Fresh water ????suitable tankmates for a betta

[margie]

I hope its ok to ask here as I don't belong to a freshwater board But figured someone here would know... We have a red betta at work and looking to get a tank buddy for him. any suggestions???
He is in a 10 gal tank ..I was thinking of a placustomus (sp) to start with then maybe some tetras or mollys, but not really sure.

 

[socalcog]

betas just dont get along together ive had them together with other fresh water fish with no problem

 

[teresaq]

anything but another betta

 

[sepulatian]

Be sure that the fish that you add with him isn't a fin nipper, such as a barb.

 

[margie]

Thanks ya'll. Been researching this for a while and getting a lot of conflicting answers. Should have just asked here first...

 

[armywife1314]

i used to have a betta i had a dragon goby with him and a chinese algae eater. you can also do neons and white clouds. possibly glo fish, theyre much prettier than neons or tetras. they are orange or pink and sometimes you can find other colors.

 

[stdreb27]

In reality anything that isn't aggressive will get along with a betta, they are very mellow fish.
But I have mine in with barbs, guarmis, and a couple danios and the betta is doing fine. He gets picked on a little bit, but he does his share of picking.

 

[jaymz]

Dont do gourami's or paradise fish either. There are too closely related to a betta, they will fight. I also would not do tiger barbs or mollys they will pester the poor bettas finage. I have a betta in all my FW tanks. In fact I have a male and female living together in a 45gal with a school of diamond tetras, shool of brilliant raspboras, 4 blood parrot cichlids ect... My gf has a 10 gal with the coolest colored crowntailed betta with corys, glofish(danio's), serpae tetras.
When mixing bettas with community fish you have to worry about the betta being picked on, not the betta being aggressive.
Also IMO, I would not do a pleco in a 10g. Get a couple oto cats or apple snails for algae. A pleco will either starve or out grow a 10g. A farlowella catfish would be a good algae eater for a 10g if you can find one.

 

[margie]

oh, forgot to mention, I intended to get a small pleco and move him to a 30 gal when he got larger. I do like the idea of a school of neons...maybe see if I can find some glo fish..
thanks again ya'll

 

[armywife1314]

quick thing to think about though with a pleco vs a different type of cleaner. the poo they produce is crazy. they have chinese algae eaters and golen algae eaters that do the same amount of work. look good and dont produce as much waste. i had a chinese that got 7 inches in about 6 months and looked great the golden one capped at about 3 inches.

 

[margie]

thanks Armywife, I'll have to see if I can find some of those critters. I haven't shopped for fresh water fish in along time...