When I kept and bred Betta fish, I had good experiences with Harlequin Rasboras. The Harlequins are fast and small enough that the Betta leave them alone, and peaceful enough that the Betta quickly realize they aren't an issue and thus leaves them alone. I also had good experiences with Black Neons and Glowlight Tetras for the same reason.
I had this one betta in a 29 gallon community tank and he was a literal angel! He absolutely did not care what fish I put with him, he would just get along with anything! I kept him with livebearers, snails, tetras and shrimp too. He did even let other fish eat even when he was young!
Same. I’ve kept a male in community with mollies, platys, and neon tetra as tank mates, as well as a sorority with these mates. It included snails and guppies, as well. No problems.
@@Ifaaaslf my mistake. I wrote it wrong. I meant he let other fish eat even when he was young. (He was a little bit food bully but when he got full, he did not care about food after that)
One important thing to note is that it also comes down to the beta fish’s personality :P Some are more aggressive, some are more peaceful, some might get along with tank mates you’d think they shouldn’t, some might attack tank mates you’d think they shouldn’t… you never really know with them So before adding a betta to a community it’s important to always have a backup plan (like a small betta tank fully set up) for if things go south!
I have had a similar issue and ‘donated’ the betta to an upscale aquarium fish store near me. They were glad to have him, no risk to them because they keep bettas in their own bowls, and they take really good care of them…people who buy there are very likely to care well for what they buy as well. I would not return any livestock to a petco or petsmart place.
My female betta was a no with snails, she even ate all the pest snails 😂 but my male betta lives with a mystery snail and he’s never bothered her. I love how different their personalities are ❤
totally agree about snails. My 7yo and I were adding a prized new snail to the tank. The little one just plunked it in, unfortunately, and while it was floating to the bottom, the betta attacked and ATE it. Mildly traumatic for the kid, rather worse for the snail.
Always a great way to kick off the weekend with an Irene video drop - love this one! I currently keep my betta with CPDs, chilis, a nerite, and a mystery snail and he does great with all of them. Funny enough - when I kept him with cherry shrimp he also did amazing to the point the lil shrimp got bold and would sometimes perch on his back if he was resting🤣 Then I tried amanos and he HATED them! Whenever he saw one, he would charge at it and scare them back off into hiding. So funny and goes to show how every fish truly does have their own quirks/personality!
This popped up in my feed, and I’m so glad it did. I only have a single betta, Sammie🥰, in a small 3.5 gal tank. He’s in my kitchen with me and keeps me such a good company. I absolutely love him. But I was horrified when you mentioned the bubble nests. I thought I had read about Bettas when I got him a year ago, but never knew about the nests. I would see the masses of bubbles, especially next to the Cattapa leaves that I put in for him. I thought it was an imbalance in my tank and would suction them out. After you mentioned them, I read that they get very upset when you disturb the nests and I feel so badly now. I’ve done everything to make him happy and I think he is, but I will certainly never touch one again. So glad I ran across you and will watch all your videos. Thanks so much.
I have a 5G tank on my coffee table and put some cherry shrimp in with the beta and he pretty much leaves them alone but I got him when he was really young so maybe he's just used to them. He can't catch them anyway. Also have plants and decor that makes it easier for them to avoid him.
Harlequin rasboras and porkchop rasboras are another great tankmate choice. I have a school of harlequins, and they get along great with my betta. They are colorful, but also speedy, so they can easily zoom out of the way if need be. That being said my betta is very docile, he gets along with everybody, so he also ignores the nerite snails in the tank.
I did have harlequin rasboras with my betta too, but my betta fish would chase them all the time and my rasboras would hide in a corner. Also the rasboras are very fast and always ate most of the food, causing my betta to starve sometimes. I think it depends on the betta’s personality but honestly I wouldn’t put both fish together again.
I've had good experience with (mild-tempered) bettas with most bottom dwellers like cories. My old betta that has passed, loved hanging out with the panda cories, he would even dig through the sand together with them like a real cory. It was super cute to see his behavior, but this is highly dependent on individual personalities.
Can I ask what temperature you kept the tank at? I keep hearing that pandas and bettas have too different of a temperature range, but I love both fish and I only have 1 tank so if I can try to make it work I’d love to
I have kept bettas for 14 years and I have kept rabbit snails with multiple bettas and they all worked well in 10, 20,80 gallon aquariums and it worked extremely well
So far my bettas have done great with mystery snails, cardinal tetras, and otocinclus tank mates. The betta does occasionally follow the otos around, but they can scoot so quickly that his long fins prevent him from ever catching up to them. He usually just wants to swim closely at stare at them, I've never seen him actually bite or nip them. None of my bettas have gone after my mystery snails either, so maybe I've just had good luck so far. Its always a possibility they'll stop getting along, so I'm always prepared to separate them if need be.
Interesting to hear your experience with snails and a betta. I have one mahogany mystery snail and a handful of red ramshorns in with my betta and fortunately he doesn't bother the snails. I hadn't even thought about this being a problem, so I'm glad it's working out in my betta tank.
In my 75 gallon I have black neon, regular neon, platies, one male Betta, five female Bettas, one Otto catfish and ten mystery snails. Tank is almost five months old.
