Female betta in 75 gallon with apistogramma?

[Lavender]

So, I’m looking at what centerpiece fish I want in my 75 gallon besides the betta (currently developing a stocking plan and buying hardscape for it). I think this should be pretty safe, since she’s short-finned, peaceful, and will probably stay out of the way…but I don’t know. If not, I’ll probably just do Bolivian rams, perhaps keyhole cichlids, and leave it there. I will baffle all filters and provide lots of floating plants and leaf decor for her to rest in at the top (in the plant and tank ideas), and all tankmates are compatible with both fish. As for the specific type of apistogramma, I am hoping to have two trios of cockatoo apistogrammas, as borelli is not tempature compatible with my other fish. There is a coconut cave for every apistogramma, including the males. Plus a few more caves I drilled in the driftwood for them. There’s some things online about bettas and apistogramma together, but they’re all either male bettas in small tanks with them or females in small tanks with them. My 75 is much larger, so I think it might be alright for both fish.

Edited July 22, 2023 by Lavender

[Fish Folk]

Many things can be done. It’s possible. Maybe not a “best practices” stocking, but Ok.

[Lavender]

What could happen?

I do know they’re a bit more…cichlid-y than most other dwarf cichlids, so I’m being cautious.

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/23/2023 at 2:44 PM, Lavender said:

What could happen?

Anything over a 20G tank is quite big for a betta.  If you're talking any normal sort of filtration you would stress out the fish to the point of severe damage, fins falling off in some of the worst cases I have witnessed.  This may not happen right away, but it's something that could result in months and likely shorten the lifespan of the fish.

I don't recommend a betta in that situation.  It's much safer and better for the fish to have a tank where you can have that betta fish in optimal surroundings.  Here is a great video on setting up a betta tank.
 

 

[Lennie]

First, you can keep a betta in a bigger tank. I have my female sorority in 33g tank, and I had one of my plakat males in a 42g community tank, with honey gourami and black rams and 2 angels.

However, short fins is the key here. Long fins have swimming issues so shallow tank is kinda a must for them. However for my plakat male, 40cm tall community tank and for my female sorority( females usually have shorter fins but avoid big ears), they do just okay in a 50cm tall tank. But no way long fins/big ears can do well in such setups.

females usually are calmer in my experience but their temperament also plays a role.

my black rams didnt care about my betta. They only didnt like the 3rd ram in the tank and black angelfish. Otherwise even when betta or gourami enters their territory, they didnt even chase them away. I don’t know about apistos much tho, I only have a trio in my breeding setup and I got them around a month ago, but in such tank size I think it should be fine.

Most things can work but generally it is a better idea to try if you trust your experience in the hobby, and if you have a backup plan in case stuff don’t go well

[anewbie]

As a general rule betta will stay near the top - as long as it mostly stays near the top it won't interfer with the cockatoo (a species i dislike); the fin length won't matter much with regards to dwarf cichild (and rams are just another dwarf cichild; more aggressive than some species of apistogramma less than others). If the betta goes to the bottom - and into the territory of a female (esp if she has eggs/frys) then it will be attacked (short-fin or long-fin). It is really that simple.

 

A 75 is fairly large and it is probable that cockatoo (or another species of dwarf cichild) will not take the entire tank as territories - it really just depends in the betta is smart enough to learn or notice that it should stay out of the cichild area. One negative is a  betta being an asian fish hasn't learned to speak 'sa' (south american) so it won't recognize the cichild signals - yes aggressive fishes will frequent signal intent before actually executing. Having said that most catfishes (esp cory) will ignore those signals which can be problematic when mixing catfishes with cichild. The one big difference between larger cicihld and dwarf cichild is many larger cicihld (like angles) will not use the bottom as their territory but rather higher areas (of course most geo prefer the bottom so it is not uniform and i've had gbr and a hongsloi go mid tank - so these generalities have exceptions).

