# 6 Gallon Tank w/ male betta. Best tankmate??



## PenelopeBetta

Hello all! 
I have a 6.25 planted tank with one happy male betta. What would be the best tank mate(s) for him? I would prefer a small school of Tetras or Dwarf Cories (4 or 5 fish), but I've read that both need at least a 10 gallons. 
I'm also open to the idea of a snail, but not as excited about it. 
Thanks so much as always!
-PenelopeBetta


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## FintasticDiscus

Male bettas are best alone but some like tankmates. They are carnivorous after all. If you are set on trying something in the tank your size go with nirite or mystery snails. Males are ok in larger tanks where others can get away and hide. I keep mine alone in planted tanks. Most tropical need 1gal per inch. So example... 1 neon needs at least 1.5gals and 4 would need 6gal. Of course this is a rule of thumb and some fish do well in less space n others like golds need more.


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## FintasticDiscus

If your not stoked about snails...maybe african dwarf frog. They dont look anything like another betta so fighting may never happen and they arent dirty. Just a thought.


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## RussellTheShihTzu

I have never had a Betta that didn't thrive in a community tank except three that were too aggressive for tank mates of any sort.

You can have seven Pygmy Cories in a six gallon. They are quite tiny and, at least in my tanks, left completely alone by the Betta. I have three Betta-based community tanks and have also had success with small Rasbora (Sundadanio axelrodi, Chili or Sparrow) in smaller tanks.

I would stay away from some Tetras as they can be very nippy. I thought I had a tail biter until I saw a Neon remove a chunk. While I love them I'm in the process of finding them a new home. The Ember Tetras don't seem to be as nippy as the Neons.

If you don't mind feeding live food, a wonderful, colorful little fish (and my favorite) is the Dario Dario aka Scarlet Badis. They are less than an inch in size but do require something like live Micro Worms to do best. They love moss. Do not feed frozen bloodworms as a staple diet.

An interesting alternative would be Dwarf Crayfish (Cambarellus patzcuarensis sp orange or Cambarellus texanus). You could have three or four as they are peaceful but can be territorial with each other. Do not get any other variety of Cray. I do not recommend shrimp of any sort.

Three African Dwarf Frogs would be work as their bioload is no more than a large Tetra. Target feeding is required if you choose frozen bloodworms. I feed mine HBH Frog and Tadpole Bites and the occasional frozen bloodworm (using tongs so piggy Random the Betta doesn't steal). However, they absolutely cannot have freeze dried foods as freeze dried will cause fatal blockages.

If you want colorful, you could go with five male Endlers or three male Fancy Guppies. It's pretty much a myth that Betta can't live with colorful, long-finned fish or see them as other Betta.

With the addition of any tank mates, keep an eye on water parameters as you may have to up the number or percentage of changes. And, as I'm sure you've seen it preached  have a back up plan.

Have fun choosing!!!


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## Tress

If your tank is heavily planted and has been cycled for a while, you could try shrimp. Some bettas will see shrimp as food, but long fin bettas often aren't fast enough to be any threat so long as the tank has enough cover for them. You also have to be very careful with your parameters.

As for the neons and cories, a bigger tank would be needed. Since both are shoaling species they need a min of 6 fish to be comfortable. I heard both need established tanks as well.

Personally, I love snails! If you're worried about having tons of baby snails, you can get Nerite snails. They can lay eggs but the eggs/young cannot survive in freshwater so you'll never have to worry about them reproducing.

Ooooor just listen to Russell xD


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## RussellTheShihTzu

Thanks, Tress. ;-) You are absolutely correct about the Neons; anything less than a 10 would be too cramped for them. And also about the minimum number of six.

There are several shoaling Nano fish that do well in anything five gallons or over: Ember Tetras, Pygmy Cories, Dario Dario, Dario hysginon, Sundadanio axelrodi, Sparrow Rasbora, Danionella dracula, Chili Rasbora....as long as the tank is well-planted so the Betta doesn't have a clear line of sight/chase.


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## PenelopeBetta

Thank you so much, everyone!!