My male Double-Tail Betta gets along very well with my Chocolate Kuhli Loaches, in fact, he joins them when they are doing their Kuhli Happy Dance. He also gets along very well with my Bronze Cory Cats... they race up to get air when he goes up for air. And, he does not seem to bother my 2 Nerite Snails. I currently have a 6.6G and just got 20G Long 12"Tall tank to move them into. I have more Bronze Cory Cats in a 5G Quarantine Tank waiting to join the others in the 20G. I also have a 2 more Black Kuhli Loaches that was up for re-homing in another 5G and she wanted them with a school. I was picked because I have 5 Chocolate Kuhli Loaches to join with them. I just moved them into a 10G while I am building this 20G long tank and are they all (5 +2) getting along very well together as one school/shoal. Neither the Betta, nor the Kuhli Loaches appear to be hiding, nor appear to be stressed. You are right, it appears to be Betta specific, as mine is peaceful.
My betta has corydora tank mates and he hangs out with them a lot. He never nips or gets aggressive, just slowly follows them when they’re moving around. Sometimes the corys will dart really fast and my betta will swim back to the top lol, but when the corys are just searching the substrate for consumables my betta also swims along the bottom with them
I had a week where I thought my son's betta had got eaten by our cats. I hadn't seen him in a week and I even moved some rocks to look for him. I got a trio of albino red guppies for my community tank and felt like I needed to move my 3 year old snakeskin guppy with orange fins to avoid mutts, so I moved him to the betta tank as a 'retirement villa'. After about a week and a half of not seeing the betta, I was gonna run and get him a couple male guppy buddies from one of my LFS on lunch break. I sat down in the morning to work and saw a blue flash across the front of the dark aquarium. Lights hadn't come on yet but he was alive and freaking out. After his half hour spaz fest he calmed down. I have a feeling he survived on the amano shrimp that were in there. Cause they're gone. They've been together for a few weeks now. They don't seem to bother each other so they're my odd couple now.
I've had 2 very different experiences with snails. I've added 1 mystery and 2 nerites with my (rather aggressive for food female betta) and I saw here attacked the mystery. I had to remove him from there after a couple of days, but it's been months that the nerites and betta lived together and the betta doesn't seem to notice the nerites. I've read somewhere that its probably related to the color (mystery being purple)
my bettas love cherry shrimp! mine just like to lay around and watch them do their thing. bladder snails are fine but my betta Giacomo absolutely hated my mystery snail. never seen him flare that hard
I’ve got 1 large male betta with orange Sakura shrimp and several varieties of mystery/nitrite snails. The betta ignores the snail but does keep the shrimp hidden all day. They live in the plants during the day and venture into the open at night while he’s asleep.
I have a female koi betta that is doing well in a community tank with a dwarf gourami, black neon tetras, dwarf chain loaches, and a few cherry shrimp. I have another betta that can be with no other fish. He chooses violence at every opportunity. He is happily in his own tank!
I have absolutely no problem with my ottos and Betta. I have some yellow shrimp in the tank also, he has left them alone so far. Btw, my betta looks exactly like your Betta at 7:00.
I've never kept a betta without it being in a community tank. If you think you might run into issues with a particular fish consider "Giant Betta" and plakat versions with shorter fins.
I keep bullastra snail with all my community tanks that all had Bettas in them and the Bettas doesn't seem to bother them. Bullastra snail, if you're not aware, is a species of pond snail that grows relatively bigger than most pond snails and is native (I think) here in Philippines. They're also known as Philippine reflected-mantle snail.
My female crowntail does great in the endler tank, the kuhli loaches don't even bother her and she kinda wonders around the whole tank checking on everyone. She also keeps the fry population to a minimum so I do not have a huge population explosion ❤
For the past couple months I've been keeping a mystery snail and a betta together in my 40 gal tank. Haven't noticed any issues at all. Sometime's he'll investigate the snail however he's never nipped at her or made or go back into her shell
Great video! I personally had a very different experience with snails and shrimp. My every betta used to make a snack out of shrimp, but got along with all the snails!
I have neon tetras with my betta, and they are in his face half the time. LUCKILY, my betta is very tolerant. But If I were him, I would not appreciate them in my space lol
I completely agree with the platy one. I've kept several bettas with both molly and platys and every single one have hated red platys. One fish I think u should've added are neon tetras. Unlike popular belief they don't make good mates. Several betta groups are filled with reports of neons fin-nipping. They are actually now classified as fin nipping tetra in several websites. Instead I'd suggest the rasbora family. They make ideal tank mate. Ive had four espies with my OHM and they always leave him alone. (Will be increasing the number of rasboras within 2-3months going to update to 20tall)
@@danaoanatambaloiu6477 yep, they do that a lot. If ur betta is peaceful and u want schooling fish then I'd suggest espie rasboras. They are different looking than harlequins. Google them , they are as bright orange as they appear in the pic. Very peaceful fish and would usually avoid the betta. If u have a 10 gallon u can easily keep 8
My plakat female betta Merida peacefully shares the 13 gallon well planted tank with neocaridina neon yellow shrimps and 4 otocinclus fishes. There has never been any problem with such crew. However, I regularly see Merida doing rounds among the plants and decorations and I know she hunts the tinies shrimps. But since there are loads of hiding places I still get a lot of baby shrimps to become adults.
