Bettas with community fish?

[Anna94]

Can I keep a betta fish with community fish like platys, GloFish tetras and/or danios, and cardinal tetras?

 

[Andy Sager]

When it comes to keeping Bettas, any Betta can become a monster and kill off fish , usually colorful fish, that it sees as a threat. So if you want a guarantee, then I wouldn't. Bettas are really more a specialized fish and should be looked at that way ( IMO). For every one story of success, I can assure you there is another one of failure. They don't call them Siamese Fighting Fish for no reason.

 

[Meesh]

I'll disagree. I have a Betta with seven Zebra Danios and three Clown Loaches and everyone is peaceful. He minds his own business for the most part. It is a large tank though, 56 gallon. It's planted and there are lots of hiding places. It may be a different matter in a 10 or 20 gallon tank.

 

[TMaier]

I have kept Bettas with neons, cardinals and Khuli loaches and never had a problem.

 

[Andy Sager]

I'll disagree. I have a Betta with seven Zebra Danios and three Clown Loaches and everyone is peaceful. He minds his own business for the most part. It is a large tank though, 56 gallon. It's planted and there are lots of hiding places. It may be a different matter in a 10 or 20 gallon tank.

I have kept Bettas with neons, cardinals and Khuli loaches and never had a problem.

What you have to remember is that the Betta's entire existence in the hobby dates back to the fish that were selectively bred to fight better with each other. ( Their natural behavior.) In today's fish, some of them have lost that instinct while others can be ferocious. I even lost a beautiful male to the female I was trying to breed him with. She tore him up to shreds then killed him when he tried to defend himself. It all happened right before my eyes and I couldn't save him. I also had a male chasing down an adult Anglefish across a 4' long tank. That didn't end well for the Betta. He was killed by the Angels the next day.
So as I said in my post, if you want a guarantee that nothing will happen, there is none. Any fish that has color to them or fancy fins ( ie Guppies, long finned fish, Neons, Cardinals, etc) can become a victim.