Betta in community tank questions

[becrac16]

Yesterday I bought a female betta (along with a few other fishies) to add to my 55 gal planted community tank. I remembered hearing that they are compatible in community settings. BUT as I got home, I remembered also hearing that bettas dislike strong currents (i.e. filters?). I have already seen her get sucked onto the filter thing once, and my experiences as a fish owner I know thats not a good sign! I dont know betta personality, so I'm not sure if she is stressed or not. She moves her fins constantly and swims around the entire tank, so that is contrast to what Ive seen most bettas do. Does anyone have any advice on how to keep a betta in a filtered community, or if you can??

 

[Homedog98]

I have a male in my community, and he's great! Mines in a ten gallon, and gets sucked into the filter a bit, but doesn't seem bothered. She'll warm up to the tank eventually, she's probably just shy. As long as she's swimming around the tank, she's fine.

 

[becrac16]

huh, for some reason i thought males coudnt be in communities. is it just that they can't be with other males, or something that looks like a male? I've been thinking about getting more if this works out, they're so beautiful and I can't hardly find any fish with those kinds of colors!

 

[allaboutfish]

actually it's the fish i just got a betta (male) and put it in my tank with corys and an algae eater and he's very placid he doesnt care at all about the other fish

 

[Homedog98]

huh, for some reason i thought males coudnt be in communities. is it just that they can't be with other males, or something that looks like a male? I've been thinking about getting more if this works out, they're so beautiful and I can't hardly find any fish with those kinds of colors!

Ya, he's great. Just as long as the fish doesn't look like another betta, your cool. And with females you can have a betta sorority... 6 female bettas in one tank! I don't have the nerve to brave that one though...

 

[Demonknight]

My male hates anything that shares a tank with him, tried a male dwarf and it was a long fight until i decided they weren't going to settle the "bull" of the tank, and he killed 2 shrimp that I tried...Hmmm, the snails i dropped in went afk as well

 

[Homedog98]

Well IMO... A dwarf gourami looks a lot like a betta, but some are just aggressive. Definitely have a backup if you try the community in case things don't work out, and add him/her last to tone down aggression.

 

[Demonknight]

yeap...that male gourami is a bully as well so I was kind of hoping they would figure it out...nope..

On a side note and not meant to hijack a thread, but my female bettas go nuts when i try to feed a alga pellet to my shrimp/catfish and go as far as running away with them...its like tossing a bottle of beer into a football stand.

 

[Cdepriest6009]

We had a female beta in a ten gal with a pair of swordtails and a school of corys and she did fine with them and we lost the swords and got another pair and the beta and male sword didn't get along and killed each other over night it all depends on the fish sometimes they are ok and other times they aren't

 

[becrac16]

She seems ok with the other fish as of now. She's calmed down a lot and I think the filtration thing will be ok, I found a foam-ish piece that you can slip on the intake tube and lessen the pull. So, hooray! But I also have another problem, I put my fish into aqadvisor and it says I am overstocked...What do you guys think?

55 gal
Aqueon Quiet Flow 55
6x rummynose tetras
5x scissortail rasbora
6x glass catfish
1x upsidedown catfish
1x bristlenose pleco
1x cory
1x betta
1x striped raphael catfish

 

[allaboutfish]

She seems ok with the other fish as of now. She's calmed down a lot and I think the filtration thing will be ok, I found a foam-ish piece that you can slip on the intake tube and lessen the pull. So, hooray! But I also have another problem, I put my fish into aqadvisor and it says I am overstocked...What do you guys think?

55 gal
Aqueon Quiet Flow 55
6x rummynose tetras
5x scissortail rasbora
6x glass catfish
1x upsidedown catfish
1x bristlenose pleco
1x cory
1x betta
1x striped raphael catfish

yea overstocked and not right upside down catfish need schools and so do corys and the catfish is tooo big

 

[becrac16]

well, the cory is left over from a school that all died of bad breeding, and it is a sterbai, so expensive + bad breeding techniques of only lfs= no more corys. But I will admit the upsidedown catfish was a mistake.

I didn't think the raphael catfish was going to be too big for the tank though. He's def not full size yet but I wasn't anticipating rehoming him...

 

[siva]

No, not overstocked as long as you plan on rehoming anyone that gets too big. You could use some extra filtration though. I would get a second filter.

 

[Homedog98]

We had a female beta in a ten gal with a pair of swordtails and a school of corys and she did fine with them and we lost the swords and got another pair and the beta and male sword didn't get along and killed each other over night it all depends on the fish sometimes they are ok and other times they aren't

That stinks. A good way to stop that is to take them out, rearrange the decor in your tank, then put the new fish in and put the betta back after. This way the betta's territory gets messed up, and he hasn't got anything to defend.

 

[Homedog98]

She seems ok with the other fish as of now. She's calmed down a lot and I think the filtration thing will be ok, I found a foam-ish piece that you can slip on the intake tube and lessen the pull. So, hooray! But I also have another problem, I put my fish into aqadvisor and it says I am overstocked...What do you guys think?

55 gal
Aqueon Quiet Flow 55
6x rummynose tetras
5x scissortail rasbora
6x glass catfish
1x upsidedown catfish
1x bristlenose pleco
1x cory
1x betta
1x striped raphael catfish

Ya, if I were you, I'd rehome the catfish and order some more cories. Order online if you have to. They don't have to be sterbai, just something to keep the little guy company.

 

[allaboutfish]

you could do a different type of cory as long as it stays the same size bc he's gonna be so stressed and nnactive when he's looking for a friend and cant find one

 

[becrac16]

yeah, i think i will rehome the upside down catfish and the raphael. How do you guys rehome fish? I know my petco takes in unwanted fish and will resell them...But isnt that like condemning them to the gallows of poorly taken care of tanks?

 

[allaboutfish]

you can put up an add on craigslist or find a better local petstore that cares about their fish

 

[becrac16]

there's really no local pet stores around here...there was one, but that is the place I have purchased many fish only to have them be sick or die for bad breeding. I guess craigslist is ok, but I don't know if that actually works. I never see fish (other than koi) up for rehoming there

 

[allaboutfish]

i've seen lots and u get to see if they have the right tank