# Bettas in community tanks - share yours!



## ashleigheperry (Mar 1, 2013)

I just recently introduced a new male betta to my 20G community which currently houses a pair of Mickey Mouse platys, a school of albino corydoras, and a lone zebra danio (who was dumped on me by a negligent owner and is looking for a new home with a school for her to enjoy - my water is too warm for danios to stay in permanently). I have tried having a male betta in this exact community before and it didn't go very well. The betta was stressed and fearful and flared at everything when he wasn't hiding which was most of the time. 

This male has reacted very differently and seems very comfortable. He surfaces regularly and is active and curious. I've only seen a couple flares from him since he's been introduced and no chasing at all. He'll even swim in the open water at the top of the tank for extended periods while the platys play around him. Have you guys had any luck with bettas in communities? Share yours!


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## Batmantha (May 27, 2012)

I have a crown tail in with a school of albino cories, 2 butterfly angelfish, 2 dwarf gouramis, 3 bristlenoses and a school of golden minnow clouds.

He is perfectly fine and happy, I thought he was white when I bought him but he has turned into this pretty purple,red, silver and white metallic gorgeousness

He was stressed in his old home, in with guppies when I found him and knew I wanted him and now he swims in with the gouramis, chases the angels and loves swimming through the plants

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdMveNz0t4Y

sorry for the dodgy video still figuring out how to use my phone lol


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## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

Be very careful with that combination, Batmantha - fish are unpredictable and that many aggressive species is just a powderkeg.

I have a 23 gallon/90 litre with 12 Endler's Livebearers, 4 cories, 6 kuhli loaches and 4 female bettas, plus a number of RCS. It's an NPT.


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## Batmantha (May 27, 2012)

Bombalurina said:


> Be very careful with that combination, Batmantha - fish are unpredictable and that many aggressive species is just a powderkeg..


Yeah I have been pretty lucky so far, plenty of plants and hiding spots and they don't even fight at feeding time which surprised me. Few months on and going good


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## KevinGillbride (May 7, 2013)

Yeah you just never know some bettas can get along with non aggressive fish and some can get along with more agressive fish, some will kill any fish it can and some will stress out and die just because there are other fish


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## Batmantha (May 27, 2012)

KevinGillbride said:


> Yeah you just never know some bettas can get along with non aggressive fish and some can get along with more agressive fish, some will kill any fish it can and some will stress out and die just because there are other fish



Yeah, I have a half moon and giant in other tanks and they prefer to be alone but my crown tail prefers company for some reason


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## cheylillymama (Apr 30, 2013)

I have my ct male in a 10 gal npt with 5 pants cories and a couple malaysian trumpet snails. He's a pretty peaceful dude. My yellow dt male, he hates everybody, lol so he has his own 5 gal, and I have a rescued female healing up in a 2.5 gal, she has a 5 gal too bit it's being rearranged for her to move in.


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## cheylillymama (Apr 30, 2013)

Pants cories! Lol autocorrect.
*panda


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## LizbethDawn (May 22, 2013)

This thread excites me 
I'm getting my 50 gallon back and I'm going to try and incorporate some girls in with platys, a couple gouramis, a hillstream loach and a bunch of mosquito rasboras.


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## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

You may have trouble there, Lizbeth. Hillstream loaches like cool (low 70s), fastmoving water, whereas bettas and gouramis prefer slow moving water in he high 70s. Gouramis and bettas are a risk to put together, as they may fight. Finally, platys prefer alkaline, hard water and all the other fish like soft acidic water.


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

Yeah, in addition to the cooler water, hill stream loaches (possibly dependent on the species, as there are many) are a challenge to keep. I know a few people who keep them and they have a specially designed tank for them, with a MASSIVE linear turnover rate, simulating the swift currents in which they live.


I kept a betta in a 30 hex, along with black neons, orange flame tetras, neons, GBRs, kuhli loaches and a BN pleco. The 30 hex really wasn't a good tank for the loaches.


