Betta Compatability

[KevinW]

I am looking for some help. I was wondering if it would be possible to keep one male Betta in a 20 gallon tank along with 5 Pseudomugil Furcatus (dwarf Rainbowfish). Furcatus are 6cm in size and are supposed to be peaceful.

Is there any type of Betta that would be better suited? I was thinking of Betta Imbellis but there do not seem to be many around. Would Veil Tails work or would the long fins be a problem?

Would this combination work in 10 gallon tank on a short term basis of say one month?

The tanks are heated and have AC's for filtration.

Thanks for any help.

- Kevin

[BlackMumba]

I am looking for some help. I was wondering if it would be possible to keep one male Betta in a 20 gallon tank along with 5 Pseudomugil Furcatus (dwarf Rainbowfish). Furcatus are 6cm in size and are supposed to be peaceful.

Is there any type of Betta that would be better suited?

If your interested in a Betta, my recommendation would be to get a female betta, they are less aggressive then the male counterparts. I have found that its pretty much trial by error as each betta has a different personality.

I would not recommend a Red Betta they are known to be the more aggressive then other colors why this is, is unknown. If the Rainbow fish, doesn't try to mate with anything all your fish will be fine.

If you have a place such as a quite well planted spot that the betta can have his or her territory they will protect this spot females usually chase away nipping here and there but does not fight to death. I have a 10 gal tank with 4 betta females, and they fight amongst each other, the red female is most aggressive but the others know to clear her way.

They have fin damage but nothing too serious some times I chase the red female around with my finger acting as the Alpha female... drives her mad but my finger is bigger!! LOL

Good luck I hope this helps! :thumbs:

[KevinW]

Thanks for the reply Black Mumba.

Does anyone else have an opinion? Would a female B. Splendens be less aggressive than a B. Imbellis?

Would a Dwarf Gourami be less aggressive?

Thanks.

[Nauticus]

I have furcatus rainbows and yes they are very peaceful, they do not eat my endler fry or my cherry shrimp. However, as already mentioned you must have a nice quiet spot for any labrynth type fish like bettas or gouramis as they are not keen on frantic swimmers. Those rainbows are very spastic swimmers that will annoy the crap out of the slow moving bettas. You might try some croaking gouramis and let some duck weed or water sprite or riccia cover the surface of the water with lower flow. 6 or so of those little characters, the croakers, will hide and make funny sounds for you. They only thing is they are rather dull in color.

My suggestion is not to mix them but if you really want to try the female splendins as they are quirky, colorful, and not going to kill the rainbows.

Oh , and have fun with it.

[Vallisneria]

I have my betta in a planted 20g with endlers. Endlers are small quick swimming fish and my bettas does fine with them. He hasnt' eaten any and it doesn't seem like the endlers bother the betta. They both kind of mind their own business. I would think that they would mix fine.

I also have an AC200 filter on the tank. The flow isnt' too strong and if you put it to one side of the tank the other side stays calmer and will give the betta a quiet area.

[Nauticus]

I agree, if you have the space, a small filter, some dead quiet space, and lots of plants you will do just fine.

Degrassi is your betta male or female?

That sounds like a really nice little tank.

[Qattarra]

I would also go ahead with the mix. My experience is that the male betas like to nip at any flowing fins. They go after anything that showed broad flowing fins, but usually ignored small (finless as far as he was concerned ), fishes. Perhaps he viewed large fins as competition. He was OK most of the time with my threadfin rainbows, mostly because he couldn't catch them lol. He was attracted to the threads. He doesn't bother the neons at all. Good luck with him .

[Vallisneria]

I agree, if you have the space, a small filter, some dead quiet space, and lots of plants you will do just fine.

Degrassi is your betta male or female?

That sounds like a really nice little tank.

Mine is a male betta.

[rayfong]

I've got mine in with some rasboras, and cherry barbs. No problems so far. I had him in there with the rasboras and barbs as well as some endlers, abn's and kuhli loaches and no problems there . I moved him along with the rasboras and barbs to a bigger tank and made the other tank a endler tank primarily. Now I think I've got lots of littler endlers in that tank.

[Jillian.rose]

Bettas are generally good community fish, but like anything else it all depends on the temperament of the individual fish. I have found imbellis and the like to be a little more aggressive than the veil/delta/HM variety, possibly due to the fact that they have not been as selectively bred as the "pet store" varieties. As for the M/F debate, go for what you like. Female bettas are cool in thier own right, but nothing is quite as spectacular as a quality male betta. We have kept our bettas with everything from rams to discus to tetras, and the only problem so far was black ghost knife fish who thought it was fun to nip the bettas fins at night. We have yet to have a betta attack or even chase any of our fish, including those that fit in the "long fin" category like guppies, but I would not recommend keeping one with a gourami as they have been known to take exception to thier existence in the world. In the short term you are going to be ok with a 10g, but it is not ideal as you will want more space to set up a well planted area as far away from the filter as you can for the betta to get a little peace and quiet. The less water movement, the more you will see him swimming around, but just make sure he has a nice little hiding spot to relax in and he will be happy. Interesting side note on the topic of red bettas being more aggressive, this is often true and there are several theories as to why but it has also been found that opaques (pure white) are much less aggressive than the average betta to the point that these spawns have been raised together to sale size without so much as a nipped fin. Feel free to PM if you have any more questions.

[KevinW]

Thanks for all of the input. And thanks for the info on B Imbellis - the web made it sound that they might be more peaceful so it is good to hear actual experience.

It would appear that a Betta might work in a 20G with the right setup. I think I will try, if it doesn't work out I can always sell/give away the Betta. Of course the first thing I will need to do is find some P. Furcatus. A project for the new year.

- Kevin