what fish can live safely with my beta?

Question

i have a 10 gallon tank

Answer 1

Depends on:

the betta
How many spots it has to hide in the tank

In a 10 gallon, adding more fish may be risky. I would start by adding 3-4 cory catfish. They are mostly bottom dwellers (also swim around the tank) and bettas tend to leave them alone. Be prepared, however, to take them back or find the betta a new home. Some bettas tolerate community tanks better than others. In my experience, bettas do find in a community tank. I have successfully kept bettas in 20 and 55 gallon community tanks housing a variety of fish, such as: gold barbs, cordoras, yoyo loaches, dojo loaches, platys, danios, white cloud minnows.

The thing to avoid is any other fish with long flowing fins or another labyrinth fish such as gouramis. In my experience, bettas are wonderful community fish. Don't overcrowd the tank, get some silk or live plants for cover, and try to avoid extremely active fish, which mgiht spook the betta.

I would recommend (not all of these, choose 1):
African dwarf frog (or two)
Platies (2-3)
corydoras (3-4)
Ghost shrimp (5 max)
loaches (my personal favorite, yoyos would be nice in your tank, 3-4, and they are "bottom feeders". They are very active, hardy, and fun to watch)
White cloud mountain minnows (you could easily get away with 6-7 of these, and possibly 2-3 cories as well, but this might be pushing it for a 10 gallon if you're new to the hobby and the tank isn't cycled)
Neons (2-3)

I would avoid:
Guppies (long fins)
Mollies (long fins, males can be aggressive, also brackish water fish)
Gouramis (as mentioned above)
goldfish (cold water, messy, 10 gallon isn't big enough)
Plecostomus catfish (get too big, up to 18", and the smaller varieties can be difficult for a beginner to keep)
Barbs (can nip at the fins of the betta)

Might work
Danios (they are very active, but they don't bother my betta at all)

Be careful, however, not to overstock your tank. If you are going to add any of the fish I mentioned above, do so with caution and slowly to allow the tank to recover (platies, cories, loaches). Google "nitrogen cycle" Make sure to research the type of fish you want and don't get one that will get huge. If you are checking your water parameters (ammonia, nitrites) and do regular percent water changes (never the entire tank), you may be able to add more, but I would do so with caution, and would not add any more than 3-4 above what I recommended. The general rule is 1 inch of fish per gallon. This generally works for those new to the hobby and if you are keeping smaller fish. If you move into larger fish, this won't work.

It seems like you know this, but it is a common misconception to think that bettas are not good community fish and shoudl be kept in small bowls. They are usually only territorial to other bettas (and labyrinth fish), and make wonderful community fish for the most part (again, this depends on the betta, some are more aggressive than others, but in my experience, they have generally been peaceful).

You DO NOT want to mix bettas with aggressive fish. Bettas, in general are peaceful (except towards other bettas) and the aggressive fish will beat on teh betta mercilessly and probably kill it. Bettas DO NOT prefer small bowls. They DO NOT do better in small bowls. They live longer, healtheir lives in larger tanks (where the water is stable) and where they have room to swim around.

Answer 2

Betta fish are territorial toward one another. If you put them with something smaller or with less flashy fins, they will totally ignore them because there is no expressed threat.

Neons, corydorus catfish, plecos, any bottom feeder, frogs, danios, anything like that. If the fish is bigger than them, they will likely hurt the betta. If the fish is smaller than them with large flashy fins (fancy guppy, black skirt) the betta will attack them. As long as they are small and fairly dull, the betta will ignore them.

I don't recommend getting much more *** a ten gallon tank really isn't designed to have a community in. It is about the right size for a few small tetras or a couple guppies, but not a large community. For the safety of water quality I recommend you stick to adding a bottom feeder and call that enough.

Answer 3

I have had no problems with my male crowntail betta in the 29 gallon tank, which also has 3 shubunkin, 2 black moors, 2 cali fantail, 5 gold fantails, a lionhead, a algae eater, and 2 oranda. They all play and swim around the tank together. I would suggest that you test the water with the betta for as little while (30 minutes or so) to see if it reacts to the other fish meanly, if he doesn't then keep him in there, if not then he doesn't like company. The other fish could also attack him if they don't like him in the tank. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

The kind of fish that can live with a beta are mean fish. Betas a mean to begin with. So put some other mean fish in the tank too.

Answer 5

It depends alot on the particular betta's personality. I'm assuming you are talking about MALE bettas because female bettas get along with pretty much anything.

I have had success with African dwarf frogs and Ottocinclus catfish. Bettas seem to leave them alone. Dont put in shrimp of any kind...they will be killed.

right now I have a Crowntail betta and an ADF and a Otto catfish in my 3 gallon Eclipse tank. They get along great.

Answer 6

Well its risky, becasue bettas do tend to be aggressive. You would have to work out a deal with the fish store that if it didnt work out you could return the other fish. Dont get anything with long flowing tails, they will probably get torn apart, maybe try some white clouds? Or some bottom feeders like cories

Answer 7

Bettas are only agressive with other male Bettas.

In my tank I have 1 male Betta, 5 penguin tetras, 5 noen tetras, 2 mollies and 5 panda corys. All these get along extremly well.

Answer 8

My issues w/betas in a community tank is that my betas always ended up being the first to die. Betas actually are happier and safer in small fish bowls and tanks. I wouldn't suggest mixing them w/other community fish, except maybe bottom feeders that are larger or quicker than your beta. Most community fish are faster swimmers than betas which make it a bit harder for them to get food and to swim away when necessary.

Answer 9

You can try:
** 3 panda cories
** 4 cherry barbs
** 5 neon tetras
** 6 dwarf rasboras
** 6 pygmy cories

If you go with cories, be sure to buy sinking catfish wafers for them. They need a diet with both protein and algae in it to stay healthy. Also, with any of these stocking choices you'll need to stay on top of your water changes and gravel vacuuming in order to keep the water clean. More fish = dirtier water = more illnesses and deaths if you don't take care of them.

DON'T put in:
** plecosthemus (too big!)
** gourami, male or female betta (aggession problems)
** danios, larger tetras (too nippy for betta's long fins)
** minnows or goldfish (need totally different temperature & diet)

Good luck. :)

Answer 10

i have 15 neon tetras, 6 silvertip tetras, 4 zebra danios, 1 silver shark, 1 honey gourami, 2 cory catfish, 2 platys, 2 swordtails, 3 mollies, 2 female bettas and a plec with my betta