Single Betta in Community Tank

[CatoeSc]

Has anybody taken this gamble? LFS had a male betta that he had moved to one of his community tanks. All the fish in the community tank were fine - no nipped fins - no sudden deaths .

My wife really liked him. The guy, who has been very accurate in all his advice so far, said that a single male in a large community aquarium would generally be okay since he doesn't actually have any competition.

We put him in today - primarily with swords and mollys - a few cardinal tetras and otos (40 gallon breeder).

I fear waking in the morning to a proud betta swimming through the bodies of several dead tankmates! I trust the guy at the store, and the betta seems to be pretty much minding his own business so far and is pretty docile.

Anybody have any thoughts on this one?

 

[Nolaboi]

He should be ok with the other fish but don't add another one like him they will fight

 

[CatoeSc]

I hope so. He really does add a lot of color to the tank. He's a beautiful purple color that you just won't get in many freshwater fish. Frankly, he seems much less snippy than the serpae tetras I have in the tank.

 

[gman42]

I had a male betta in a community tank and he did great

 

[bobbyj206]

I have had my male in my community for a few months with no problems. Watch out for the serpaes tho. I had 7 in my community and they were too nippy for my liking.

 

[Cynic]

My male betta lasted less than a night from my black widow tetras (My guess as to the culprits)

 

[Scottyhorse]

Male bettas generally do great in community tanks. You just need to make sure no fish will nip fins (i.e Serpae Tetras) and no fish look like male bettas.

 

[Hholly]

Male bettas generally do great in community tanks. You just need to make sure no fish will nip fins (i.e Serpae Tetras) and no fish look like male bettas.

Yep. I've had more trouble with the Betta being nipped than the other way around.

 

[CatoeSc]

Thanks everybody for your responses. I was thinking about replacing the serpae tetras with lonfin danios. I hoped than might get rid of some potential nipping. Any thoughts?

 

[bobbyj206]

I used to have zebra danios, but they were a little too zippy for my 20 long. I was afraid they would nip at my bettas.

 

[Cynic]

Male bettas generally do great in community tanks. You just need to make sure no fish will nip fins (i.e Serpae Tetras) and no fish look like male bettas.

That's not true in my experience. If you pick safe-ish stocking success tends to be around 50%...if you pick unsafe stocking you're hoping to be a rare exception.