Betta Tankmates?

[jbarr]

As some may have read already, I had to remove my (Half-Moon) betta from his previous 10g home.

I was wondering, what are some suitable tankmates for a betta in the following;
1 gal
2.5 gal
5 gal

???

Any help, experience or relatable anecdotes are both informative and welcome.

Thanks.

 

[eah]

I would say you are very, very limited with putting tankmates in the 1gallon or 2.5 gallon. Maybe a snail? But, I'm not the person to ask about snails since I know *nothing* about them.

For the five gallon, I think you would have some choices though. I have my betta housed with a school of tetras, a gourami, a group of cories, and a small pleco. But, that's in my 55 gallon tank and none of those would be good for a five gallon.

Basically, I would say try for a peaceful fish that does not have long fins (i.e. no male guppies) and stays small. I tend to stick to the 1" of fish per gallon as a rough rule, so if you figure the betta is taking up half of that, you can plan accordingly. The only thing I would strongly recommend is having a backup plan for the tankmate in case your betta takes a strong dislike to him/her. It seems that some betta are totally calm and peaceful like the guy have and that others don't want any other fish near them, whether they have long fins or not!

There have been a few topics on this exact question lately so you might try searching for betta and tankmate and see what you find! Good luck!!

 

[triazole]

1g - none
2.5g - some shrimp (if planted - need refuge if harassed)
5g - neons, rasboras, other peaceful, but slow-moving fish (please check local listings).

one of my roommate's bettas jumped out from its 1g bowl, so keep all of them covered .

 

[DepotFish]

1g-same as above; none
2.5-a platy, shrimp, or snail
5g-any smaller fish; platy, molly, tetras, though you need to find fish that are not nippy

 

[An t-iasg]

I would not house any other fish with a betta in a 5 gallon tank. Even peaceful bettas can be aggressive to other fish in such a small space. The most important thing to remember with putting tankmates with a betta is that you must have another tank available in case the pairing doesn't work out. I've seen tetras getting nippy with bettas in a small tank; mollies may get too big for a 5 gallon tank. A platy can quickly over-populate the tank, and you can't always be sure that a female platy is not pregnant when you get her.