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## TerriGtoo

PenelopeBetta said:


> Hello all!
> I have a 6.25 planted tank with one happy male betta. What would be the best tank mate(s) for him? I would prefer a small school of Tetras or Dwarf Cories (4 or 5 fish), but I've read that both need at least a 10 gallons.
> I'm also open to the idea of a snail, but not as excited about it.
> Thanks so much as always!
> -PenelopeBetta


 
You could check into getting a small school of CPD's--Celestial Pearl Danios. (Give them a google for photos.) They stay tiny at maturation, are very colorful, hardy and they are not fin nippers. (ie they won't go after your betta.) They also move quite fast so even if your betta would try to chase them they could easily get away from him.

Out of curiousity, what brand of 6.25 gallon is your tank?


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## Myates

I would not advise an ADF as they are nearly blind and it takes them a bit to find food in which the betta will eat it all, and for being hard at seeing they are very active. But some people don't have issues with ADFs and bettas.. so it may work.
I would not try shrimp as majority of the bettas will view them as snacks. 
As for schooling fish.. most would not be good in there, simply because of it's size and the amount of fish that the school will need. Most people in the aquarium hobby would not recommend putting more than 2 or 3 small fish in a tank that size. I would advise not to get fish that require a school, as the tank is simply not large enough to handle the amount of fish needed for said school (generally you want a minimum of 6 schooling fish). 

And it depends on the tank itself, is it box square or is it elongated? That will make a difference too.. if it's long and narrower, a few pygmy cories may be ok in there as it has a larger footprint. 

If it were just the nano fish, then that is one thing, but mixing in a betta who can easily get stressed over lots of quick moving fish, who see anything smaller than it as a possible meal.. not ideal. I keep 6.6 gallon "bookshelf" tanks here at my desk.. either divided in half for two bettas, or have a king betta in it, or in one case I have two wild female Smaragdinas (one of the betta complexes) in with a single female Splenden in it. 

One more thing to consider.. the longer the betta lives alone, the more aggressive they tend to become.


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## MadtownD

I tried some small fish tankmates. No aggression... But the betta stopped eating, had stress stripes and bit his tail. No more tankmates.


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## PenelopeBetta

TerriGtoo, apologies for the delay in my response, but my 6.25 gallon tank is made Arc. The tank is very good quality; I highly recommend it.


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## bismuthphoenix

It all depends on the temperament of your Betta. With some, any kind of fish can be fine but I wouldn't recommend it because there's always that risk. If you do deside to put in tank mates make sure they aren't bright colored. However, remove your betta if you see him constantly flaring as having other fish inn he tank can cause stress on both parties. If you're looking for companions, try something like ghost/cherry shrimp, snails, African Dwarf Frogs or Otto catfish. These are 99% likely to have success, otto catfish are bottom feeders which also help keep the tank algae free.


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## TerriGtoo

PenelopeBetta said:


> TerriGtoo, apologies for the delay in my response, but my 6.25 gallon tank is made Arc. The tank is very good quality; I highly recommend it.


No worries. I am the first to admit there are too few hours in the day. I have never heard of that company. Will have to look them up.


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## RussellTheShihTzu

I absolutely hate being a "Myth Buster" but it perfectly fine to have brightly-colored fish with your Betta. If it doesn't get along with brightly-colored fish it wouldn't have gotten alone with anything (except maybe a snail).

Unless a tank is heavily planted the chances of shrimp being successful are 0-none.

As mentioned above, Otos are nice but not sure a six gallon as they really do best with a shoal of six+.

My favorite tank mate is the African Dwarf Frog (ADF) as suggested by bismuthphoenix. A six gallon can house three or four if they have nice hides. Their bioload is very small and as they hang out on the bottom, they only invade a Betta's space when they come up for air.


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## boscoru

Thanks, everyone, for the great info in this thread. I built my first tank last night, and was hoping to add some friends if possible.

PenelopeBetta, what did you end up doing?

It just so happens that the tank I used is also the 6.25G ARC. How's it look?


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## TerriGtoo

URGH. Been looking for one of these tanks. Apparently a Petco brand. Can't find it there or Amazon / Ebay. Any other ideas???


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## boscoru

Good question. I got mine at my local Petco. I haven't found any reference to it on their website, though.

Have you tried contacting Petco about it? They might be able to tell you the closest store that has one.


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## TerriGtoo

boscoru said:


> Good question. I got mine at my local Petco. I haven't found any reference to it on their website, though.
> 
> Have you tried contacting Petco about it? They might be able to tell you the closest store that has one.