My betta leaves my nerite snail alone but is an absolute psychopath with the ramshorns. He flares at them, bites off their antennae, knocks them off the glass, eats their babies... I'd feel bad, but the ramshorns invited themselves in, so if they didn't want to be terrorized maybe they should have made better decisions 🤷♀️
I will add one thing to the molly part: Some males can be rather agressive. I've had a few meaner male mollies in my tanks, especially if another fish was trying to square off with them. If it were an agressive betta, you could have a fight between them. My betta didn't attack my Oto cats. He just wouldn't let them eat during feeding time, which stressed them out. I moved them in with my cory cats and cherry barbs. Had no issues since then.
Have personally kept various rasboras, cories, African dwarf frogs, and shrimp and snails with bettas. Only problem I ever had was bettas going after the shrimp. The rest all lived in harmony (this was many different tanks and bettas over many years, not one tank). As long as they have lots of space.
A friend just gave me four neon tetras as tank mates for my betta, Storm. I put them together two days ago and everything seemed great. Last night I was watching everyone interacting and the nonsense have been chasing each other a bit and nipped at the bettas tail! He never flared at them until they did that. I read it might be because there's not enough neon tetras to keep the fin nipping to themselves as they work out a pecking order. Anyone else have this problem?
my betta is super picky, he hated the first mystery snail he lived with and would always bother him, but he’s completely fine with the female i have in the tank with him now. they’ll even hang out together in his floating log!
My betta Lancelot lives in a 10g with a clown pleco and 2 amano shrimp and he’s never paid them any mind! The pleco spends most of its time hiding but my shrimp like to zoom around the tank and he just watches them. I think I got lucky by picking a relaxed betta on the first try, but the combo has worked for me!
I have a male Betta in a 10 gallon, and originally I put some otocinclus in with him. I moved the otos to another tank after I caught the Betta harassing them about 6 months in, once he grew to full size.
I have my plakat Betta, Todd, in a 20L with Harlequin Rasboras, Kuhli Loaches, a Hillstream Loach, and a couple of Mystery Snails and he gets along with everybody. ❤️ My other Betta, Caesar, was a total a**hole when I tried having him in the community tank. 🙃
Tetras are the worst even though they're angels if 1 of them start snipping the other will do the same as well ( I have rednose tetra, neon tettra, and many tetras ....)
I have a halfmoon king and he ate all the shrimp... I want to try cory's but im pretty sure he would try to attack them he's pretty aggressive and territorial lol
I had a betta living in his own until I have this very single Apistogramma Double Red fry living with him. Being the older brother to the small sister, he's quite tolerant with her, probably due to her color and he don't feel threatened. Some occasional chasing was seen but my tank has enough break lines and hiding spot. They even share meals together too. However, I don't recommend sharing space with a betta unless you really do trust a lot.
What about 6.5 and I have 3 mollies who are small. I was told if you introduced the small 3 mollie-guppy mixes. As I was told by specialist no more than 3 mollies but only when they are babies so they grow and adjust with respect to the Betta . I tried it but I was told the tank needs to be 6.5 gallon with oxygen bubble and filter.
I have a Betta with swordtails, Cardinal Tetras and Platys in a 29 gallon tank The Betta does not bother anybody but I did end up taking one small Platy out of the tank because he would torture the Betta constantly nipping his fins. As for feeding, the Betta does NOT like Bloodworms but the more aggressive fish do. So I feed the bloodworms first and while the Swordtails and Platys are chasing the bloodworms I feed the Betta some Mysis shrimp and then drop in the flakes so everybody has their fill.
7:21 My betta fish Aqua when I got some ghost shrimp as a tank mate for her she ate them, all of them. So…not doing that again. Definitely looking at corydoras and tetras for my next tank
My plakat betta Cosmo (RIP 💔) would not tolerate the ramshorn snail I had in with him. He knocked it off decorations twice that I saw, so I put it in another tank and left him in there alone.
My experience with snails has really varied depending on the betta. I’ve been fortunate to have so many that are very docile but I currently have 2 that are a hard no. One repeatedly does the investigation poke and the other one full on spars with them. I’ve also found that some do fine with nerites but not mysteries
My bettas have usually been pretty chill, but they've never liked my hillstream loaches (yes I know they need different tanks). The bettas would never attack them but they'd would go over and flare and flare until the loaches hid behind the sponge
I have 2 nerite snail in a 10 gallon with my betta and he checked them out for like 5 seconds and has never looked at them since and that was 2 months ago
I have two nerite snails in with a Female betta and some other fish. The betta will hang around the snails 🐌 and look t them but she never touches them. The snails don’t seem to care and just keep on searching the glass for food. but I have a question. When keeping schooling fish, can you keep, say, 3 cardinal tetras, 3 neon tetras, and 3 green neon tetras as one big school, or do they have to be all neons, for example, to be successful? Your videos Are so good.
