8 gallon cube, tankmates for a betta?

[Visionist]

So I wasn't originally going to get a betta for my 8g, but I saw a beautiful looking black and yellow crowntail betta that I had to get, he looks even nicer in person than in the picture(The flash makes him look a bit washed out, the yellow is a bit more vibrant). I'm now looking for tankmates for him, my LFS has Harlequin Rasboras and cardinal tetras which as far as I know would work with a school of either. I'm not sure on what number of fish I can keep with the betta and I'm looking for some other suggestions that would work with a betta. He's only in the 0.5 gallon for a day or so until I add water to my 8g
I don't want this tank to seem empty.

 

[adammorrill]

I'm not sure about fish, other than if you get some nano fish, but you might want to wait for some other peoples opinions. But I know you could do snails, maybe shrimp, if the betta doesn't eat them, or possibly a pair of African dwarf frogs. and be sure to post a pic of the tank when it's ready.

 

[Mebbid]

an 8g tank will be too small for most fish. You could try shrimp but those are pretty hit and miss. I tried adding Red Cherry shrimp to my 10g betta tank and he almost immediately started attacking them.

 

[Visionist]

an 8g tank will be too small for most fish. You could try shrimp but those are pretty hit and miss. I tried adding Red Cherry shrimp to my 10g betta tank and he almost immediately started attacking them.

Well shrimp shouldnt be with an aggressive fish like a betta anyways...

 

[adammorrill]

Well shrimp shouldnt be with an aggressive fish like a betta anyways...

That is true probably 75% of the time. But sometimes the bettas are really chill, and can be in a tank with other small fish/shrimp.

 

[Mebbid]

Well shrimp shouldnt be with an aggressive fish like a betta anyways...

Bettas have a very conspecific aggression. They are highly aggressive towards each other and fish that look like them but couldn't care less about fish that don't look like them. I keep my betta with a small school of Cory cats and he has yet to bother them, in fact he even swims around with them when they are schooling sometimes. I think that my betta just decided that shrimp were food and not tank mates.

 

[Luis.rocha002]

Beautiful betta!

 

[FishieKeeper429]

I got a 10g tank for my male delta tailed Betta named Socrates and I added him then a few other fish (two lyre tailed mollies, one male, one female, named Luke and Leia; three male albino pristella tetra named Maximus, Jupiter and Neptune) and it went horribly. He beat my Luke to death (lyre tailed mollie male) and harassed Leia (lyre tailed mollie female) and he would fin up whenever the tetras came near. Sadly I had to put him back in his little Betta keeper again (1.5g) and he is happy again. Moral of this story, I don't suggest tank mates for male Bettas. Sorry

 

[Luis.rocha002]

I have a beautiful yellow crowntail betta in a 55 gallon tank full of community fish. He has been there for about 4 months and no issues. Bettas CAN be with other fish just with ample space of course.

 

[Visionist]

So for stock at the moment I am thinking something along these lines:
Betta
1 nerite snail
School of tetras or rasbora
Some cherry or ghost shrimp depending on how aggressive my betta is towards them.

 

[Galligak]

So for stock at the moment I am thinking something along these lines:
Betta
1 nerite snail
School of tetras or rasbora
Some cherry or ghost shrimp depending on how aggressive my betta is towards them.

That's how my 8g used to be. I had 5 chili rasboras in there (they're micro small-make sure to have a cover on your filter as that's what killed most of mine). I think that if you put nano fish and shrimp you'd be good. I'd go for the RCS over the ghost as I have had very bad experiences with ghosts shredding fins (probably wasn't an actual ghost shrimp...). Just my opinion though.