 
Yep, guess I have to go that route. Petco has never been good at keeping anything they brand with their name though. When they had the Bookcase 6.6g aquariums, after awhile you couldn't find them to save your life. Granted the filters on them were garbage but I loved the tanks and used my favorite filters on them. Managed to accumulate 6 of them over the past couple of years but it took lots of searching.


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## KaisynKai

TerriGtoo said:


> Yep, guess I have to go that route. Petco has never been good at keeping anything they brand with their name though. When they had the Bookcase 6.6g aquariums, after awhile you couldn't find them to save your life. Granted the filters on them were garbage but I loved the tanks and used my favorite filters on them. Managed to accumulate 6 of them over the past couple of years but it took lots of searching.


I like the arc but the petco website and store are 2 different things.... u wont find any petco brand name on the website and they dont match prices. I had to threw up a poop storm when I bought my fluval edge in the store and online it was 100 bucks.... I eventually threw enough of a fit they re-imbursed me the difference in a gift card, but hey I used it.

Terri my store has the 6.6 bookshelf (but I know what u mean by trying to find them) and I had them never had an issue with my filters but I ended up giving it to a friend and I have to fluval edge tanks modified now (took off the tops) it was a toss between that and the arc though


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## KaisynKai

boscoru said:


> Thanks, everyone, for the great info in this thread. I built my first tank last night, and was hoping to add some friends if possible.
> 
> PenelopeBetta, what did you end up doing?
> 
> It just so happens that the tank I used is also the 6.25G ARC. How's it look?


hows the flow in these with betta? I was going to get one and split it but wasnt sure with the way the filter was setup -- it almost looks like the fluval specs filters


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## boscoru

I was concerned about the flow also. The pump is not adjustable. I decided to buy it and try to baffle the flow a bit if necessary.

I am a complete beginner here, so I don't really know how much flow is deemed 'acceptable'. What I can say, is that our betta doesn't seem bothered by it in the least. I caught him relaxing up against the intake yesterday, and confirmed that he was easily able to swim away on his own. When he swims too close to the outtake he gets pushed around a bit. He's still able to explore every inch of that tank though, and seems to enjoy doing it.

In short, it seems like the flow is a non-issue.


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## KaisynKai

boscoru said:


> I was concerned about the flow also. The pump is not adjustable. I decided to buy it and try to baffle the flow a bit if necessary.
> 
> I am a complete beginner here, so I don't really know how much flow is deemed 'acceptable'. What I can say, is that our betta doesn't seem bothered by it in the least. I caught him relaxing up against the intake yesterday, and confirmed that he was easily able to swim away on his own. When he swims too close to the outtake he gets pushed around a bit. He's still able to explore every inch of that tank though, and seems to enjoy doing it.
> 
> In short, it seems like the flow is a non-issue.


if u search under fluval specs or fluval spec V a lot of ppl give great baffling ideas for that pump. try using a coarse sponge around the spout to difuse the spray get black so it blends. good luck


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## boscoru

Apparently I was not being too perceptive when I put the tank together. I took a second look at the pump and realized that there is a small switch or adjusting the flow. I cranked it down and it's made a huge difference. I think all is good.

I recommend the tank so far. Seems to be working out great.


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## KaisynKai

boscoru said:


> Apparently I was not being too perceptive when I put the tank together. I took a second look at the pump and realized that there is a small switch or adjusting the flow. I cranked it down and it's made a huge difference. I think all is good.
> 
> I recommend the tank so far. Seems to be working out great.


you would not be the first not to notice something like that. My boys are so picky they want barely any flow in their tanks. glad u and him enjoy the tanks.


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## boscoru

Out of curiosity, what behavior from your fish indicates to you that they are unhappy with the flow?


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## ZZD

I just want to say that is a gorgeous tank. I am so jealous! I don't have much in the way of tank mates for that size of a tank as the only community I have with a betta in it is my 30 gallon. Good luck with everything!


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## KaisynKai

boscoru said:


> Out of curiosity, what behavior from your fish indicates to you that they are unhappy with the flow?


if they look like they r struggling to swin or stay away from the outflow area its probably too much flow. each betta is different some dont mind it, others swim in it, and some avoid it all together.


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## boscoru

Thanks, ZZD! I'm pretty happy with it!

I checked the flow again. It's pretty weak. Ranger seems perfectly content. He doesn't seem to avoid that area of the tank at all.

I had to pull the caves out, though :-( They're too rough on the inside. Can anyone recommend a place to get some nice, betta-friendly decor?


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