I have 10 female bettas and 10 cory catfish and 10 snails in my 20 gallon tank there's lots of room and they swim to me when i open the lid i play with them everyday and they all swim up to my hand. Fish are so peaceful i stare and watch my fish almost throughout the day
We've got a Crowntail who We've tried with nerites, Otos & shrimps. He's pretty chill with all. Our plakats are get along well with nerites but will chase the otos & munch on shrimp. 😅
In my experience, it definitely depends on the size of the tank, and it also definitely depends on the beta fishes temperament I feel like with tank mates. Any of them can be aggressive towards the beta fish, and the beta fish could be aggressive towards any of them so you really just have to watch out and make sure that you don’t pick an aggressive, beta fish or aggressive tank mates I’ve seen even like supposedly peaceful fish, nip Betta fish just because there’s something that’s like tempting about the super long fins that like attracts in fish
Everyone talks about corys being great with them so i tried it but my peppered corys are so active and social it didn't work. They were up and down the sides of the tank constantly and even tried to socialize with the betta which he did NOT appreciate. Never harmed anyone but he starting hiding all the time. So he's alone again and i hope he likes it better.
My betta, Patriot, has murdered everything I have ever put in with him. Neons, harlequins, every SINGLE shrimp, nerites, all the babies from everything. He now lives alone in his 5 gallon
My fully grown Pleco has to live by itself now because it crushed some of its tank mates at night… they are mostly calm but can be ferocious and strong, my beta survived ripped fins the only other fish in the community tank were neon tetras and the Pleco who has to live alone now…
I have 4 ottos with my Betta, Sid, and he absolutely chases them! I've never seen any fin damage, he doesn't bite them, but seems to smack them with his face?? I think he just enjoys messing with them. 😂😂 Never goes after my chili rasboras, but he does eat the antenna off my colony of pest snails, no matter how well fed he is. 😕
my betta fish, Bacon, has been pretty good with my snails, but i've had a couple mysterious deaths recently, and now I'm wondering if maybe he's nipping at them when I'm not looking.
I’ve had neocaradina with a couple different bettas, and never had any issues. I’m sure some babies got eaten but the colony grew. Mollies on the other hand…
So update. I added cherry shrimp and he keeps trying to cuddle them on the moss couch while they hide in terror. He has shown zero interest in eating anything that isn't a flake or pellet.
I was successful in setting up a 20 gallon community tank and the betta is the center fish . His companions are 6 neon tetras and 4 cory dory catfish. I am thinking of adding a couple of electric blue ram. In your opinion is this ok?
Thank you for all your videos, I'm setting up a betta tank and these have been invaluable. You mention an online service in your video is the aquarium co op? Also, do you get your bettas from the local pet store or have you ever ordered them online?
Anything smaller than a 20-30 gallon tank I have found to be too small for cohabitating bettas with other species. They’re too “in your face” in something that small. Def not a bowl, or a ten gallon! Personally I had a 40 gallon with a sorority of female bettas. That has its own set of challenges and quirks, of course, such as acquiring all of the female bettas at the same time, not adding any later, because it helps with the aggression. Which is unavoidable between the bettas. Even if they’re females, one will become the lowest and one is the highest. Just because. But they were living with cories, kuhli loaches, rasboras, neons, and ghost shrimp.
My betta died yesterday. 😢 He lived happily with two nerite snails and ghost shrimp for four months. Three days after I got Cory catfish he died. They didn’t interact at all but I think they stressed him out.
My lady betta, Marie (Antoinette), murdered all her shrimp roommates. Her boyfriend betta, Vlad (The Impaler), lives peacefully with his shrimp roomies.
*What tank mates for betta fish have you personally had good luck with?*
When are we going to see a video on ur new betta? :)
When I kept and bred Betta fish, I had good experiences with Harlequin Rasboras. The Harlequins are fast and small enough that the Betta leave them alone, and peaceful enough that the Betta quickly realize they aren't an issue and thus leaves them alone. I also had good experiences with Black Neons and Glowlight Tetras for the same reason.
Snails and Cory catfish
Guppy
Platy
I had this one betta in a 29 gallon community tank and he was a literal angel! He absolutely did not care what fish I put with him, he would just get along with anything! I kept him with livebearers, snails, tetras and shrimp too. He did even let other fish eat even when he was young!
Same. I’ve kept a male in community with mollies, platys, and neon tetra as tank mates, as well as a sorority with these mates. It included snails and guppies, as well. No problems.
Platy not plague.
@@CynthiaPrice79 yes, it absolutely depends on the fish's personality!
@@easy_fishkeeping.Wdym by "he did even tried to eat anyone even when he was young"??? He eats other fish but gets along with them???????
@@Ifaaaslf my mistake. I wrote it wrong. I meant he let other fish eat even when he was young. (He was a little bit food bully but when he got full, he did not care about food after that)
One important thing to note is that it also comes down to the beta fish’s personality :P
Some are more aggressive, some are more peaceful, some might get along with tank mates you’d think they shouldn’t, some might attack tank mates you’d think they shouldn’t… you never really know with them
So before adding a betta to a community it’s important to always have a backup plan (like a small betta tank fully set up) for if things go south!
And the best part about a backup tank is if the community tank goes well you can get another betta fish
I have had a similar issue and ‘donated’ the betta to an upscale aquarium fish store near me. They were glad to have him, no risk to them because they keep bettas in their own bowls, and they take really good care of them…people who buy there are very likely to care well for what they buy as well.
I would not return any livestock to a petco or petsmart place.
