Betta in a community tank

[Cbass]

Hey all. Was wondering if anyone has had or has a beta in a community tank. In my 20 gal I originally was planning to have 2 females added to my school of 12 neons, 5 otos, and ghost shrimp. 
 

My LFS just gave me a call to let me know that they got a shipment of female koi bettas. I hesitate because my neons are bloody hell greedy when it comes to food and I know they can grab food faster. My other betta (who is unfortunately sick in her own tank) will eat from tweezers. But doing that every time I feed the community seems like a pain. 
 

I guess I’m just really looking for someone to talk me off a ledge or tell me it’s ok to jump. I sometimes get fomo when I see bettas, especially the half moon kois. 

[SpacedCadette]

It really depends on the betta’s personality. I have my male Plakat in my community tank and he’s totally chill. I tested things slowly with him and built up to including him in the community tank. 

You’ll also need to be super selective about which fish you pair the betta with. Peaceful bottom dwellers are usually a safe bet. The fish you mentioned don’t send up any red flags to me. The otos and the betta may occasionally occupy the same spaces so that could cause a confrontation— it’s worth keeping a close eye on things for a while in the beginning. Just be prepared to separate the betta if it doesn’t work out. 

As for feeding, I just bait any competing fish to one side of the tank and hand feed my betta. He comes right up to the surface so I can place food right in front of his face or let him jump up and grab it from me. 

Edited May 20, 2022 by SpacedCadette

[Scapexghost]

Try floating foods. Neons won't usually eat from the top.

[Cbass]

@Scapexghost Actually mine do. They eat omega one flakes and Xtreme nano pellets. They’ll also pick at the blanched spinach I give my shrimp at the bottom. 
 

@SpacedCadette I think that’s why I hesitate a little. My community tank is established. So the betta would be the last. I prefer the females since they’re mellower but like you said temperament always varies. The one good thing about the otos I have is that 2 of them work the night shift. The other 3 during the day. I have a 20 long that’s 36 inches across and have a lot of plants. So they have hiding spots. The only real concern are my shrimp. One of them is berried again. I don’t mind losing some fry to the betta as I don’t want 20 of them in the tank but I assume it would cause a little stress. 

[SpacedCadette]

If the shrimp are big enough, it shouldn’t be an issue. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen my betta even acknowledge their existence, lol. Though mine are Amano so they’re fairly large now, but I know lots of folks that have kept cherry shrimp with a betta. 

Honestly, if it were me in your same scenario I’d totally give it a go. Especially with a female betta since they have an easier temperament (like you mentioned).

Just have a 5-10 gallon tank on hand in case it doesn’t work out. Though it sounds like it should be fine. Maybe add a few more plants or something for additional coverage if your tank is not already heavily planted. 

There’s other folks here that know way more than I do, but I would think you’d be ok to introduce a female betta to this particular community. 

In regards to feeding— I would see if you can condition your tetra to associate their meals with a certain side of the tank. At least that’s what has worked for me. My Rasbora are feisty and are much faster than my betta so they can easily snap food from him— but I always feed them on the left side of the tank and the betta on the right. Seems to work well. Occasionally a Rasbora or two will wise up and snag a bite from the betta, but because bettas are so social it’s relatively easy to condition them to come up and take food directly from you so other tank members can’t steal it. 

Edited May 20, 2022 by SpacedCadette

[Hannah Parker]

I've kept every betta I've owned in community tanks, I think they can do great under the right conditions. Some were more tolerant than other. My less-tolerant ones would only have nano chili rasboras and pygmy corydoras as tankmates, because they were very small and could stay out of the way. My super friendly ones could be with honey gouramis, male guppies, brightly colored platies and so on. Females are definitely mellower, but even if they are feisty, a lot of times if you get a male with long fins he isn't fast enough to catch most of his tank mates. Your shrimp could be up for grabs a bit though. However, please don't add 2 females. If you get any gender of betta, please stick to just one. Even females in the same tank will eventually kill each other. Female bettas can only live together in sororities, which have to be 5 bettas or more, and only have a success rate of about 50%. Research sororities if you're interested, but know that they're not easy and can vary a lot and be quite risky. Can't wait to see what you end up with, I hope you'll keep us updated on your possible new friend! 

[billango]

Personally my male betta is super chill and has no problem being near any of the other fish which are lampeye killifish, corys, and a SAE. He doesn't flare or mind bumping into anyone else in there. You could maybe see how your betta reacts to the rest of the community by putting it in a floating box in the tank at first before full introduction; might help them get used to each other. My lampeyes hang out almost exclusively at the top and go for all the floating and slow sinking foods, but mr betta has no problem getting in there and finding some food to munch on. I do spread the food out a bit so it covers a larger surface area so the feeding isn't as crowded. Good luck and hope it goes well for you. 

 

[Cbass]

@Hannah Parker Yes, originally I was going to build a sorority slowly. But since my other female got sick in her small 3.5 gal tank (was supposed to move) I tossed out the idea. Unfortunately she's not looking too well so I'm going to stick to a single one in the 20 gal for sure.

Most of shrimp are big enough. Smallest is 0.25 inches and biggest is the momma, who is almost 1.5 inches. I do have fry hiding in the tank, but I wasn't planning on keeping a large community of shrimp, tbh. The smaller shrimp are survivors, and my momma shrimp has been berried 3 times in the past 2 months (currently berried right now). Tank has a ton of hiding spots and I often think that 1 or 2 of my otos are dead because they'll disappear for days. Found out that they prefer the night time. 

@SpacedCadette Actually, I trained the neons to eat on the right side of the tank. It has more room. So I might be ok!

