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I have a ten gallon with about 4 fake plants (will add at least another fake plant in the near future) and:
1 male betta
2 male guppies
3 black khuli loaches

All of my fish are very healthy and happy and everyone is getting along great, but the only thing is, the surface kind of looks bare, and I was thinking of adding maybe two neon tetras or two cherry barbs. But I don't want to overstock the tank, and everyone looks like they have sufficient space, and I worry that if I add two fish it will look crowded. . .or it could look awesome. What do you guys think?

Betta,

Don't add the neons. They prefer to be in a school of at least six, which you don't have room for. Plus the ones I have like to be in the middle to bottom of the tank anyway.

-Rick

Rick
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hmm. . .are there any other small (that don't exceed 1 or 2 inches) non schooling fish that would be compatible? Or should I just leave as is?

Or could I get the cherry barbs?

I'm surprised your betta doesn't stay near the top. Mine does in my 10g. He hangs out at the top of the overgrown wisteria.

Also, if your betta does stay near the top, you may not want to put smaller top fish in there because it (or they) may be intimidated.

I have only had cherry barbs once. And they lasted a week...so I haven't tried that again. Mine didn't stay at the top though. They stayed in the middle.

To be cautious of overstocking I would stick to what you have. You may be able to add a couple more male guppies...but that doesn't help your vacant top water problem.

*Kristin*

My betta really roams the whole tank, but mainly he just sits on the bottom (though he's perfectly healthy, eats fine, perfect color, moves to the top every once in a while to get a gulp in the air, and then just sorta cruises the bottom, and since he seems to be happy, and not unhealthy I am not worried a bit)

I have had cherry barbs in the past (two of them) with Swimmi (the betta) and they all got along fine but when I had added two harlequins and two platies, they started to harrass them and chase them all over, (I don't have those fish anymore, just three khuli loaches, two male fantail guppies and swimmi) and I am worried that if I added two cherry barbs they might be aggressive to the guppies? Do you think that would happen, or are they compatible?

u said it yourself just leave the tank the way it is.

well I am not sure yet. . .

Just leave the tank as it is, as most Tetras like to stay in schools & you don't have space for them.


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ok #1 how big are your male guppies?if there small i can understand why this is working,but once they get big and devolope that fancy awesome tail that male guppies get they betta is gonna have none of that and bye-bye guppy!same w/the barbs,it may work for awhile but then when the betta sees the tail and thinks its another male betta... you guessed it,where is my barbs i know they just didnt up and grow legs and walk away hope that helps so you dont do what alot of aquarists do.i would leave it the way it is now.

sigh. . .my guppies are grown with their tails, and my betta completely ignores them! THEY ARE STILL ALIVE SO CAN WE PLEASE MOVE ON???

No offense, but if you want to add fish to the 10g, go for it. We are all trying give advice to you. Most of it is advice about not adding anymore fish, but if you are determined to do it anyway...go for it. We can't stop you from doing it. We are just giving you good reasons why you shouldn't add tetras.

*Kristin*

-_- and why shouldn't I?
Don't you have 9 neons, with a betta, and two otos? That is still more fish than I have. . .right now I have:
2 guppies (male so no chance of breeding)
1 betta
3 khuli loaches
2 otos

The otos stick to the glass, and don't move all that much, the betta kind of roams all over, and the guppies like it in back with all of the plants (I have like seven in there now) and the heater, and the khulis swim up and down the glass, but the entire middle center part of the tank is completely bare-nada nothing no fish swimming there, and I was hoping a mid-bottom fish could fill in the gaps. How about another fish then? Like not a tetra?

I've heard from people who should know that Neons have an unpleasant habit of nibbling on the fins of male Bettas -- in fact, I was told one story about an unfortunate Betta who was given a "crew cut" by a school of the little devils.

Don't you have 9 neons, with a betta, and two otos? That is still more fish than I have. . .right now I have:

No I don't anymore. I started having 3ppm of ammonia in my tank and 2ppm of nitrite because of all the fish. I had to upgrade my tank so my fish wouldn't die.
I have more than enough filtration and moderately planted, but that still wasn't enough for all the fish.
Now my 10g only has a male betta.

Bruce: That's interesting. When I had my neons and betta together, the neons were pretty timid. They hid alot. I did see the betta chase them every now and then, so maybe he scared them.

*Kristin*

"I've heard from people who should know that Neons have an unpleasant habit of nibbling on the fins of male Bettas"

I've seen behavior like that as well. Neon Tetras can be fearless when kept in large schools. Just yesterday at work I saw some Neons that had claimed another victim. It was a 10" Violet Goby we had ordered a few days before, and some person (probably a saltwater or reptile person) put him in a freshwater tank with the Neon Tetras. By the time I dicovered him yesterday, he had almost no fins left (and I saw the Neons attacking what was left).

I moved him into a brackish tank by himself where he is now enjoying his plankon and baby brine shrimp (the killer Neons would eat all his food before).

---

I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Oddly enough, I've noticed that quite a few 'peaceful' Tetra species can be considerably emboldened by greater numbers. The difference in behaviour with my Cardinals from a shoal of 6 to a shoal of 12 is quite something to behold - instead of being somewhat timorous when I approach the glass, they now hang around the front of the aquarium waiting for me to drop food in, and attack the flakes like little sharks!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Just keep in mind that they're cousins of piranhas...

I should add, though, that female Bettas in my experience get along just fine in a community tank, being neither too aggressive or too fearful -- although I've had male Bettas go to both extremes in a community tank. Just that innate male tendency toward neurosis, I suppose.