Sounds like Bettas have the personality of a cat. 😂
My female betta was a no with snails, she even ate all the pest snails 😂 but my male betta lives with a mystery snail and he’s never bothered her. I love how different their personalities are ❤
Same my female ice spice is so aggressive i think I have a video of my community tank if not imma upload one
totally agree about snails. My 7yo and I were adding a prized new snail to the tank. The little one just plunked it in, unfortunately, and while it was floating to the bottom, the betta attacked and ATE it. Mildly traumatic for the kid, rather worse for the snail.
Omg, your poor little one, that's dramatic!
Best to add tankmates first before the betta. Anything after they may attack.
Always a great way to kick off the weekend with an Irene video drop - love this one! I currently keep my betta with CPDs, chilis, a nerite, and a mystery snail and he does great with all of them. Funny enough - when I kept him with cherry shrimp he also did amazing to the point the lil shrimp got bold and would sometimes perch on his back if he was resting🤣 Then I tried amanos and he HATED them! Whenever he saw one, he would charge at it and scare them back off into hiding. So funny and goes to show how every fish truly does have their own quirks/personality!
This popped up in my feed, and I’m so glad it did. I only have a single betta, Sammie🥰, in a small 3.5 gal tank. He’s in my kitchen with me and keeps me such a good company. I absolutely love him. But I was horrified when you mentioned the bubble nests. I thought I had read about Bettas when I got him a year ago, but never knew about the nests. I would see the masses of bubbles, especially next to the Cattapa leaves that I put in for him. I thought it was an imbalance in my tank and would suction them out. After you mentioned them, I read that they get very upset when you disturb the nests and I feel so badly now. I’ve done everything to make him happy and I think he is, but I will certainly never touch one again. So glad I ran across you and will watch all your videos. Thanks so much.
I also suggest upgrading your tank, That is way too small for a betta fish
I have a 5G tank on my coffee table and put some cherry shrimp in with the beta and he pretty much leaves them alone but I got him when he was really young so maybe he's just used to them. He can't catch them anyway. Also have plants and decor that makes it easier for them to avoid him.
Bump that size up a little. Even though they can live there, they can look better in at least a 10 gallon
Harlequin rasboras and porkchop rasboras are another great tankmate choice. I have a school of harlequins, and they get along great with my betta. They are colorful, but also speedy, so they can easily zoom out of the way if need be. That being said my betta is very docile, he gets along with everybody, so he also ignores the nerite snails in the tank.
I did have harlequin rasboras with my betta too, but my betta fish would chase them all the time and my rasboras would hide in a corner. Also the rasboras are very fast and always ate most of the food, causing my betta to starve sometimes. I think it depends on the betta’s personality but honestly I wouldn’t put both fish together again.
I was thinking of getting a Betta but my Harlequin Rasboras are savage eaters and so are my Cherry Barbs
I've had good experience with (mild-tempered) bettas with most bottom dwellers like cories. My old betta that has passed, loved hanging out with the panda cories, he would even dig through the sand together with them like a real cory. It was super cute to see his behavior, but this is highly dependent on individual personalities.
Can I ask what temperature you kept the tank at? I keep hearing that pandas and bettas have too different of a temperature range, but I love both fish and I only have 1 tank so if I can try to make it work I’d love to
I have kept bettas for 14 years and I have kept rabbit snails with multiple bettas and they all worked well in 10, 20,80 gallon aquariums and it worked extremely well
So far my bettas have done great with mystery snails, cardinal tetras, and otocinclus tank mates. The betta does occasionally follow the otos around, but they can scoot so quickly that his long fins prevent him from ever catching up to them. He usually just wants to swim closely at stare at them, I've never seen him actually bite or nip them. None of my bettas have gone after my mystery snails either, so maybe I've just had good luck so far. Its always a possibility they'll stop getting along, so I'm always prepared to separate them if need be.
Interesting to hear your experience with snails and a betta. I have one mahogany mystery snail and a handful of red ramshorns in with my betta and fortunately he doesn't bother the snails. I hadn't even thought about this being a problem, so I'm glad it's working out in my betta tank.
One day I'm going to set up a betta tank. I love to watch videos about proper tank mates for them.
In my 75 gallon I have black neon, regular neon, platies, one male Betta, five female Bettas, one Otto catfish and ten mystery snails. Tank is almost five months old.
My male Double-Tail Betta gets along very well with my Chocolate Kuhli Loaches, in fact, he joins them when they are doing their Kuhli Happy Dance. He also gets along very well with my Bronze Cory Cats... they race up to get air when he goes up for air. And, he does not seem to bother my 2 Nerite Snails. I currently have a 6.6G and just got 20G Long 12"Tall tank to move them into. I have more Bronze Cory Cats in a 5G Quarantine Tank waiting to join the others in the 20G. I also have a 2 more Black Kuhli Loaches that was up for re-homing in another 5G and she wanted them with a school. I was picked because I have 5 Chocolate Kuhli Loaches to join with them. I just moved them into a 10G while I am building this 20G long tank and are they all (5 +2) getting along very well together as one school/shoal.
Neither the Betta, nor the Kuhli Loaches appear to be hiding, nor appear to be stressed.
You are right, it appears to be Betta specific, as mine is peaceful.
