New to Bettas , stocking advice

[odin909]

Hey
Got a veiltale Betta in a 10 gallon , i put him with 3 chain loaches and 3 pristila tetras , 1 mystery snail . Also have 2 anubis plants and a morimo moss ball .
Am i fully stocked or overstocked ? any advice would be great

[fishingBuds]

Originally Posted by odin909

Hey
Got a veiltale Betta in a 10 gallon , i put him with 3 chain loaches and 3 pristila tetras , 1 mystery snail . Also have 2 anubis plants and a morimo moss ball .
Am i fully stocked or overstocked ? any advice would be great

U can have way more plants, 1 more loach and check how your tank response is changing and in, lets say 21 days, you will make sure how your tank is running.

About the tetras, i would recommend more 2 or so, cause they can start nipping on the betta's fin, however they wont be so nippy with more tetras around them, simply because they will be distracted by the other tetras and will relate between them instead of the betta.

Serpae tetras will destroy your betta instead of pristela tetras, they are way peaceful. Just make sure they have their own space and territory (achieved by plants, furniture, whatever)

Try to buy plants like hygrophillas, that are big and create shades with a lot of space for territory demarcation and logs that will tannins the water and divide even more the territory. Try to make sure it is harmonically together, the plants, the soil, the logs and the fish.

[odin909]

thanks for some ideas . My betta seems very aggressive , i dont see the tetras doing anything to him . But ill keep a watch . Ill look into getting more plants . glad im not overstocked . thanx

[odin909]

Well my betta killed 2 of the 3 loaches . I got 3 mytstery/gold snails to replace them . What can i get to clean the bottom ?

[fishingBuds]

Omg hahahahahaha
Your betta need space or it's stressed.
Check the water parameters again, make sure everything is right.

If he needs space, you have to fill this tank with something that will live in a symbiotic relationship. Plants, logs, rocks...not too much surface agitation and they wont appreciate too much light. My betta lives with a 5 hour light time daily, making nests, interacting with the plants and with me, eating a lot, no issues.

U can have some srhimps (same size as the ghost shrimp, any smaller will be food for him) snails, any fish faster than betta will do the work. I guess he didn't kill your tetras cause they are faster.

Try to use nature in your favor, i use 2 aggressive fish with 2 cory, they would kill the cory. However my substrate is black and the cory's colors are dark and dark grey which looks exactly like my substrate, the other fish can't notice them if not by half a inch apart from each other.