Introducing Betta to community tank

[llmgtab]

I have a 20G long planted tank with 5 pygmy cory, 6 albino neon tetras and 1 mystery snail. The intention was this will be a community tank for my Betta who was in a 3 gallon cube tank. He is a vail tail standard boy I have had about 6 months.

The other fish have been in the tank for a few weeks. I just introduced Adolin (Betta)  30 minutes ago. I first floated him in his cup for 45-60 minutes to acclimate him to the tank and also get everyone used to each other.

So far its not going great, he is chasing everything. I did have a nirite snail in his other tank just to see how he reacted to other living things and they did well. I know not all Betta's can work in this type of community. How long do I give it before giving up? I am sure he is a bit frighted with the new surroundings and could settle - but also hate to be stressing the others!

I have got him to come up and take a couple pellets from me so he can know he is still getting fed.

Anyone else go through this and have any suggestions?  If this does not work out I will probably look into  getting another 5 gallon to give him more space.

[llmgtab]

Things have seemed to calm down a bit. I'll just keep an eye out through the day. I think the first community feeding time may be interesting, but its good I can still hand feed him. 

[PineSong]

On 8/15/2021 at 1:28 PM, llmgtab said:

I have a 20G long planted tank with 5 pygmy cory, 6 albino neon tetras and 1 mystery snail. The intention was this will be a community tank for my Betta who was in a 3 gallon cube tank. He is a vail tail standard boy I have had about 6 months.

The other fish have been in the tank for a few weeks. I just introduced Adolin (Betta)  30 minutes ago. I first floated him in his cup for 45-60 minutes to acclimate him to the tank and also get everyone used to each other.

So far its not going great, he is chasing everything. I did have a nirite snail in his other tank just to see how he reacted to other living things and they did well. I know not all Betta's can work in this type of community. How long do I give it before giving up? I am sure he is a bit frighted with the new surroundings and could settle - but also hate to be stressing the others!

I have got him to come up and take a couple pellets from me so he can know he is still getting fed.

Anyone else go through this and have any suggestions?  If this does not work out I will probably look into  getting another 5 gallon to give him more space.

Last weekend I added my betta to a community tank with platies, endlers, guppies and otos. 

I put him in a breeder box for a few hours and while he was in there, he was flaring and looked like he would go after other fish at first, then he calmed down. After he was calm/bored for a couple of hours I released him into the tank and he showed minimal interest in the other fish, flared gills only at a platy that got in his face, and then relaxed.

He has not chased anyone since that I've seen and none of the fish show any fear of him. The bossiest fish in the tank at this time is a tiny male Endler. Because of his long tail, my betta is the slowest fish in the tank and I don't think he could catch them if he wanted to, but he also does not appear to try. I do make sure to put food right where he can see it and to feed when he is at the front/top of the tank. He never seems to mind the other fish going for it, too.

I hope your fish settles in well with the others--it's so nice to see bettas have so much room.

[PineSong]

On 8/15/2021 at 1:28 PM, llmgtab said:

I have a 20G long planted tank with 5 pygmy cory, 6 albino neon tetras and 1 mystery snail. The intention was this will be a community tank for my Betta who was in a 3 gallon cube tank. He is a vail tail standard boy I have had about 6 months.

The other fish have been in the tank for a few weeks. I just introduced Adolin (Betta)  30 minutes ago. I first floated him in his cup for 45-60 minutes to acclimate him to the tank and also get everyone used to each other.

So far its not going great, he is chasing everything. I did have a nirite snail in his other tank just to see how he reacted to other living things and they did well. I know not all Betta's can work in this type of community. How long do I give it before giving up? I am sure he is a bit frighted with the new surroundings and could settle - but also hate to be stressing the others!

I have got him to come up and take a couple pellets from me so he can know he is still getting fed.

Anyone else go through this and have any suggestions?  If this does not work out I will probably look into  getting another 5 gallon to give him more space.

Last weekend I added my betta to a community tank with platies, endlers, guppies and otos. 

I put him in a breeder box for a few hours and while he was in there, he was flaring and looked like he would go after other fish at first, then he calmed down. After he was calm/bored for a couple of hours I released him into the tank and he showed minimal interest in the other fish, flared gills only at a platy that got in his face, and then relaxed.

He has not chased anyone since that I've seen and none of the fish show any fear of him. The bossiest fish in the tank at this time is a tiny male Endler. Because of his long tail, my betta is the slowest fish in the tank and I don't think he could catch them if he wanted to, but he also does not appear to try. I do make sure to put food right where he can see it and to feed when he is at the front/top of the tank. He never seems to mind the other fish going for it, too.

I hope your fish settles in well with the others--it's so nice to see bettas have so much room.

[llmgtab]

On 8/15/2021 at 7:58 PM, PineSong said:

Last weekend I added my betta to a community tank with platies, endlers, guppies and otos. 

I put him in a breeder box for a few hours and while he was in there, he was flaring and looked like he would go after other fish at first, then he calmed down. After he was calm/bored for a couple of hours I released him into the tank and he showed minimal interest in the other fish, flared gills only at a platy that got in his face, and then relaxed.

He has not chased anyone since that I've seen and none of the fish show any fear of him. The bossiest fish in the tank at this time is a tiny male Endler. Because of his long tail, my betta is the slowest fish in the tank and I don't think he could catch them if he wanted to, but he also does not appear to try. I do make sure to put food right where he can see it and to feed when he is at the front/top of the tank. He never seems to mind the other fish going for it, too.

I hope your fish settles in well with the others--it's so nice to see bettas have so much room.

There has been a lot less chasing, and yes he cannot catch them either. The long fins hinder that. The other fish don't appear impacted by it, the cory's are so cute, the are curious and will swim up to him. He will then chase them off but not very far. I am waiting for the light to come on to see how it went overnight, but see normal activity so I think its going to work out.

So great to see him swimming around in such a large space!

[sudofish]

Was your mystery snail allowed to keep its antennas? When I put my betta in the tank she made it her mission to remove all antennas from all the snails. Now she just occasionally knocks them off glass or driftwood.

[llmgtab]

On 8/16/2021 at 11:00 AM, sudofish said:

Was your mystery snail allowed to keep its antennas? When I put my betta in the tank she made it her mission to remove all antennas from all the snails. Now she just occasionally knocks them off glass or driftwood.

That was actually the scariest part of the introduction. Was not too long before Adolin noticed those 'worms' coming out of the Snail :). I almost took him out right at that time. He did get just a little bit, but has not tried again since. Trying to keep a close eye. The snail seems to know now and if he gets near he hide them in his shell.