20 long tank with Betta & Corydora

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JenniMarie

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Oct 16, 2016
Messages
5
Hi! My name's Jennifer. I'm new here.
I have a Betta in a 5 gallon with a corydora.(I realize the Corydora should be in a bigger tank with more of its kind, I have seen the error of my ways, please don't jump down my throat)
Yesterday I purchased a 20 long tank to move my Betta over too along with the Cory where I will be adding 4-5 more corydoras, maybe more.
I came here to ask what would be the best tank mates for my male betta & the corydora?
He seems timid & does well with my corydora. I still have to get everything for the new tank.
I'll be getting new substrate, new heater, decor, the whole 9 yards
So any reccomendations on that would be great too.
Thanks![emoji2]

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That's awesome! That betta is gonna b pumped for all of that room.

Since you mentioned he was shy, active mid ground swimmers like tetras might stress him about a bit. Neons might work as they are smaller and from what I recall, they didn't dart around like danios.
Could do a group of hatchets as they stick to the surface like glue but they are avid jumpers so you'll need a full lid.
Snails could be something too.

Make sure the tank is cycled before you move him over [emoji1]
 
So happy that you found us and joined the community!

Your Betta will learn to enjoy the extra space, and Cory will be happy to have a bunch of pals to hang out with!!!

Your Betta may become less shy over time.

How long have you had him?

After living for so long in very small quarters they aren't always used to having so much extra room to actually swim across the tank, and their muscles need to get used to to extra activity and most often they really do swim around a lot. Sometimes you get one which has a really long tail and it seems to slow him down a bit or one doesn't swim as much.

Not all Betta want tank mates which swim around their territory (the whole tank).

Sometimes they are very pleasant natured and enjoy the company of other fish. I had a Betta that would swim around with a pack of around 5-6 Male Guppies like he was one of their pals, they were VERY active and he would get tired and go rest in his log till he felt like swimming around again. Sometimes on his own but frequently all together.

Their personalities are very different.

One wouldn't even allow a snail to be in his tank. Not even a tiny one (or a bigger one either).

One was peaceable with the tank mates including shrimp and snails for many months, until the time he decided he didn't want tank mates and pretty much over night killed everything in the tank.

All the stories, just so you know, it is all up to the Fighting fish.

I would just make sure there are rocks and hiding places all around just in case he gets cranky.

Oh and the little Betta logs are great, they love being near the top of the water and having a convenient place to rest.

Having a few stem plants floating in the top of the tank is something he can rest in too.
 
So happy that you found us and joined the community!

Your Betta will learn to enjoy the extra space, and Cory will be happy to have a bunch of pals to hang out with!!!

Your Betta may become less shy over time.

How long have you had him?

After living for so long in very small quarters they aren't always used to having so much extra room to actually swim across the tank, and their muscles need to get used to to extra activity and most often they really do swim around a lot. Sometimes you get one which has a really long tail and it seems to slow him down a bit or one doesn't swim as much.

Not all Betta want tank mates which swim around their territory (the whole tank).

Sometimes they are very pleasant natured and enjoy the company of other fish. I had a Betta that would swim around with a pack of around 5-6 Male Guppies like he was one of their pals, they were VERY active and he would get tired and go rest in his log till he felt like swimming around again. Sometimes on his own but frequently all together.

Their personalities are very different.

One wouldn't even allow a snail to be in his tank. Not even a tiny one (or a bigger one either).

One was peaceable with the tank mates including shrimp and snails for many months, until the time he decided he didn't want tank mates and pretty much over night killed everything in the tank.

All the stories, just so you know, it is all up to the Fighting fish.

I would just make sure there are rocks and hiding places all around just in case he gets cranky.

Oh and the little Betta logs are great, they love being near the top of the water and having a convenient place to rest.

Having a few stem plants floating in the top of the tank is something he can rest in too.
Hi! I've had him about a month now. He seems to do extremely well with the corydora so I figured I'd try out a couple of tank mates.
I have sunburst guppies in my 30 gallon community tank. Should I try them in there with him to see how it goes?
He's really sweet & doesn't mind the corydora. I'll be getting him a log & a floating leaf for sure, but looking for other things for the tank too. This tank will be set up differently than my other tanks. It'll be open on both sides instead of a background but I'll put plenty of hidey holes & foliage for them to hide.
I know plastic is bad for the betta due to his fins, so I'll be looking towards silk probably.
Will also probably be going with bare bottom or gravel.
 
Oh! Let me specify this so it doesn't get taken the wrong way, I mean when I get the 20 gallon set up & fully running, should I put the guppies in there to see how handles them? I thought guppies were a big no since they're brightly colored.
 
Like another person mentioned, each betta can be different in how they react to tankmates. Yours sounds pretty chill, but it's hard to predict how he'll react to the guppies: he might take the bright colors and big tail as another male betta challenging him. If you do, keep an eye on the tank and be ready to move the guppies if he gets aggressive.
 
My wife has 6 neon;s 5 albino cory's 3 MTS 2 rams horn snails & 2 BN pleco's presently. 29 G
the 2 BN's when introduced he went & nudged 1 & It Scooted off havnt seen him pay attn to any of the others since even if they are stealing grub from his feeding ring.
 