My betta has corydora tank mates and he hangs out with them a lot. He never nips or gets aggressive, just slowly follows them when they’re moving around. Sometimes the corys will dart really fast and my betta will swim back to the top lol, but when the corys are just searching the substrate for consumables my betta also swims along the bottom with them
I had a week where I thought my son's betta had got eaten by our cats. I hadn't seen him in a week and I even moved some rocks to look for him. I got a trio of albino red guppies for my community tank and felt like I needed to move my 3 year old snakeskin guppy with orange fins to avoid mutts, so I moved him to the betta tank as a 'retirement villa'. After about a week and a half of not seeing the betta, I was gonna run and get him a couple male guppy buddies from one of my LFS on lunch break. I sat down in the morning to work and saw a blue flash across the front of the dark aquarium. Lights hadn't come on yet but he was alive and freaking out. After his half hour spaz fest he calmed down. I have a feeling he survived on the amano shrimp that were in there. Cause they're gone. They've been together for a few weeks now. They don't seem to bother each other so they're my odd couple now.
I've had 2 very different experiences with snails. I've added 1 mystery and 2 nerites with my (rather aggressive for food female betta) and I saw here attacked the mystery. I had to remove him from there after a couple of days, but it's been months that the nerites and betta lived together and the betta doesn't seem to notice the nerites. I've read somewhere that its probably related to the color (mystery being purple)
my bettas love cherry shrimp! mine just like to lay around and watch them do their thing. bladder snails are fine but my betta Giacomo absolutely hated my mystery snail. never seen him flare that hard
I’ve got 1 large male betta with orange Sakura shrimp and several varieties of mystery/nitrite snails. The betta ignores the snail but does keep the shrimp hidden all day. They live in the plants during the day and venture into the open at night while he’s asleep.
I've had a huge mystery snail in my tank before introducing my female betta, had no issues bc of the size difference.
I have a female koi betta that is doing well in a community tank with a dwarf gourami, black neon tetras, dwarf chain loaches, and a few cherry shrimp. I have another betta that can be with no other fish. He chooses violence at every opportunity. He is happily in his own tank!
I have absolutely no problem with my ottos and Betta. I have some yellow shrimp in the tank also, he has left them alone so far. Btw, my betta looks exactly like your Betta at 7:00.
I've never kept a betta without it being in a community tank. If you think you might run into issues with a particular fish consider "Giant Betta" and plakat versions with shorter fins.
I keep bullastra snail with all my community tanks that all had Bettas in them and the Bettas doesn't seem to bother them. Bullastra snail, if you're not aware, is a species of pond snail that grows relatively bigger than most pond snails and is native (I think) here in Philippines. They're also known as Philippine reflected-mantle snail.
My female crowntail does great in the endler tank, the kuhli loaches don't even bother her and she kinda wonders around the whole tank checking on everyone. She also keeps the fry population to a minimum so I do not have a huge population explosion ❤
I've tried betas with no success. Now I have Paradise gouramis 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Similar but more hardy and can go in cold water
For the past couple months I've been keeping a mystery snail and a betta together in my 40 gal tank. Haven't noticed any issues at all. Sometime's he'll investigate the snail however he's never nipped at her or made or go back into her shell
Great video! I personally had a very different experience with snails and shrimp. My every betta used to make a snack out of shrimp, but got along with all the snails!
I have neon tetras with my betta, and they are in his face half the time. LUCKILY, my betta is very tolerant. But If I were him, I would not appreciate them in my space lol
I completely agree with the platy one. I've kept several bettas with both molly and platys and every single one have hated red platys. One fish I think u should've added are neon tetras. Unlike popular belief they don't make good mates. Several betta groups are filled with reports of neons fin-nipping. They are actually now classified as fin nipping tetra in several websites. Instead I'd suggest the rasbora family. They make ideal tank mate. Ive had four espies with my OHM and they always leave him alone. (Will be increasing the number of rasboras within 2-3months going to update to 20tall)
So true about the neon Tetra
A few hours ago I had to take them out of my Bettas tank because they were fin nipping him
@@danaoanatambaloiu6477 yep, they do that a lot. If ur betta is peaceful and u want schooling fish then I'd suggest espie rasboras. They are different looking than harlequins. Google them , they are as bright orange as they appear in the pic. Very peaceful fish and would usually avoid the betta. If u have a 10 gallon u can easily keep 8
My plakat female betta Merida peacefully shares the 13 gallon well planted tank with neocaridina neon yellow shrimps and 4 otocinclus fishes. There has never been any problem with such crew. However, I regularly see Merida doing rounds among the plants and decorations and I know she hunts the tinies shrimps. But since there are loads of hiding places I still get a lot of baby shrimps to become adults.
My betta leaves my nerite snail alone but is an absolute psychopath with the ramshorns. He flares at them, bites off their antennae, knocks them off the glass, eats their babies... I'd feel bad, but the ramshorns invited themselves in, so if they didn't want to be terrorized maybe they should have made better decisions 🤷♀️
I will add one thing to the molly part: Some males can be rather agressive. I've had a few meaner male mollies in my tanks, especially if another fish was trying to square off with them. If it were an agressive betta, you could have a fight between them.
My betta didn't attack my Oto cats. He just wouldn't let them eat during feeding time, which stressed them out. I moved them in with my cory cats and cherry barbs. Had no issues since then.