Planning on going to the LHS to take a look. Send pics when if I decide to take a shot at it!

 

Edited May 20, 2022 by Cbass

[Flumpweesel]

I got two females and they did not get on so tried the red one in the community tank and it freaked out and sulked in the corner, swapped them over and blue loved it in there.   So it just depends on the fish, I tried red first as it was the bigger and bolder of the two. 

[SpacedCadette]

On 5/20/2022 at 8:14 AM, Hannah Parker said:

My super friendly ones could be with honey gouramis, male guppies, brightly colored platies and so on.

Same! My boy is super easy going and peacefully shares the 40g breeder with two honey gourami. Its a lot of fun watching them all interact together. Especially when the HG rub their little feeler fins all over the male bettas face.

Honey gourami: 🥰👋
Betta: 😑

Anyways, all this to just say that the right betta can be a great little community member that adds a lot of entertainment to the tank. 🙂

On 5/20/2022 at 9:05 AM, Cbass said:

Planning on going to the LHS to take a look. Send pics when if I decide to take a shot at it!

Please do! Would love to see your new pal if you decide to go through with it!

[Cbass]

Thanks all for the advice. Decided to give it a go, but there was no way in hell I was going to put a Galaxy Koi betta (the one I really wanted) in the community tank as an experiment. Plus it was freaking $65 bucks. No thanks. Lol

Settled for a simple, female betta. Looks like she's been crossed between a dumbo ear and crown tail, isn't perfectly a solid color but we love her. Since she's that opal color, under the blue night lights she actually glows. I wanted to call her Spectre, but kids veto'd me 2-1 and she was named Ghost.

She settled in pretty quick and it was hililarious. Tried to eat everything before she realized they were all plants. Shrimp barely give her the time of day and the neons and otos ignore her. Although, I have a sinking feeling that she found the hiding spot of my shrimp fry. No big deal though. I figure if any fry can survive her then more power to them. That and my female shrimp keeps getting berried so Ghost is kinda my population control. 

Pics below of her and the tank! 

 

[Torrey]

I'm ORD 🥰🥰🥰

Ghost is gorgeous! Are you going to have the kids watch the Patrick Swayze/ Whoopi Goldberg movie since they vetoed your name, Spectre?

PS: Patient Spouse™ walked by and asked if that was Ghost, without reading the screen, lol. They are now pondering the likelihood of Ghost channeling a loving ghost, lol

[Cbass]

@Torrey I should. Just to punish them. 

Also the fact that you TM'd your Patient Spouse AND use that as a moniker is so much winning you made my day. Amazing. Maybe she'll channel a loving ghost and my fry will be free to roam until they get bigger. Until then, it's the Jaws theme song every time she roams around my rotalia forest. Which is even funnier because all you see is a betta tail sticking out from between the rocks....waiting patiently. 

[Torrey]

Thank you (I'm ORD)

[Flumpweesel]

On 5/27/2022 at 9:12 PM, Cbass said:

$65 bucks

Yup that's a lot for fish and Ghost is beautiful .

[Brian]

I think it all depends on the fish.  I have kept betta’s In community tanks.  
I think , in males it’s like a switch gets turned on once separated from siblings and they find it hard to tolerate any tank mates.  And as for females, well I had it work until it doesn’t.   
Good Luck 

[SpacedCadette]

@Cbass Ghost is beautiful and so is your tank! ♥️

[Cbass]

@Flumpweesel No kidding. The prices where I live have gotten higher. I have a koi betta (not galaxy) in my 3 gal. She was expensive, but no where near that price when I bought her 6 months ago. 

@SpacedCadette Thank you! It's a lot of work and patience. Which is why I make a ton of mistakes (I tend to be impatient...haha). 

@Brian I've had males in the past. The really don't react well to a lot of fish (especially bright colored ones). It's the reason why I switched to females. I have 11 neons with this one and so far no one has gotten irate. As long as they get fed, they're tolerant. Ghost did try to show a little dominance to my large female shrimp, but it didn't last. She's almost as big as Ghost and she'll push neons away from her food if she has to. 

[Torrey]

On 5/27/2022 at 5:08 PM, Brian said:

I think it all depends on the fish.  I have kept betta’s In community tanks.  
I think , in males it’s like a switch gets turned on once separated from siblings and they find it hard to tolerate any tank mates.  And as for females, well I had it work until it doesn’t.   
Good Luck 

My nibling took an internship where she spent the summer in Malaysia doing field research. The house they rented had been empty for a while, and had a neglected, British inspired pond. As she cleaned out debris, she was shocked to discover how many fish were living in the above ground pond, as the house had been empty for at least 2 years and nobody had been feeding the fish, much less taking care of the water. There was a male betta about every 18" with it's own little bubble nest to defend, and so many females! The bettas ate the guppy fry and insect larvae, and the guppies ate mosquito larvae and algae....

[Cbass]

Quote

There was a male betta about every 18" with it's own little bubble nest to defend, and so many females! The bettas ate the guppy fry and insect larvae, and the guppies ate mosquito larvae and algae....

That's super cool! One of my regrets when I was still in school is that I didn't realize the value of traveling abroad. 

So far so good in the community tank. We found a small shrimp fry hiding in my rotalia the other day, so I have hope that there are others that can manage to stay out of Ghost's hunting areas. They're so hard to see that I'd like to think that the Betta has to REALLY try hard to find them. She's also adapting to the Neon's speed. She finally realized that if she doesn't grab her betta food, the Neon's will. It's pretty comical because she gets a little irritated, so she'll grab it and swim to a different corner to eat. 

Edited May 30, 2022 by Cbass