Betta - tank mate?

[Annmarie]

I recently bought this guy - I believe he’s a plakat Betta. I was looking for a Betta but was thinking more veil tail, but this little guy just really appealed to me so I picked him. I had been planning on keeping him in my 88l planted tank and maybe introducing a bristlenose plec and possibly some harlequin rasbora, but after a bit more research I’m realising the plakats are some of the more aggressive bettas and I’m now wondering if I should risk it or keep him alone? Any thoughts? My other thought was to try him with a couple of African dwarf frogs, but I don’t know much about them and keep reading conflicting advice online.
Has anyone had any experience of plakats in with a few community fish?

[CanadianScots]

I have a 29 gallon setup with a betta, 2 dwarf African underwater frogs, a clown pleco, a nerite snail, and now adding in Cardinal tetras and my betta doesn’t bother anyone and isn’t aggressive. He just swims around the whole aquarium and does his thing. This is just my experience but a betta is fine with other peaceful fish/animals if there are plenty of plants and decorations/hiding spots and it’s not a small cramped aquarium.

[Colin_T]

First time I have seen this post and it's apparently been around for a couple of weeks, weird.

Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens) are named appropriately. They are highly territorial and don't like other brightly coloured fish or other male fish coming into their territory. Sometimes you get one that is fine in a community tank, but you can't tell whether the fish you have is going to be a happy camper or a serial killer. They are best kept on their own so they don't freak out and go on a rampage.

The plakat part of the name is simply the short fin. Any betta splendens with short fins is a plakat. They normally use the short fin bettas for fighting because they are quicker and more maneuverable, but any Betta can fight and kill.

Frogs should not be kept with fish. If the fish get sick, the medications used to treat them usually kill the frog. Frogs are generally cleaner (have fewer parasites) than fish and don't tolerate medications well at all. Frogs also eat small fish and shrimp so if something small swims past the frog, it will probably get chomped.

Frogs on their own, Bettas on their own.

[Annmarie]

Thanks for your replies - like you said Colin the post was there a while so I’d already spoken to people in my LFS and acted on that. Luckily it’s working out fine. My fighting fish seems to be more of a mildly moody when hungry fish. 🤣
I ended up adding a small group of hengeli rasbora, very carefully with a net on standby in case I needed to remove them to my bigger tank - followed by some cherry shrimp a week or so after that. Tootles (fighter) swims around them, past them, sometimes among them but couldn’t care less. The shrimp will swim freely in the open spaces and neither seems to care about the other. I even accidentally shot a video of Tootles swimming around and going to rest on a leaf alongside a shrimp. They sit for a moment or so before he simply swims away. It’s a lovely looking tank, I’m really pleased he seems to be happy with tank mates.

[Colin_T]

Originally Posted by Annmarie

Thanks for your replies - like you said Colin the post was there a while so I’d already spoken to people in my LFS and acted on that. Luckily it’s working out fine. My fighting fish seems to be more of a mildly moody when hungry fish. 🤣

LOL, I love it, mildly moody when hungry. I think we all get that way

Anyway, good to hear it worked out and you and the fish are happy.

[AD480]

Originally Posted by Colin_T

First time I have seen this post and it's apparently been around for a couple of weeks, weird.

Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens) are named appropriately. They are highly territorial and don't like other brightly coloured fish or other male fish coming into their territory. Sometimes you get one that is fine in a community tank, but you can't tell whether the fish you have is going to be a happy camper or a serial killer. They are best kept on their own so they don't freak out and go on a rampage.

The plakat part of the name is simply the short fin. Any betta splendens with short fins is a plakat. They normally use the short fin bettas for fighting because they are quicker and more maneuverable, but any Betta can fight and kill.

Frogs should not be kept with fish. If the fish get sick, the medications used to treat them usually kill the frog. Frogs are generally cleaner (have fewer parasites) than fish and don't tolerate medications well at all.Frogs also eat small fish and shrimp so if something small swims past the frog, it will probably get chomped.

Frogs on their own, Bettas on their own.

I don’t know about that. I have 4 ADFs and they live with 4 Kuhli Loaches, some Otocinclus, a bunch of annoying Guppies, a Dwarf Pleco, a Dwarf Powder Blue Gourami and some yellow mystery snails. The frogs never bother any of the fish. Just the other day, one of the frogs was in a cuddle puddle in the corner of the tank with a guppy and a loach. I wish I grabbed a photo.

The only time they might get a little spicy is when you drop sinking food to the bottom. The frogs might get a little nippy with each other and if a fish gets in the middle of the action. They aren’t necessarily aggressive or violent…they’re just little dicks that like to take cheap shots when the other frog or fish isn’t paying attention - mostly with each other though.

I have read that African Dwarf Frogs can be a good tank mate possibility with a Betta. I was just over at that well known fish store in Portland Oregon, The Wetspot and they said that bettas can be with kuhli loaches, cories and African Dwarf Frogs.

If any fish needs to be medicated with something that might harm the frogs, then you can always stick them in a hospital tank. I recently did that when a couple of my guppies came down with Epistylis.