Is Betta fish suitable for a comunity tank?

[Ice Man]

I Am starting 25g planted community tank. Plan so far is to fill it with 7-8 cardinal tetras, around 10 red cherry shrimps, 5 panda corrys or other small corrys and few hatchet fish. As a main "attraction" I was going to buy couple of dwarf gouramies but recently I read a lot of bad opinions about them. People complain about them getting sick and dying very quickly. Bad breed or something. In meantime I thought about Betta fish instead of gourami. I know my son would love that Question: is it ok to have Betta with community fish like tetras, hatchet fish and corrys? I don't know much about bettas and I always see them being alone in a tank. Is it possible to have two of them in a community tank? Would that be safe? If not, what other fish you suggest (around 3 inches big and some nice colors that can live in a group of two or three)
Thanks for advise.

 

[redsea]

I would go with a Gourami. It all depends on the Betta's personality if it is aggressive or not. My Gourami is semi-agressive, sometimes he chases the fish if they get too close. My Powder Blue has done quite well, I would say he is very hardy!

 

[George9]

I agree with redsea, depends on the temperment of the Betta. I would go with a gourami as well, but they do have a high chance if getting sick and not many live from the disease. But aside from that, they're very colorful and have a lot of personality!

 

[Shadey]

I haven't ever had problems with the regular bettas, but my wilds devoured cherry shrimps like delicious tiny $6 steaks.

 

[Ice Man]

I haven't ever had problems with the regular bettas, but my wilds devoured cherry shrimps like delicious tiny $6 steaks.

So, did Betta eat them? :-0

 

[Shadey]

Yep, eated them all up. ;; But they are wild-caught betta mahachai, so they were used to eating live food.

I put the bettas in a different tank, and it turns out that the cherry shrimp had babies, I guess. So technically I have more than I started with now, but all of the original ones I bought got eaten.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Bettas, also known as Chinease Fighting fish are breed for aggression. Two male bettas or a male and female in the same tank will always battle eventually. They also tend to pick on any other fish in the system that has bright colors or large bright fins. Generally speaking they do not make a great community fish, unless kept with other fish that are fairly aggressive.

 

[bumzc]

My brother bought a Plakat 5 star betta and threw it into my tank while I was out. Came home to the betta attacking my GBR but left other community fish alone. I assume the GBR has the same features of a betta that's why he was going after them.