A Betta For The Community Tank?

[blackteles]

Need advice from the Betta experts! Been a long time since I've had a Betta, but I'm thinking of adding one male to my upcoming 55 gallon community tank.

Here's what I'll have in it:

Neon Tetras

Cardinal Tetras

Glowlight Tetras

Black Neon Tetras

Bloodfin Tetras

Penguin Tetras

Zebra Danios

Cory Cats

Sound peaceful enough to add a red (no wait, blue) male betta? Will it work?

-Dennis

[Chrissy_Bee]

It might work. None of those fish have real flowing fins or are in the same family as the betta.

I added my betta to my community tank a few years ago with bad results. He ate the tails off my guppies and constantly harassed my gourami

BUT he didn't bother the tetras or cories, so that's good news for you.

[Wallaby]

I've never had tetras so I can't help you out there but I did have my betta in with some cories for a while and that wasn't the best ever. =( I think it was mostly becuase he's a little wimp and when I first put him in with the cories, I also had Cherry Barbs that ended up basically attacking him so I think he might have gotten a "I'm gonna get them before they get me" sort of complex.

All he would do to the cories was chase them when he saw them, he never actually attacked them or anything, just chased them.

I think with the right set of fish and the right betta it could work out beautifully. My best friend has a betta in with some platies and that's been working out really well for her.

[EdgarTheFish]

I was just speaking with a marine biology professor about this at my college when I noticed a betta in one of his big tanks. He had let the betta adjust to the tank by putting it in one of those plastic strawberry containers (like trapping it in it and hanging the straberry cup on the side of the tank). The holes let the fish see the other fish, and the other fish could see it, but the holes also weren't big enough for the betta to get stuck or caught in. Maybe there's a way to set up something like that? His betta has been there for a week so far out of the container. He said he did it at his house with his personal tank and after keeping the betta in the strawberry thing until it stopped flaring up or acting aggressive when the other fish came near. We do this at my house with cats lol, put newcomers in a cage until they play nice. Since betta's are so territorial, maybe you should add the betta last for sure?

[Pearlscaleperfect]

:\ I think it honestly depends on the individual fish. Some betta will adjust fine, while others will be constantly stressed and harrassing everyone. I've found females do a little bit better in community tanks than males do.

[lclayton]

I have had a few bettas in community tanks. One guy just did not work out, he was very stressed (not aggressive though) and was happier in a smaller tank on his own. Another guy was seriously chilled out about the whole thing, never bothered any fish, but got so picked on by my guppies that I had to take him out. The guy I have now lived in a 10 gallon with about a dozen 1" platy fry for about a month while I was moving house and he was fine about that and the other fish never bothered him either.

It really depends on the temperament of your betta, none of mine have ever bothered cory cats or indeed any other fish, if anything it has been fin nipping and chasing from existing tank members that are the problem. If you put him in watch him closely for a day and see how the other tank members take to him, but I don't see why it can't work out.

[arabpaso]

It really does depend on the individual betta like others have said. I had one female that got along fine with everyone except a swordtail male that kept chasing and nipping at her. But I had a male betta that would chase the swordtails! My other female attacked my guppies so is now in a community tank with hatchetfish and danios and she leaves them alone. I did have a girl betta that would push my cories around at feeding time though so she could get their sinking pellet--then she would pick it up in her mouth and carry it away!!