Have personally kept various rasboras, cories, African dwarf frogs, and shrimp and snails with bettas. Only problem I ever had was bettas going after the shrimp. The rest all lived in harmony (this was many different tanks and bettas over many years, not one tank). As long as they have lots of space.
A friend just gave me four neon tetras as tank mates for my betta, Storm. I put them together two days ago and everything seemed great. Last night I was watching everyone interacting and the nonsense have been chasing each other a bit and nipped at the bettas tail! He never flared at them until they did that. I read it might be because there's not enough neon tetras to keep the fin nipping to themselves as they work out a pecking order. Anyone else have this problem?
my betta is super picky, he hated the first mystery snail he lived with and would always bother him, but he’s completely fine with the female i have in the tank with him now. they’ll even hang out together in his floating log!
Goldfish and plecos always did great for me!
I keep my betta with female Endler’s livebearers. Either my betta is super chill or the combo works because everything is going swimmingly!
Got a betta in a 10 gallon with 5 glofish tetras and they get along just fine
ember tetras are also great with bettas! small, calm, not nippy, i've always had success
My betta Lancelot lives in a 10g with a clown pleco and 2 amano shrimp and he’s never paid them any mind! The pleco spends most of its time hiding but my shrimp like to zoom around the tank and he just watches them. I think I got lucky by picking a relaxed betta on the first try, but the combo has worked for me!
I've kept Amano shrimp with a betta without problems too.
😊
I have a male Betta in a 10 gallon, and originally I put some otocinclus in with him. I moved the otos to another tank after I caught the Betta harassing them about 6 months in, once he grew to full size.
Hi there! Love to hear suggestions for betta tank mates in a non-planted tank, other than snails. Thank you in advance!
What about corydoras? Love the video❤❤❤
I have my plakat Betta, Todd, in a 20L with Harlequin Rasboras, Kuhli Loaches, a Hillstream Loach, and a couple of Mystery Snails and he gets along with everybody. ❤️ My other Betta, Caesar, was a total a**hole when I tried having him in the community tank. 🙃
Tetras are the worst even though they're angels if 1 of them start snipping the other will do the same as well ( I have rednose tetra, neon tettra, and many tetras ....)
I have a halfmoon king and he ate all the shrimp... I want to try cory's but im pretty sure he would try to attack them he's pretty aggressive and territorial lol
Good experience with my mystery snail and beta. Thanks for the video!
I had a betta living in his own until I have this very single Apistogramma Double Red fry living with him. Being the older brother to the small sister, he's quite tolerant with her, probably due to her color and he don't feel threatened. Some occasional chasing was seen but my tank has enough break lines and hiding spot. They even share meals together too.
However, I don't recommend sharing space with a betta unless you really do trust a lot.
My late betta, Triton, killed every ghost shrimp I had. Didn't care about the nerite, though..
What about 6.5 and I have 3 mollies who are small. I was told if you introduced the small 3 mollie-guppy mixes. As I was told by specialist no more than 3 mollies but only when they are babies so they grow and adjust with respect to the Betta . I tried it but I was told the tank needs to be 6.5 gallon with oxygen bubble and filter.
I have a Betta with swordtails, Cardinal Tetras and Platys in a 29 gallon tank The Betta does not bother anybody but I did end up taking one small Platy out of the tank because he would torture the Betta constantly nipping his fins. As for feeding, the Betta does NOT like Bloodworms but the more aggressive fish do. So I feed the bloodworms first and while the Swordtails and Platys are chasing the bloodworms I feed the Betta some Mysis shrimp and then drop in the flakes so everybody has their fill.
7:21 My betta fish Aqua when I got some ghost shrimp as a tank mate for her she ate them, all of them. So…not doing that again. Definitely looking at corydoras and tetras for my next tank
My Betta, Ernie, has a Nerite snail, 4 ember tetras and 3 amono shrimp with him and they all get along.😊
I have 3 female bettas(Zoe, Azula, Cora) in a 20g, and I added 2 cherry shrimp and 1 amano, and only 1 survived in 2 days. 😢
My plakat betta Cosmo (RIP 💔) would not tolerate the ramshorn snail I had in with him. He knocked it off decorations twice that I saw, so I put it in another tank and left him in there alone.
My experience with snails has really varied depending on the betta. I’ve been fortunate to have so many that are very docile but I currently have 2 that are a hard no. One repeatedly does the investigation poke and the other one full on spars with them. I’ve also found that some do fine with nerites but not mysteries
My bettas have usually been pretty chill, but they've never liked my hillstream loaches (yes I know they need different tanks). The bettas would never attack them but they'd would go over and flare and flare until the loaches hid behind the sponge
I have succesfully kept 4 male Betta in a 30 gallon tank before. No idea how, non were aggresive at all and nothing every happened
I have 2 nerite snail in a 10 gallon with my betta and he checked them out for like 5 seconds and has never looked at them since and that was 2 months ago
I have two nerite snails in with a Female betta and some other fish. The betta will hang around the snails 🐌 and look t them but she never touches them. The snails don’t seem to care and just keep on searching the glass for food. but I have a question. When keeping schooling fish, can you keep, say, 3 cardinal tetras, 3 neon tetras, and 3 green neon tetras as one big school, or do they have to be all neons, for example, to be successful? Your videos Are so good.
