what fish are compatible with my crowntail betta in a 55 g aquarium (4 ft long)?

Question

i already have a five gallon hex aquarium that i got from walmart where i work. i was talking to another employee and he was enthused about my new hobby, so he gave me his 55 gallon aquarium (free) :) im looking for a bunch of different fish to put in there. so far ive been thinking some glow light tetras, khuli loaches and some ghost shrimp but i wanted to be assured of their compatibility so basically im open for any suggestions i did a bunch of googling and got tired of searching for answers.

the reason im so concerned and all is because i have two dwarf gouramis in the five gallon and i dont want all my fish fighting especially not my betta. so far the gouramis have left gillis alone and he chases them around the tank when they get too close but so far minimal nipping. also any cool plants to add to this new tank would be nice. hope all that made sense lol. thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You should be fine with all of those fish. You're gonna be stuck with Tetras and a few smaller barbs. Heck, in a 55 gallon tank, I've seen people get away with 2 or 3 male bettas. I don't recommend it, but you could do it, especially if you had enough hiding spots.

Stay away from these fish:
Cichlids (including Angels), Tiger Barbs, Buenos Aires Tetras, Fancy Tail Guppies, Mollies, Serpae Tetras... Basically stick only with community, no semi-aggressive. Stay away from any type of goldfish too.

I'd get 2 nice big schools of tetras in there and a school of corys. Make sure you get some algae eaters (Plecos, otocinclus, snails)

You're not going to be able to get too many "cool" live plants in there unless you're willing to invest the time and money in a planted aquarium. You'll need plant growing lights, CO2 injection, fertalizers, laterite, submersible outlet canister filters (no surface aggitation), pH monitors, and usually algae eating shrimp. I have one of those tanks, they're a lot of work, but man are they worth it. Still, a 55 gallon tank is really big for a planted tank.

With your set up, WalMart actually sells some plants that aren't bad and will work, they come as just the root/bulb and grow. Other than that, you're going to have to research "Low Light Plants" Plants like Java Fern, Bananna Plants... Maybe an amazon sword plant. I recommend getting live plants though, they help with everything.

Answer 2

Jut a note - and in your larger tank they might fare better so this may not apply, but I put a ghost shrimp in with a betta in a ten gallon tank. I thought there were enough plants and other hidey cover, but the shrimp was promptly eaten by the betta just the same. At least, that's what the crime scene indicated the next morning. There wasn't much left of the shrimp when I looked for it. Mind you, I never was sure if the betta was being territorial or just hungry, but that's probably a moot point for the shrimp.

Answer 3

My suggestion is leaving your male betta in the 5 gallon tank and transfering your gouramis into the 55 gallon tank, which is really really big and nice to work with
all the fish you have so far are definately compatible with each othere
your 2 gouramis
6 glowlight tetras (schooling fish)
5 kuhli loaches (they like to school as well and aren't as skittish if they have companions)
ghost shrimp as many as you want
you could add 2 more different tetras also at least 6 of them like short finned serpae tetras, black skirt tetras, neons,......
2 schools of danios, like zebra danios, blue danios,...
6 cory cats like pepper cory's

then there are mollies, guppies, platies,....
the list goes on and on, you have lots of choices there

Pick some of them out and see how you like them, and then tell us what decision you made on putting in


As for plants:
anubis, amazon sword, breeding grass, watersprite, onion plant, ......
it all depends on what lightning you have
you should have at least 2 watt per gallon



Hope that helps
Good luck


EB



feel free to email me for further help or follow the link in my profile

Answer 4

Dont put anything in with a Betta except another Betta of the opposite sex. Two males or two females will kill each other---or any other fish for that matter. Even if they are of opposite sex they will kill each other after breeding.