Sent from Petguide.com App


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## LizbethDawn (May 22, 2013)

I had decided against the hillstream shortly after I posted this because I would rather have a group of otos because they are so adorable and interesting. I figure Female bettas will be less likely to fight with the gouramis and if not I've got a 10 gallon the females can go into. 
I've kept platys with gouramis before and the only problem I ever had was giving the babies away fast enough. I have no issue with the tank being survival of the fittest when it comes to platy fry lol


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

I had a very placid male betta in with daisy's rice fish, microdevario kubotai, pseudomugil tenellus, mellis and gertrudae, MacCulloch's rainbowfish, fundulopanchax gardneri, celestial pearl danios, one kuhli loach (my brother 'donated' it to me) and several clown killifish. 

The male left everyone alone except around dinner time, when he would chase everyone off and try and eat their food. He did try to eat my clown killifish when I first put them in, but then realised they were actually fish and left them alone after that. 

He did have a slightly nipped tail, but since he seemed to enjoy having 25 gallons to swim around in I didn't mind. 










It's only that I introduced fish without quarantine, infected everyone with ich and then sold the whole set-up to someone (she knew the fish had ich) so I didn't have to be bothered with treatment that I don't have it now.


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## chyeahxtello (May 27, 2013)

*New community*

Hey everyone, this is my first post. 

I recently started experimenting with a Betta community tank. Its 10g and has 3 albino Cory Cats, 1 platy, and my lovely male Betta Domino. 

Any advice would be appreciated in a private message 

Cheers to many more years with happy Betta Communities!


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Uh, I don't even keep hillstream loaches and even I know that fast-moving water is almost a requirement for these guys. 



> Restricted to shallow, fast-flowing, highly-oxygenated headwaters and tributaries characterised by stretches of riffles and runs broken up by pools or cascades in some cases.
> 
> Substrates are normally composed of bedrock, sand and gravel with jumbles of boulders, and while riparian vegetation is often well-developed aquatic plants are typically absent.
> 
> The most favourable habitats contain clear, oxygen-saturated water which, allied with the sun, facilitates the development of a rich biofilm carpeting submerged surfaces.


SeriouslyFish.com which I feel is one of the best resources related to fish says the above.

Also, I would think that their body shape is like it is because they have adapted to live in these fast flowing waters.



> Most importantly the water must be clean and well-oxygenated so we suggest the use of an over-sized filter as a minimum requirement. Turnover should ideally be in excess of 15-20 times per hour so additional powerheads, airstones, etc., should be employed as necessary.


Many fish can adapt to conditions outside of their desired environment. As you would know with bettas, there is a huge difference between surviving and thriving. I'm sure if you put your loach into a species specific tank you would notice the difference.

Also, just because someone is posting on a forum doesn't mean that they don't know what they are talking about. I don't have any qualifications but I'm sure I know more about wild bettas than 90% of this forum.


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## Stone (Jan 6, 2013)

ok hee is elvis in his community tank with 2 sarpae tetras 2 ottos and some ghost shrimp here is a vid link vids are so much more fun and shows how a fish behaves....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR7DMjdiPtE....now to derail the criticism comments yes tetra can be nippy yes tetras are brightly colored, yes elvis chases them around, yes from time to time they sneak up on him and nip him, but he could easily catch these fish and do serious damage to them, but he doesnt he just chases them around briefly and he has never tried to bite them in the 1000's of times I've seen him chase them, they have lived together for 6 months now and yep still alive, the ottos and the shrimp he does not even seem to see.......


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## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

My worry (although yes, serpaes are notoriously nippy, so it's good you haven't had that problem) would be stressed tetras from having too small a school. Ditto otos. Again, the line between surviving and thriving. 

Lovely aquascaping, though.


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## Nicci Lu (Jan 7, 2013)

Both my bettas turned out to be great community fish. My VT's first tankmates in his 10 were my otos. He blew his fins chasing them around, and their presence didn't help his tailbiting any. But then I added my corys- they were like a magic charm on my VT. They totally chilled him out. He no longer gets stressed by the otos, he stopped biting his tail. Sometimes I see him chasing the corys around briefly, but he doesn't put much effort into it- he seems to be playing instead of actually trying to catch them. He likes to sleep with them when they're grouped together, and I often catch him hanging out right next to one. 

