Need help with fish betta?

Question

I want to know if I can put a pleco in the tank with my male betta fish. The tank is about 5 gallons and he is about a year old. When I first bought my betta last year about a week after I got him I put a algea eater in his tank and I forgot the name of the other fish, but it was small and zipped around the tank eating algea from the plants and was like white in color. Any ways I want to stay the night at my boyfriend (husband now) at the time and when I got back home the little fish was dead and a few hours later the algea eater was dead also. So I am guessing that my betta killed them, but I am not to sure. So can I put a pleco in with him? or will he just kill it? I don't wanna go out and buy a pleco and just have it die on me. Any one have them together?

Answer 1

Nope, you can't put a pleco in anything less than a 20g tank, all of then get big and common plecos can get 18 inches long.

the Algae eater you got was liekly a Chinese Algae Eater and it prolly killed your otherfish and then died from its injuries from the fight. The CAE is little terror and nobody should put these things into a tank with peaceful fish.

I recomend a nerite snail for algae control in your betta tanks. These little guys are great for that. Bettas can't kill them if yours are prone to eating snails

Answer 2

your best bet is to just ask the petco or petsmart fish department manager in your area store
if you don't want to do that then go to the store and pick up a book on bettas-you don't have to buy the book just flip through the chapter on tank mates and see what it says:
I don't know much about plecos but i do know this about betta tank mates:
nothing bigger
nothing aggressive
nothing colorful
nothing with large or flowing fins
nothing pretty
-so basically if a pleco is a dull, boring, passive fish then it should be oh-kay--but keep in mind the longer the betta has been on it's own the harder it will be to give him a tank mate and have it work out oh-kay---also, remember, one inch of fish per one gallon of tank: this means that if you have a five gallon tank you should be able to line up all your fish from tail fin to nose and they should not measure up to more than five inches
good luck

Answer 3

a pleco is fine as they are too large for the beta to eat and they look like rocks or a log anyways so the beta won't feel threatened.

Answer 4

I agree with palor, snails would be your best bet.

MM