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I remember a few years ago when everyone got big on keeping Bettas. You know, back when people were getting them with the flower or plant in the vase with the Betta at the bottom. Back them, I remember seeing, reading and hearing that Bettas had to be kept alone. Now that I started buying new fish and restarting my tanks, I keep reading how people are keeping lots of different fish with Bettas. What changed? Did people just start experimenting and found out they were okay for living with others? Or have they been compatiable all along and people were just unknowingly passing around the idea they had to be kept alone?

Betta's are usually fish that are kept on their own due to their temperament to other fish with long & flowing fins. There are fish that are quite fast & there are some that don't have long fins & these type of fish aren't a treat to the Betta, so there wouldn't be any aggressiveness between these fish in a tank that is big enough to house both fish.


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I think another thing that changed was that word got out that they don't natrally live in oxen hoofprints, but in large rice paddies, so they do appreciate a bit of room to move.

There has been a big jump in the type of bettas available over the last 10 years too. Some of the newer varieties are more suited to community tanks than others. HMPK and DTPK varieties would be my pick

We have also advanced somewhat with our filtration, and have many different models that are afdjustable, which would allow for differences in water flow and may let the longfinned varieties get about a bit better.

They were always compatible. Wild B. splendens are quite docile in comparison to fancy fighters (which are probably bitzers).
The only reason I can think of that things may have been different years ago, is that the coloured stock relied heavily on the trained fighting fish, and those things are bred to fight hard and on cue. Maybe there was too much fighting blood in the earlier fancy stock that made them a bit less suited to community tanks?

Would you believe now that there is concern that we are breeding all the fight out of bettas? LOL talk about coming full-circle! A lot of the fancier varieties are so placid that they loll around all day and tend not to be interested in females at all (Too Dumb To Breed, or TDTB) and thats too far in the placid direction.


I'd say its mostly experimentation though. I currently have a few in a community tank with *gasp* a female paradise fish, some male guppies and a bunch of barbs. I think there is even a few mosquito fish in there. All the bettas (2 spawns growing out, a few runts, a 2yo adult plakat, and a 4yo female) seem fine with it for now, but i'm keeping a close eye, especially on the younger ones.

Once you get to know them better, you can often tell which ones will be ok in what type of setup. There are a few i've had that flipped out at larger tanks, and a few that would mope if you jarred them. I'm getting pretty good at judging who will be happy where now. Although, occasionally I have botched it in a rather spectacular fashion, but don't tell *shhh*





Last edited by Callatya at 01-Nov-2005 03:55

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Im glad. I always felt bad for the bettas because they were kept alone. Heck, I dont sit one of my sons stuffed animals by itself because I think it will "get lonely".
Call me crazy!

They dont like much water movement do they? Arent they pretty much like goldfish when it come to being messy and having lots of waste? What temps do you keep them at in a community tank? Im guessing not higher than about 75??

Bettas aren't really messy fish. If they were, those of us that keep them jarred would have an even worse time with water changes! Their waste output seems to be about equal to that of a young platy (only a guestimate, hard to measure without confining a platy)

They don't mind water movement (within reason, no whirlpools here, they come from still waters), but the longer finned varieties tend to get stuck on filter intakes and have difficulty getting off. Its somewhat like swimming in a wedding dress, not easy! if you watch, the longfinned bettas pretty much only use their pectoral fins to swim about, the longer fins are more of a hinderance and just create drag

Temperature range is pretty high. I have some in the temperate tank at 73*F, and my breeders are at 84*F. I wouldn't go any lower than 72*F as they get very mopey and lose energy. The areas in Thailand that they come from are very warm and humid, they are definately tropical fish. They won't drop dead the instant it goes below, but systems start to slow down, and they become quite susceptible to disease and infection.





For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

God! Thank god other people are as weird as me! I too felt awful for my betta who I had but in a 10 gallon tank...swimming all alone. I felt so sorry for him! He seemed happy but I wasn't.
I have a 25 gallon tank where i have a few swordtails and two peacock eels. I put "Jaws" (thats the name of my absolutely gorgeous betta) in there and now he's actually swimming within the airbubbles!!! He absolutely LOVES it!!! He keeps coming back for more :-)

I also have a 4 gallon fishbowl and am wondering what to put in that...lets see...

bettas in the wild are short fin, so they dont have trouble swimming in a tank with a filter. long fins often have trouble swimming due to the fact of more surface area. they struggle in community tanks and often suffer, due to they cant get food as much as the other fish.

so little water movement is best. bettas can handle very cold water, and have a great range. 90*F would be the max in aquaira. generally if u are going to breed, use higher water temps.

One reason I never wanted a betta was because they couldn't be kept with several species of fish and I don't believe in keeping any fish in less than a 5g tank. Shrimp maybe but not fish. I ended up with a betta anyway. Hopefully he likes it in the 29g. They are pretty but keeping fish in tiny tanks by themselves is not for me and all my other tanks have gouramis in them.
I also refuse to keep syrian hamsters because they are solitary. I have 3 dwarf hamsters living together and I'm looking for another species of dwarf to keep in a colony of 5 or so in a huge cage I'm building. Well huge for the size of the animal anyway. Needless to say I like schooling fish.

I love my betta dearly and I think he is probabyl happier alone at this point. He is one of the longer finned variety. He is very beautiful and very active, but I think he is happy in his little 2.5 gallon tank. I got him a banana plant and he wasn't very sure about it at first. He had to check it out. He absolutely LOVES it now. I have also had lots of bettas throughout the years in tanks with other fish. It just depends on the individual betta.



Christina

at first i thought i was imagining it but my betta "Jaws" actually was having an upstream racing contest with another fish in my tank (a swordtail)
It was no contest: he won will the stupid swortails ever learn??

He is also extremely quick to come and get his share of the pellets and bloodworms I put in the tank. on the weekend (sunday) i seperate him within the tank so that he doesn't get fed. He pouts on sundays and doesn't talk to me ]

I am now wondering what I should do with the empty 4 gallon goldfish bowl I have...what should I put in that? I hate shrimp...

My experience with most long finned bettas is that when you first put them into a larger tank (my 180 gal for example) is that they don't really swim to begin with, they just kinda go into spasm like movements to get around but within a day or so they're zipping along the length of the tank gracefully. Some will swim down and drape themselves on a lower plant and others will just mosey about in the weeds.
As Calla said, a few can be petrified of the larger tanks. Some will not tolerate other fish, some will get frightened of any tank mates, so it's not a given thing that it will work.

Bettas are definately a personality fish so giving advice on how a betta should or could be housed and treated can be a bit of a hit and miss kind of thing

Last edited by RustyBlade at 01-Nov-2005 23:22