My HM is a big puppy dog. He so wants to play with the loaches in his tank. At night, when loachy madness breaks out, D'Artagnan will try to swim with them, mimicking their circles and back and forth swimming. The kuhlis totally ignore him, even crash into him. The hovering zebras run away from him. D'Artagnan stops swimming when this happens, like _hey wait guys...where are you going? I want to play, too...

_The only problem I have is when I feed the tanks frozen food. Both my bettas end up with mysteriously huge stomachs- gluttons. I try to hide the food for everybody else, but I'm going to have to break down and start putting the boys in breeder boxes when it's frozen food time.









Sorry for the poor image quality. My camera stinks at night, and this is when loachy madness occurs. Kuhlis are in the top left corner, hovering zebras on the right, betta top right.


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## Graceful (Apr 30, 2013)

This is my community 10-gallon. 6 Harlequin Rasboras, 1 nerite snail, 3 ramshorns, and of course Milo the betta. Everyone gets along great! Milo is very docile and doesn't seem to mind having 6 roommates. 










Oh - and can someone tell me, what is the plant in the back left corner called? I forget. It's nearly doubled in size! My snails love to hang around in it.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Both tanks are lovely and look like great places for Bettas to play. I love threads like this where we can see what others have done with their aquariums. Thanks to ashleigheperry for starting it.

Graceful: The plant in the back is, I believe, anachris.


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## logisticsguy (Sep 7, 2012)

This is sorority tank 1 33g community my oldest and most established tank. 13 HM, 3 CT, 1 VT betta. 7 Panda corys (I just love these guys), 6 Danios, 20 assassin snails. Plants are Java moss, Christmas moss, java fern. hornwart, moneywart, giant duckweed and duckweed.


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## peachii (Jan 6, 2013)

My tank and how it's changed since I started decorating it.


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

Logisticsguy, I love your setup, minus the danios for me, they were a pain in the rump for us. They would fight and pick at each other all the time, and when they'd try getting away from each other, they'd crash into the other fish and stress them out! So they had to go.

Peachii, you also have a very beautiful setup going on, I love the strip of blue sand against the white, it pops!

I have my sorority in with guppies, and too many varieties of bottom feeder, because my fiance is impulsive. >_> Luckily, when we move, I have 2 more decently sized tanks to spread everyone out into.

I'm planning on the 55 being a sorority (for either wild splendens or "rescued" girls) with some glass cats, and kuhlis to simulate an asian biotope. I have an old thread on here somewhere with all of the information I managed to dig up.

might post pics later.


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## Lights106 (May 16, 2013)

Following!!! I just got a 40 gallon and am wanting to get ideas for fish and decorating.


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## Destinystar (May 26, 2012)

This is just a friendly reminder to stay on topic as close as possible. If you feel you can not do this please do not comment. Follow the rules and This is a Family Friendly Forum, if you do not understand the rules feel free to pm one of moderators and also the Admin. Thanks !


Let me just add the if you do break the rules pm`s will be sent and infractions could be given out.


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## Destinystar (May 26, 2012)

Wow logisticsguy I love your tank that is beautiful !

peachii very nice decorating, I so want that castle decoration, love it ! 

I am planning on doing a blue color summer theme on Peresus`s home soon. He has a 5 gallon but I am thinking he really would enjoy a bigger tank like a 10 gallon plus I could really decorate it more and also put in some more live plants. He loves to swim though things so I always keep that in mind when I decorate.


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

Perseusmom, what about doing craft mesh hammocks like the one Syriiven posted recently? It'd look a little less like a sore thumb that just mesh! Lol


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## Destinystar (May 26, 2012)

Does Perseus living with pond snails count as a community tank :lol: They are his only neighbors and sometimes he is rude to them like knocking them off his plants. I was thinking maybe of getting a bigger type snail but I suppose that might not be a good idea since he might attack it or something and I would worry to much for the safety of the snail.


Hey great idea Skye I might have to give that a try, thanks for the idea. Since I am planning on doing a blue theme do they make the craft mesh in different colors ?


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

nerites are pretty tricky to get at, from my experience


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## Crowntails (Feb 12, 2013)

I have a male betta with 3 Pygmy Cories. They are all fine together.


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## Destinystar (May 26, 2012)

Some of the posts in this thread have been removed for being off topic and argumentative.
Thanks as always for your understanding and continued support for our community.


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