I have 10 female bettas and 10 cory catfish and 10 snails in my 20 gallon tank there's lots of room and they swim to me when i open the lid i play with them everyday and they all swim up to my hand. Fish are so peaceful i stare and watch my fish almost throughout the day
We've got a Crowntail who We've tried with nerites, Otos & shrimps. He's pretty chill with all. Our plakats are get along well with nerites but will chase the otos & munch on shrimp. 😅
In my experience, it definitely depends on the size of the tank, and it also definitely depends on the beta fishes temperament I feel like with tank mates. Any of them can be aggressive towards the beta fish, and the beta fish could be aggressive towards any of them so you really just have to watch out and make sure that you don’t pick an aggressive, beta fish or aggressive tank mates I’ve seen even like supposedly peaceful fish, nip Betta fish just because there’s something that’s like tempting about the super long fins that like attracts in fish
Everyone talks about corys being great with them so i tried it but my peppered corys are so active and social it didn't work. They were up and down the sides of the tank constantly and even tried to socialize with the betta which he did NOT appreciate. Never harmed anyone but he starting hiding all the time. So he's alone again and i hope he likes it better.
What gallon size would you recommend for neon tetras and maybe a male betta?
My betta, Patriot, has murdered everything I have ever put in with him. Neons, harlequins, every SINGLE shrimp, nerites, all the babies from everything. He now lives alone in his 5 gallon
I love that your old blue betta was named after a Transformer 😂 I'm planning to do the same thing
How does it work for a 5 gallon tank?
My fully grown Pleco has to live by itself now because it crushed some of its tank mates at night… they are mostly calm but can be ferocious and strong, my beta survived ripped fins the only other fish in the community tank were neon tetras and the Pleco who has to live alone now…
The tetras have been back with the pelvis for awhile now
My betta is attacking my neon tetras, but they are fast enough to get away. The aquarium shopkeeper said the betta would not attack them.
Which tank mate fish is best with Betta in 5 gallon tank?
I have 4 ottos with my Betta, Sid, and he absolutely chases them! I've never seen any fin damage, he doesn't bite them, but seems to smack them with his face?? I think he just enjoys messing with them. 😂😂 Never goes after my chili rasboras, but he does eat the antenna off my colony of pest snails, no matter how well fed he is. 😕
I tried Kuhlis with my last Betta and it was a definite no. It was a deep tank, 22", but the Betta would chase them all the way down.
Yeah, my Betta loves Cherry Shrimp.... ate them all within 24 hours of introducing them to the tank....
my betta fish, Bacon, has been pretty good with my snails, but i've had a couple mysterious deaths recently, and now I'm wondering if maybe he's nipping at them when I'm not looking.
I’ve had neocaradina with a couple different bettas, and never had any issues. I’m sure some babies got eaten but the colony grew. Mollies on the other hand…
i got 2 otos to put into my betta’s tank and he loves them it seems like. i got 3 more otos today
I've had nerite snails they did very well
I have neons with my betta and he's curious and seems ok. They are shy and stay out of his way.
So update. I added cherry shrimp and he keeps trying to cuddle them on the moss couch while they hide in terror. He has shown zero interest in eating anything that isn't a flake or pellet.
I was successful in setting up a 20 gallon community tank and the betta is the center fish . His companions are 6 neon tetras and 4 cory dory catfish. I am thinking of adding a couple of electric blue ram. In your opinion is this ok?
I’ve had 4 bettas with nerites and they’ve pretty much ignored the snails a few minutes after they were added to the tank.
I have a Mustard Gas Betta with an Oto, in a 10g heavily, heavily planted tank. Col McMustard never even notices the Oto.
I have a huge mystery snail with my chill betta and he completely ignores him
Hi Irene! What would be the best tank size for a betta with tank mates? Like tetras for example
My betta so far is chill with the mollies
Thank you for all your videos, I'm setting up a betta tank and these have been invaluable. You mention an online service in your video is the aquarium co op? Also, do you get your bettas from the local pet store or have you ever ordered them online?
How do you feel about people putting females and several males in a 20gal tank?
My betta hate snails. This made me hesitate to put in any tank mates. I really want to put some of my glowlight tetras in with him😒
The Kuile Loch will forever be known in my head as "short spaghetti on drugs."
Anything smaller than a 20-30 gallon tank I have found to be too small for cohabitating bettas with other species. They’re too “in your face” in something that small. Def not a bowl, or a ten gallon! Personally I had a 40 gallon with a sorority of female bettas. That has its own set of challenges and quirks, of course, such as acquiring all of the female bettas at the same time, not adding any later, because it helps with the aggression. Which is unavoidable between the bettas. Even if they’re females, one will become the lowest and one is the highest. Just because. But they were living with cories, kuhli loaches, rasboras, neons, and ghost shrimp.
You should give to soundwave a snail mate or amano shrimp called laserbreak
Thanks for made this video. Inspiring me
My betta died yesterday. 😢 He lived happily with two nerite snails and ghost shrimp for four months. Three days after I got Cory catfish he died. They didn’t interact at all but I think they stressed him out.
I have two black racer nerite snails in with a female betta.
My lady betta, Marie (Antoinette), murdered all her shrimp roommates. Her boyfriend betta, Vlad (The Impaler), lives peacefully with his shrimp roomies.
How big is your tank, and how did you introduce the new fish to the tank?