Betta Sorority or Tiger Barb Tank?

[Hyper27]

I have come to a decision that I will keep smaller fish in my 29 gallon tank. However, I was wondering if I should keep a Colorful Betta Sorority or an Active Tiger Barb (consisting of Albino, Regular and Green Tiger barbs) tank. If I go with the bettas, I will possibly be saving them from death and if I go with the Tiger Barbs, there will not be as much aggression/ pecking order (I think). What would you guys recommend? I know that I have to cycle the tank etc. before adding fish and the acclimation processes.
Thanks,
Hyper27

P.S. would a school of Albino Cories be good with either one too?

 

[Wolfsblood]

I had a betta sorority and it was a fun tank. It's nice because you can have a great assorment of colors. I had a school of Corys in with my sorority and they got along fine. I have heard that Tiger Barbs and Corys don't do all that well together but have no first hand experience.

I think its going to come down to wanting various bright colored fish or nice schools.

 

[Hyper27]

I had a betta sorority and it was a fun tank. It's nice because you can have a great assorment of colors. I had a school of Corys in with my sorority and they got along fine. I have heard that Tiger Barbs and Corys don't do all that well together but have no first hand experience.

I think its going to come down to wanting various bright colored fish or nice schools.

How long did it last, and were there a lot of disputes within? I also agree on various colors vs the nice school part, but I just wanted to know do things settle down later or is it still unpredictable. Thank you for the response, btw
Hyper27

 

[Alyxx]

I have a sorority in my 56 gallon tank with 9 female bettas, neon tetras, and bristlenose plecos. I started with 6 bettas and two killed each other by the second day, but the remaining four chilled out. I have since added 5 more with little aggression after each addition. There is pretty consistent fin nipping and chasing, but no real damage.

On the other hand I had a sorority once before in a 20 gallon tall tank and the 5 females killed each other within a month.

As long as you have plenty of hiding spaces I would try the bettas. I wouldn't do less than 5, though. The more females you have the more aggression gets spread out over the less dominant fish.

 

[DavidAl]

You can do either one and they'll both be fine with cories. I prefer to keep my fish as designed, and not altered, so the natural-looking type gets my vote. As for the bettas, most people keep the sorority in different colors, but I personally think they look better wearing the same color. Again, it just looks more natural than, say, many fish of the same species each wearing a different color. Perhaps that is why all these man-made livebearers do nothing for me...

David

 

[Alyxx]

You can do either one and they'll both be fine with cories. I prefer to keep my fish as designed, and not altered, so the natural-looking type gets my vote. As for the bettas, most people keep the sorority in different colors, but I personally think they look better wearing the same color. Again, it just looks more natural than, say, many fish of the same species each wearing a different color. Perhaps that is why all these man-made livebearers do nothing for me...

David

I agree that a sorority with a bunch of females in the same color would be gorgeous! I have a nice mix of colors, though, since I wanted a lot of genes to play around with for breeding purposes.

 

[Wolfsblood]

I had my sorority for about a year. I never had any trouble with it aside from the first 15 minutes of introduction. I did 5 of them in a 15g long. I ended up giving the tank and fish to my buddy to make room for my 56 gallon. He decided to add 3 guppies and 5 tetras all at the same time one day which caused the tank to crash(still don't know why he did this) I am thinking about doing another sorority in one of my tanks that I just switched from salt to fresh. They are fun to watch and are very personable. If you do decide to do it read as much as you can about introducing them. You can also message me and I will tell you what worked for me.

 

[Hyper27]

So if I want to keep a betta sorority have a lot of hiding space and a good amount of bettas. Additionally, aren't the first 15-30 min the worst?

 

[Alyxx]

So if I want to keep a betta sorority have a lot of hiding space and a good amount of bettas. Additionally, aren't the first 15-30 min the worst?

Pretty much. The first hour or so will be when you see them try to establish a pecking order, although squabbles may last longer. This time around I had two that just focused on each other and ended up dead by day two, but they seemed to be the only two real bullies. Once they were gone it all cooled down.

 

[DavidAl]

It's unpredictable. I've seen fish turn on their tankmates after years of living together. Just keep an eye on them and have a contingency plan if things turn for the worse.

David

 

[bettaowner]

I would honestly choose the tiger barb tank. With large schools of tiger barbs, aggression is divided so you shouldn't have a small stressed out barb.