male betta in community tank

[Laser]

I'm not entirely sure if the beta will ignore the corys. I had a beta in a 5 gallon tank with a snail and everytime the snail tried to move very far it would head butt the snail whether it were on the side of the glass or on the bottom of the tank. Maybe he just had anger management issues.

 

[RoK]

Maybe he just had anger management issues.

Or maybe just a very curious fish.

 

[sith j]

i put my male betta in my 10 gal for a day with a lamp eye and he chased the betta around, the betta ended up hiding in a tunnel, had to take him out. the neons and the betta had no problem though

 

[zachxlutz]

ok, i've decided that i'm going to put him in my 10 gallon and maybe add some cories... but here is an issue that i have.

i have a spotted gourami that harasses my baloon molly so i'm hesitant to put the gourami in the 29g with the Molly, she seems so happy with free range of the tank... i almost just want to do a test run and see if my betta and my gourami could get along in the 10g... if not, does any one want a spotted gourami?

haha

 

[zebbyboy]

Intesresting article here . I was wondering about this to and asked a LFS. They said most bettas are fine with other fish, the main concern is just not having two betas with each other. Could get ugly . They also had many betta mixed in with their fish and the betta were fine. Usually they just ignore the others and stay in their own world.

 

[Regen311]

I think that generally putting bettas in with other labyrinth fish (anabantids) like gouramis isn't a great idea, but I"ve heard of it working. It really depends on the fish. I have a male betta in a 55 gallon with long and short finned zebra danios, gold barbs, platys, cories and loaches and he doesn't bother or pay attention really to anyone. It really depends on the fish. I don't really have any fish that have super long fins though, so that might help him out. The worst I've seen him do is flare at his own reflection. The other fish don't bother him. I would try the betta out, and keep a close eye on him. In a 5 gallon, as someone mentioned, they probably wouldn't be good with other fish, but in a tan kthe size of yours, he should have plenty of room

Before I got my 55 gallon, I had teh betta in a tank that was either 20 or 30 gallons with basically the same combination of fish (just fewer) without the loaches, and he was also no problem in there either.

 

[zebbyboy]

It also just depends on the betta. Sometimes there are nice and sometimes mean bettas. This happens with some mollies too.

 

[cassie]

A word of caution about a betta and a gourami in the same tank: they CAN view each other as "competition" and react pretty much the same way two bettas will react to each other. This is based on my experience. I researched before I added the gourami to my community tank and never read a word like that on most of the compatibility charts, but when the gourami finally joined the tank it was instant fireworks. After 24 hours of my scaredy-fish betta swimming around all puffed up with fins flared and my gourami darting from hiding place to hiding place to ambush the betta, I separated the two of them. I went back online and did a search for the specific issue and found ONE reference to the fact that bettas could be competitive with ANY labyrinth fish which included gouramis.