Edited July 24, 2023 by anewbie

[Lavender]

Oops sorry I accidentally abandoned this thread- have been going a lot of places recently. Personally, I haven’t seen the type of thing being mentioned about the fin rot and such- that happens because of stress and bad water practices, not because they’re in high flow. Not keeping a filter on said tank like in the above video is probably more likely to give her fin rot. I’ve never seen a plakat develop any sort of fin issue, really- one of mine got dropsy towards the very end of his life (6 years), but that was kind of it concerning illnesses. She’s shortfinned on all fronts, but she is a more colorful betta (rescue girl- took her from a badly put-together sorority, she’s a galaxy koi), so that could possibly be a problem. I’m making a point to get tetras that aren’t known to swim very close to the top, so as long as she doesn’t go to the bottom of the tank constantly she probably won’t be stressed (and she’s a very top-dwelling betta). If she is stressed, I’m keeping her 5 gal beneath the tank stand to put her in if it doesn’t work out.

I think I’ll put her in and just see how she does, see if she explores or not. In her current tank, she’s pretty much always at the top, and I haven’t tested her around other fish yet. I‘ll keep the apistos in mind, though, if she’s not cut out for the community tank. The filters I’m keeping on this tank are the Aquatop filters, as for some reason every time I buy name brand filters they miserably fail me (Looking at you, Cascade that began smoking midway through the night!). I’m keeping a quarantine tank, so I’ll put the largest filter they have on this one and once quarantining all my fish is finished I’ll put the smaller filter on it. I’ve got plans to baffle them really well (pieces of plastic with holes in them, sponges, craft wire…), so they should work nicely for her as long as I keep floaters. Which I am- red root floater, Amazon frogbit, and water chestnut.

[Lennie]

On 7/26/2023 at 9:49 AM, Lavender said:

Oops sorry I accidentally abandoned this thread- have been going a lot of places recently. Personally, I haven’t seen the type of thing being mentioned about the fin rot and such- that happens because of stress and bad water practices, not because they’re in high flow. Not keeping a filter on said tank like in the above video is probably more likely to give her fin rot. I’ve never seen a plakat develop any sort of fin issue, really- one of mine got dropsy towards the very end of his life (6 years), but that was kind of it concerning illnesses. She’s shortfinned on all fronts, but she is a more colorful betta (rescue girl- took her from a badly put-together sorority, she’s a galaxy koi), so that could possibly be a problem. I’m making a point to get tetras that aren’t known to swim very close to the top, so as long as she doesn’t go to the bottom of the tank constantly she probably won’t be stressed (and she’s a very top-dwelling betta). If she is stressed, I’m keeping her 5 gal beneath the tank stand to put her in if it doesn’t work out.

I think I’ll put her in and just see how she does, see if she explores or not. In her current tank, she’s pretty much always at the top, and I haven’t tested her around other fish yet. I‘ll keep the apistos in mind, though, if she’s not cut out for the community tank. The filters I’m keeping on this tank are the Aquatop filters, as for some reason every time I buy name brand filters they miserably fail me (Looking at you, Cascade that began smoking midway through the night!). I’m keeping a quarantine tank, so I’ll put the largest filter they have on this one and once quarantining all my fish is finished I’ll put the smaller filter on it. I’ve got plans to baffle them really well (pieces of plastic with holes in them, sponges, craft wire…), so they should work nicely for her as long as I keep floaters. Which I am- red root floater, Amazon frogbit, and water chestnut.

You sound like you know what you are doing, and you have backup plans.

I don't see any reason not to try it. 🙂 update us regarding your experiences!

 

 

[Flumpweesel]

I did this in my 60 US Gal tank  and I don't believe they ever saw each other its heavily planted.  I will say though that I had two Betta's and the first one I put in the big tank really didn't like it and just sat in a corner for days until I gave up and moved her back to the 20litre but the other girl was fine from the the get go.   

I think that was just agoraphobia though nothing to do with my Apisto she rarely goes more than a few inches from the tank floor. 

[Lavender]

Mine has a heavily planted part in back, but for actually seeing the fish I have a open space in front. I expect the apistos will choose the heavily planted spots to nest, so that does worry me- might have to shift a lot of stuff around to get them to nest where I want.

I don’t know if she’s agoraphobic or not. She seems pretty energetic, even for a short-fin, so probably not, but I’ll see when she goes into the tank.