# betta tank mates



## stephanieleah (Oct 31, 2009)

Hi all

I'm sure I'll have as many different information as I will posts if I look this up online, so:

What do you house with your bettas? What kind of betta do you have and what do they get along with?

I'm asking for a friend who wants a 5 gallon tank for her daughter and is (responsibly) asking for advice before going out on a whim! Good for her!

Anyway, I know her daughter loves the snails and shrimp in my tanks...anything like this would work?

Steph


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

In a 5 gallon, most people will put shrimp or snails with their betta.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

It really depends on the fish.. some won't tolerate any tank mate. Others don't mind them. 

The only tank mates acceptable in a 5 gallon IMO are snails, shrimp, or 1 ADF.. but if she gets the ADF she needs to be prepared if the betta starts biting the AdF.. in which case she'll need to either return it or get a separate tank.

Before getting any tankmate I highly suggest she look into cycling.


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## kpullen89 (Feb 11, 2010)

I agree with 1fish2fish, it really depends on your betta's personality/aggression. 3 out of my 4 bettas absolutely hate any tank mates. But one of my mine doesn't mind them at all. So if you're trying out tank mates, I'd make sure that you have an extra tank/bowl for the tank mates just in case they aren't liked and have to be separated from the betta.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

If you get tankmates your going to need an extra tank.. snails and shrimp need cycled and filtered tanks.. an ADF might be ok in a bowl but it would need to be covered. (thats if you would need to separate the betta and the tankmate)


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## Hadouken441 (Jan 27, 2010)

ADF's are champs. They're personalities are awesome haha. Mine literally sits on its butt like a human while i feed it. And the other one sticks his head in my turkey baster and just waits for the food to come out


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## stephanieleah (Oct 31, 2009)

Hadouken441 said:


> ADF's are champs. They're personalities are awesome haha. Mine literally sits on its butt like a human while i feed it. And the other one sticks his head in my turkey baster and just waits for the food to come out


that's super cute...

i might suggest an ADF. She'll def be getting a filtered tank. Any particular snails and shrimp that y'all have had success with?


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Filtered is different from cycled... make sure she knows the difference. You can't just put a filter in and let the tank cycle unless you want sick and/or dead fish.

Mystery snails are great but can get up to 2 inches in diameter but come in a bunch of different colors. Nerite snails stay a little smaller and are more plain, you can also get Zebra snails who are basically striped Nerite snails. They also need calcium rich water for shell growth. You can only keep one in a tank or they may breed unless you can figure out males from females.

Ghost shrimp and cherry shrimp are very small so you can have quite a few... but they are very sensitive to water conditions so her tank HAS to be cycled before adding them or they'll die within days. Amano shrimp are slightly larger but have basically the same requirements.

ADFs are fun but more "fishlike" than snails or shrimp.. they move faster and thus are much harder to place with a betta. I always advise to go with shrimp or snails first to see how your betta reacts to them before trying an ADF.


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## kpullen89 (Feb 11, 2010)

Just to add info about the mystery snails..they're hermaphrodites(meaning they have both sets of repro organs) so if you place 2 in the same tank there is definitely a chance that they'll reproduce. 

Mystery snails are the tank mates that I have for one of my bettas. There's two of them and so far, I've had no baby snails..but you never know!


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Where did you get that info? Mystery snails have separate sexes.. they aren't asexual. As do zebra/nerite snails. Since they do have separate sexes it is easy to keep from having snail babies running around simply by having one to a tank or learning the proper way to sex them (which is quite hard to do)

Asexual snails don't need a partner to reproduce.. they can essentially mate with themselves.


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## stephanieleah (Oct 31, 2009)

1fish2fish said:


> Filtered is different from cycled... make sure she knows the difference. You can't just put a filter in and let the tank cycle unless you want sick and/or dead fish.
> 
> Mystery snails are great but can get up to 2 inches in diameter but come in a bunch of different colors. Nerite snails stay a little smaller and are more plain, you can also get Zebra snails who are basically striped Nerite snails. They also need calcium rich water for shell growth. You can only keep one in a tank or they may breed unless you can figure out males from females.
> 
> ...


Thanks! Yes, she understands the difference between cycled and filtered...fortunately she's doing her research and not just going and buying tank, fish, equipment, hot pink gravel, all in one trip. She's actually impressive and maybe a bit obsessive (like me) in order to make sure she's being a responsible future fish owner.

She'll probably go with nerite, either zebra or spotted, because that's what the fish store has nearby where she lives. I might give her some of my cherry and amano shrimp because I have so many. 

What's a good way to introduce snails and shrimp to bettas to gauge whether the betta is snail- or shrimp-friendly?


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Well.. If it were me I would introduce the snail first (btw your so lucky you can get them locally.. we only have mystery snail here). There isn't much a betta can do to hurt a snail (they can hide in their shells but still move around and eat) so you can see if the betta is going to bite/harass the snail. If it seems like the betta is constantly messing with the snail I would say that that fish shouldn't have tank mates and I would remove the snail. If the betta nips it only occasionally I would say that the fish is ok with snails only (because he can't hurt them). If the betta completely ignores the snail I would say that you could add the shrimp.

I always start with snails first because you can see the betta's behavior without endangering the snail.


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## kpullen89 (Feb 11, 2010)

http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Bug, Snails, Mystery.htm

I read about it on this website. It says their 'sexing' is monoecious. Its wrong info though and this website proves it: http://www.applesnail.net/

My mistake, its hard to differentiate good websites. But most snail species are hermaphrodites and this is what confused me.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Yeah most snails are.. apple, mystery, and nerite snails aren't though.


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