If the Betta is gonna be aggressive toward a guppy, it probably won't like other fish either.

One way to introduce a guppy or other fish to get an idea if YOUR Betta is going to be aggressive is to put the Betta (or fish, depending on if you are at the store or at home, up next to the tanks, using a holding container/Jar/cup. Does the Betta flare and go crazy up against the side of the container/tank???

If you are trying to select a Betta at the store try for a calm one which isn't really caring about the other fish. Again he may be so stressed he won't be behaving as his natural self. Personality can be different based on circumstances the fish is in.

If he is acting aggressively you might not have a community tank winner, lol. Hoping that gives you some ideas to start out with.

There are colorful females Bettas not to be mixed with males. (not sure if you were gonna keep any fish in the 5G) Though not always nice behaving to other fish.

So in this way you do not have to get the Guppy killed if the Betta doesn't want a tank mate.

In addition, it is not unusual for a Betta to do what I refer to as stomp at the other fish, like a bully on the play ground thrusting forward and stomping a foot forward on the ground and flinging a fist out towards the other in a scary threatening way. The fish just jerks forward toward the other fish to scare it off and check it out. Then follow it and do it again, and again. After awhile it just leave the other fish alone.

Guppies probably don't even notice it as a threat, so often good natured as they are.

P.S. Other fish might be Neon Tetras as a shoal with about 10 or 12 as a couple always seem to die after bringing them home. Wait untill you have a consecutively stable number of weeks with out any issues.
 
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Betta can go with most tetras. I moved my Betta from a 2gal to my community 55gal. I used to have many other breeds in there, but I only hVe ember tetra, cadinals and rummy noses now.

It took about 3 days for the Betta to get used to the new space.. now, I see him chase the rummy noses every now and then. He will also attack the weaker ember tetras.
 
Ive heard that "most" Corey dont do well in the same temps that betta require.
(Any one know for sure?
Corey at abt 71 degrees and Betta at 80?)
 
Depends on the specific species of corydoras. I typically keep my bettas at 78, and one reference work I have says Panda corys do well at temps up to 79. Planet Catfish has a good online database you could search for species and their requirements.
 
Depends on the specific species of corydoras. I typically keep my bettas at 78, and one reference work I have says Panda corys do well at temps up to 79. Planet Catfish has a good online database you could search for species and their requirements.
See i had a panda and was told he didnt do well so i took him back to the lfs :'(
 
Well, when I looked at Planet Catfish, they listed max temp as 77, so you'll get some differences of opinion. This is not an exact science. Whatever corys you get, buy at least five, because they're much happier in a group. Also watch to see how the betta treats them: some are fine with tankmates, others become little serial killers. :eek:
 
Every betta is different.
and guppies can vary on aggression
I have a guppy/betta community but it is in a 55 gallon and my betta did nip some fins the first couple of days (I lost a female from a resulting bacterial infection from one such nip). to minimize possible aggression of guppies. Keep them in at least a group of five and if you want to have more keep them in odd numbers (this is from a bunch of research that I did)


if you get corydoras make sure you have a fine/soft substrate like sand or else it will damage their barbels (whiskers)
To make your betta feel more comfortable and to maximize your ability to integrate other fish try to have as many plants as possible
Do you have a filter in your tank? if you do make sure you betta isn't going to be tossed around by the outflow (could be fixed with something as simple as a sponge)


you are right corydoras are best kept in groups....and most people would say 3-5 is a minimum. This is often a conservative estimate because petstores try to get an average person to say yes to as many as they can and most people probably wouldnt' want to get the actual number that would make the animal most comfortable. I have 5 corydoras and plan on increasing the number to 10 because from all the research that I have done that seems to be a the real lowball estimate that they would be comfortable in. corydoras will school together.

Tetras are very similar to corydoras when it comes to numbers. Though some tetras are known to be fin nippers and the smaller numbers you keep them in the more likely they are to fin nip. I would say neon tetras would be your best bet and the lowball estimate that most people go by is 5-7...while some people say 3 is okay. a lot of real fish keepers say you need 8-10 to really see their more natural behavior...while other say as high as 15.

If I was stocking the tank for myself I would make sure it is pretty well planted. I would probably also use a filter that was ranked higher than the tank its for (but make sure the outflow isn't too strong for a betta). I would probably understock the tank and only add one group of fish at a time, saving the betta for last so he wouldn't be territorial when new fish are introduced.

For stocking: you could have 1 betta (lets give him like 5 gallons by himself to insure he's comfortable)
5 guppies (5 gallons-7 gallons of space....this is more conservative )
10 neon tetras: I would say they would take up 7.5 gallons from your bioload... if you want to add more I would simply treat them as each individual fish taking up 3/4 of an inch which takes up 3/4 of a gallon...this is a conservative estimate to make sure you don't overstock
the amount of bioload a corydora can take up can depend on the cory because some are smaller than others. but i would probably treat them as one inch fish for the one inch one gallon rule

I would probably choose between neons and guppies and not choose both. I think the best looking tank would be your betta enough corydoras to school and with enough neon tetras to school. Guppies don't really school they just swim around separately in the tank.
 
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