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At the moment, "Arnold" my beauty red and blue Betta sits on my desk at work in a 1gal tank. He is happy here, and eats, and darts around his small tank all day.

I am concerned because I may need to move him from the office, and I do not know if it is possible/recommended to introduce him to my aquarium at home.

My aquarium at home is a 55 Gal, and includes the following:

7X Various Danios
4X Various Platies
2X Cardinal Tetras
1X Common Pleco

Nobody in the community tank is unhealthy, and the setup has been extremely stable for well over 5 months.

Anyone with some golden nuggets of information for my dilemma? Should Arnold be moved to the community tank?

Well, first of all, let's take a look at your tank stats. What filter are you using on there? One of the biggest concerns with adding a betta (besides aggression) is the filter current. A betta in a highly filtered tank is like trying to swim wearing a ball gown. A gentler current isn't so bad, though.

Danios can be nippy and really small tetras may become meals. Besides that, cardinals really need to be in a school, not in pairs. You do know common plecs get huge, right? Just fair warning.

Personally, I would be concerned about the danios the most. Even in a decent school, danios are nippy. My sister had nine in her tank for a while (six of her own and three on loan from me as she cycled her tank) and my smallest danio came back with a slightly tattered tail. I can imagine just how very tempting a betta tail would be to a fin nipper like that.

Is there any reason you couldn't bring the betta home and keep him in his own tank? If he's happy there, why mess with it? If you're worried about interaction, perhaps keep him in a place where you spend a lot of time at home. *shrugs* Whatever you decide to do, good luck!

[span class="edited"][Edited by kitten 2004-07-08 15:44][/span]

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

I vote for leaving him in his tank (or a 10 gallon ) rather than the community tank....for all the reasons already pointed out. ...and for the fact that otherwise you'll just have an empty tank lying around !.

^_^

Hey thanks for responding so quick!

To clear up the filter situation. It may actually be a tad underpowered. I am equipped with a standard AquaClear 300 to one side of the tank. It does have a bit of a current, but there are plenty of ornaments, and plants in the tank so there are quite a few "Dead" spots. You have a very good point about the Danios and their nipping capacity. I think that will be the deciding factor for me. I mean, if I were an active little Danio, I would want to eat a betta tail!

The 1Gal tank was actually a "Gift" to me, and I think I may need to give it back. That is mostly my reason for looking to move this little guy. I guess I see a new tank in my future!

As an addendum, are there any out there that have successfully incorporated a Betta into some type of community tank?

Female bettas are sometimes put into communities

I actually had luck with introducing my male betta into my community and there were danios present. He first started out in a seperate betta contraption that hangs on the side of the tank and then after he felt comfortable i moved him to the community but always had the contraption in case anything happened.

I have kept bettas in community aqauriums before not at the same time!); I guess their reaction sort of depends on the betta. One of the bettas freaked out and I had to move him, he never did get comfortable. The other betta did great in the community tank, claimed a little peice of territory and everything. (Though for all of the betta's agressive reputation, my "Big Mama" cory clearly had "alpha fish" status, and mr betta moved when she wanted him out of the way!) I would suggest that before putting bettas in community tanks, the existing decor should be moved around a bit, giving everyone (including the new guy) a chance to claim new turf. Just a guess.

Frankly, I'm still in the "experimental" phase of incorporating a male betta into my community tank.... You see, I'd kept him separate from the others as I'd read so many threads about a community tank situation being high risk.... but that just didn't seem to be working out very well....
Let me give a brief background... I received 2 Crowntail Bettas at the same time... placed them in a 10 gal tank with divider... and initially, both actively swam around checking out their new homes.... My beautiful red male has adapted very well! Still energetically swims around, flares his gorgeous fins from time to time, eats, rises to the top for air --- in short, does everything a betta should do.... Whereas my magnificent blue male just didn't appear to be thriving in that environment. Day by day his activity lessened until it reached the point that all he seemed to ever want to do is bury himself into the rocks - not even coming out when fed! I was quite worried.... Tried to research disease and common ailments of the Betta - but nothing seemed to fit... Didn't feel food was a problem as I provide a variety of flake, brine shrimp and blood worms (not all at once of course!)... ANYWAY, I couldn't stand to see him in this condition, so after debating with myself for some time, decided to try to move him with other fish to see if that would give him any spark of life.... So, as of yesterday he has taken up new quarters in the community tank with careful scrutiny on my part! I am fully prepared to move him out of harm's way should the need arise.... but to be honest, so far so good! He once again is actively swimming, eating, rising to the top for air and while he hides in the plants - there appears to be no more burying himself in the rocks - in fact, he has even flared his fins twice since the move! Can't call him social - because frankly he seems to stay away from all his tank mates - but I can say he seems to be a lot happier doing his own thing with the others around....
Now I'm sure some of you will want to know what types of fish make up the community he now shares, so here they are: Angelfish, Fancy Guppies, Platys, Mollies, 1 Butterfly Fish, 1 Catfish, 4 Female Bettas --- hope I didn't leave anyone out!
I'm sure haunches were raised over the female bettas - but from what I've witnessed so far, other than preliminary curiousity when he was first put in the tank, the females pretty much leave him alone and he stays away from them! And the Angelfish? They've shown NO interest at all!
To be honest, I figure he's probably rather young - isn't as large as my red male - so I know that the peace which seems to be the song of today, may drastically change in the future... But for now he appears to be happier and thriving better in his new home, which was my main objective.... Hopefully, should the time arise where his agression escalates he will be more suited to the solitary life in the 10 gallon.....


To thine own self be true...