Stocking tank

[crazychris]

What other fish can I put in my tank with a male Betta without killing the poor guy?

 

[maestromad]

I have a male betta in a 20gal with cherry rasboras, he's a very chilled out guy so I'm quite lucky. I've read they ae good with tetras also, just don't put anything will long fins in that it may think is another male like guppies

 

[crazychris]

Man I should've never have listened to the people at PetSmart!!!!!!! They told me guppies would be fine to go in there. So now I have them is my tank. Are those cherry barbs that you have? I have 3 in my 55 gallon with about 12 redtail and rainbow sharks combined.

 

[maestromad]

Sorry auto correct messed up they are chilli rasboras don't put barbs in as they are fin nippers!

 

[crazychris]

Yeah I figured that out with the barbs. Lol. I did that and had to remove the Betta since I didn't want to kill the barbs by flushing them. Lol. So tetras are the way to go as far as getting along with the Betta. Are there any others that would be a good match?

 

[Scottyhorse]

Not all barbs.

Anyways, the betta will nip the guppies fins.

And you reallllllly can't keep any types of sharks in a 55 gal. You need to re-home them.

 

[crazychris]

Will all of the sharks out grow the 55? I thought the 55 was plenty big enough for them.

 

[Rivercats]

Adding any fish with a betta is hit and miss. It will all depend on the individual personality of the betta in question. Some are mellow and will tolerate other fish and then others won't tolerate any other fish. Fish that are brightly colored or with flowy fins tend to be more readily targeted by aggressive bettas. One fish that "most" bettas will tolerate are cory cats. Since most cory's are not brightly colored and stay mainly in the bottom of the tank bettas tend to leave them along.

As for the sharks... technically they can be housed in a 55g but your biggest issue is the fact you have 12 of them. As they grow and age aggression will become really bad and less dominant sharks will be harassed, possibly attacked, and even possibly killed. IMO you need to pick your favorite shark and rehome the other 11.

 

[bobbyj206]

I have a male king betta and 4 female bettas in my 29 with 8 gold pristella tetras and 8 fancy guppies and 2 endler cobras. All are peaceful with no casualties. I have also had black skirts and serpaes with my bettas, but they were too nippy for my liking. Oh, ember tetras are also good with bettas.

 

[crazychris]

Thank you for the info and I'm saving this so I can remember what to get so the Betta won't kill them. Lol.

 

[crazychris]

Wow that's interesting about the sharks since I've always was told 6 or 1 to a tank. I've never had another shark kill another one but have seen where the weakest one never gets to eat and is harassed by the dominant shark. None of mine seem to be fighting or atleast while I'm there watching them during the day.

 

[Rivercats]

Alot depends on the individual temperments of the sharks. But 12 sharks in a 55g is still way too many whether they get along or not. They will grow and the adult size is just too big IMO for more than 1 in that tank.

 

[crazychris]

Ok. I guess I'll be looking to get rid of this tank then. Looks like I'll be getting a 75 gallon tank.

 

[MurderComplication]

Most tetra's should be fine - but stay away from Molly's and guppies. The look very similar to a female beta.

 

[crazychris]

I guess I should've asked this question before I went to petnotsosmart. Man are they full of wrong answers every time I go there. I'm guessing that plants don't do much for algae or nitrates in you water either since they told me that too.

 

[MurderComplication]

I guess I should've asked this question before I went to petnotsosmart. Man are they full of wrong answers every time I go there. I'm guessing that plants don't do much for algae or nitrates in you water either since they told me that too.

I don't know about Nitrates, but! Plants can help decrease algae. They take nutrients out of the water so the plants can grow which takes the nutrients away from the algae.

 

[crazychris]

Well it's good to know that they had one thing right on the plant aspect. They caused me to kill half of my fish already. There's Norway you can put a few fish in you tank after a week of letting it run its course. That really got me mad cause I lost some really cool fish.

 

[crazychris]

I just hope my plant makes it through the weekend so I can feed it some plant food. My fish are over that thing tearing it apart.

 

[Majbarsalona]

Plants do remove nitrates from the water and not to beat a dead horse but there should only be one rainbow or red tailed shark per tank or they will eventually kill each other, trust me I've been in a similar situation before. You should research bala sharks and Denison barbs. I know they do well in schools I'm just not sure of bala sharks tank requirements

 

[Rivercats]

Plants actually use ammonia and nitrates. But if there are excess nutrients in the water, more than plants can use, and or if lights are left on too long daily, you can still have algae issues. If you use a liquid carbon such as Excel, it actually aids in photosynthesis and plant growth which means the plants actually need and use more nutrients from the water helping the plants to out compete algae.