can a betta (male or female) and a guppie live together in a 20 x 40 cm tank?

Question

i have never had fish before, and am getting a second hand 20 x 40 cm tank, and i want a guppie or/and betta (male or female). help me!

Answer 1

Some females are okay being a tank with other fish (for a long time I had a tank with only female bettas)- it's something you have to try, but prepared for it not work. Some female bettas are still very aggresive. I definately would not recommend putting a male betta in. Also I believe that you need 1 gallon per inch of fish. So figure a betta would need at least a 2+ gallon tank although there is a big debate about what size tank bettas prefer.

In regards to getting to bettas and putting a divider- for a short time they will flare, but it's not long before they stop flaring at each other- I wouldn't recommend that either.

Answer 2

I wouldn't recommend it. It'd be a lot easier for you to just have a tank of guppies. I've tried this before. A guppy, with his long fins really gets a betta pissed off (as though he's staring at another displaying betta). He'll chase and bite off the guppy's tail until there is nothing left or the guppy dies from the stress. Female bettas can be equally agressive. It doesn't help that they are kind of the same 'size'. Bettas only do well with calm fish which are larger than themselves or small really fast fish which can swim out of reach quick enough.

Answer 3

Since guppies look like bettas (long tails, bright colors) the betta is more than likely to attack said guppy.

As for your mini tank, I wouldnt advise even leaving a betta in there for too long a time. If you absolutley must have more than one fish, you might want at least a 10 gal tank. That way there's enough room for both fish to swim/hide.

There are plenty of other fish that can live with bettas although every situation depends on each individual betta and its attitude...I've had guppies, frogs, sucker fish, and an eel all in one tank before and they all thrived peacefully (save for a few guppies who pissed off wither the betta or sucker fish and wound up headless and tailless).

Check out Bettatalk.com to learn a whole lot more abuot bettas!

Answer 4

Is 20 x 40 cm something like 8 x 16 inches? If so, all you need in there is the betta. The guppy would be attacked.

Go to www.myfishtank.net and read the part in the freshwater beginners forum that says read me first. You will learn how to keep your fish alive. It takes more than just putting them in a tank and feeding them, much more.

Answer 5

Bad, bad idea. The most likely outcome will be that the two fish will fight to the death. The male will generally win, but that beautiful tail will be absolutely shredded to pieces. If they don't fight, which is the outcome one time in a hundred, they may mate, which will result in fighting anyway when the male gets territorial protecting his bubble nest. Assuming they neither mate nor fight, the female may become eggbound. This happens when the male releases pheromones into the water (it's not deliberate, it's just what they do). The female reacts to this by producing eggs. However, if she can't release them and can't reabsorb them, which is what they normally do, she may well end up dying. Basically, it's an extremely dangerous idea. I personally have seen it work (I adopted my first betta from another lady who had previously kept her with a male, with no harm done) but success would be so rare. It's much safer not to risk either fish, and just keep them seperate.

Answer 6

i would get a divider and put two male bettas in it. you could keep some guppies in it or 2 or 3 female bettas together if you get lots of plants. female bettas usually do fine together if they have territory to call their own like plants and decorations they can hang out in.

Answer 7

please don't put the Beta in with any other fish. I was told that they were ok with gold fish and frogs so i tried both. Let me tell you ..... there was no nice peaceful feeling watching them ....so with my throbbing headache caused by the stress of it all i put the Beta in a baggie full of water and took him back to the fish store the next day.He killed my cute little frog and took chunks out of the gold fishes tail. I am told that they will even kill the females and eat the babies . They are beautiful ... there is no doubt about it but they need to be on their own .... they really don't like company : ( I had another one after that ( by itself ) but he wasn't very active .... kinda boring to watch ..... when he died i put a little gold fish in his place and it's much more active .
Have fun : )