures. I don’t really like them with bettas.
> There is mixed reviews on weather or not different breeds of Cory will form a shoal. I have always stuck to single species so I don’t have any personal experience on that one. I also have never target fed any of my cory’s and I’ve never had issues with gravel.





RussellTheShihTzu said:


> Zebra Danio are terrors. IME, CPD and Emerald Danio are not. Rummy Nose are also terrors. I think I rehomed mine after a week; the Zebra Danio after three or four days. Interestingly enough, Neon Tetra are nippy but IME _Green_ Neon Tetra are not. Have you looked at Ember Tetra? They do real well with Rasbora because they are about the same size.
> 
> As BettaLoverSara noted, one type of Cory. I don't know where people get their ideas. It's amazing how much misinformation is batted around the Internet.
> 
> ...


Oh, it may have been a mistake getting the Rummies then.. Let's hope they aren't aggressive. They always seem on the shy side but that could just be I haven't had them as long. Where I got mine, around a month ago, I believe they were in a tank with a betta and some khuli loaches. I had done plenty of research before choosing that type of tetra but had only found the 'odd' account of some being aggressive, just like many types of Tetras tbh. I looked into ember tetra's but didn't see the appeal as much- thank you for the suggestion though.
The plan may be that I add some salt and pepper corydoras (thanks for the advice on not mixing) first, let that all settle, then see how the Betta is with the Rummies. Like I said, I would have an immediate backup tank and a plan to put in place in the event aggression is shown.
I know it can be a risky game from what you have said, but the Rummies haven't been tempted with my young Amano's and were with a half-moon Betta, with no signs of ripped fins, in the shop. All else fails, I can always have a separate 10gal with just the Betta in.
I'll do more research before considering adding another shoaling fish with the Rummies. Do salt and pepper cory's seem like a good idea? Thank you again


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## itsme_bettafishlover (Mar 16, 2021)

Beautiful tank! It is gorgoeus! I didnt spell that right haha


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## livwatermeloon (Mar 23, 2021)

itsme_bettafishlover said:


> Beautiful tank! It is gorgoeus! I didnt spell that right haha


Thank you!! It's gorgeous but don't worry lmao


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