What fish can live with a male betta fish in a 10 gallon tank?

Fish
Slick Rick asked:


I have one male betta fish in a 10 gallon tank with an air pump, filter, and heater. What are some fish that will live with him without any problems? Please give me full, descriptive answers. That would be most appreciated.

Juanita
13 Comments

13 Comments

  1. puppylover  •  Dec 5, 2009 @3:37 pm

    Glenda

    A female betta DUH lol

  2. scout_rv75  •  Dec 8, 2009 @5:22 am

    Steve

    According to the people at Petsmart, who I asked when I had a betta, anything that is categorized as a community fish will be okay. I put some neon tetras in with my betta, and everyone got along fine.

  3. spoiledness96  •  Dec 9, 2009 @5:14 pm

    Allison

    none..Betta’s don’t get along with any fish..any fish you put in there with it will die..

  4. boncarles  •  Dec 10, 2009 @12:59 pm

    Grace

    I know that african dwarf frogs and many cory cats do well with bettas. I also have a 10 gallon tank with a divider and two male bettas. My other 10 gallon has five female bettas. Don’t follow that idiot’s advice and add a female to the male’s tank unless you want her to be his dinner snack. I don’t know what other descriptions you want. Don’t get small fast fish like tetras, they will tear at hte betta’s fins. And another fish will long fins, he will mistake for another betta.

  5. kelli m  •  Dec 13, 2009 @7:28 am

    Clyde

    A plecko (sucker cat fish)

  6. Kylie Anne  •  Dec 15, 2009 @10:36 pm

    Ann

    females and males will fight except for a short period of time during breeding.

    plecos get way too big.

    any non aggressive fish is good. also, stay away from fin nippers like some tetras and barbs.

    some good picks are:
    most tetras
    danios
    some barbs
    cory cats
    mollies
    moon/platies
    sometimes guppies (although super aggressive bettas sometimes attack them)

  7. Sage M  •  Dec 16, 2009 @1:30 pm

    Leonard

    Male bettas aren’t usually particularly aggressive with anyone but their own species any other male bettas won’t work a female may or may not work they sometimes kill each other.

    Because the bettas are sluggish and they have such decorative fins you don’t want to put them with anything that exhibits any aggression or nippiness. Platties, guppies, and neons (so long as you have 3 but preferably 6) usually do very well. Plecos, Corey cats and snails would also do well.

  8. Jon V  •  Dec 18, 2009 @3:26 pm

    Jeff

    Ok, mythbusting time yet again, I don’t know why these ladies always like to say you can’t house a Betta with anything else, talk about not staying current on your information!! 10 gallons doesn’t leave you alot of options because you need to be concerned with over crowding and filtration issues. Fish that do not have big flowing fins that could lead the Betta to feel threatened of challenged should be fine. I have mine in a three gallon set up here at work with a couple white clouds and a couple glo zebras. Danois, zebras, neons, but you’ll want to put them in a group of five if you go with them, cory catfish, don’t go with a pleco in a ten gallon, thats just plain retarded, they will outgrow that in time and die. Tetra’s, but don’t go with barbs, they are fin nippers and will harass the Betta most likely, Platties, Mollies and you might be able to put a dwarf Gourami in there. Problem with the dwarf is they get a little tempermental sometimes so you just need to keep an eye on him. Avoid male guppies because thier tails might provoke the Betta.

    JV

    Follow up: Am I being stalked or something? lol I just seen my input follows Kylie. I have a sexy shadow or there is an echo around lol.

  9. ceci9293  •  Dec 21, 2009 @7:19 pm

    Marcus

    You could add:

    A school of 7 or 8 neons. They’re colorful and get along well with bettas. Don’t add less than 6 of them since they feel most secure and therefore stay healthiest, most active, and most colorful when kept in schools. They’re easy to find in shops and usually cost less than $2 each. Downside: it’s common to get sick ones that don’t last long in your aquarium.

    A small school of 3 or 4 cories. They are friendly, playful, and active — not to mention cute! — and get along with any fish that won’t eat them. They will be happiest if you buy all the same species, though if you like variety, the aeneus type comes in bronze and albino colors. They’re fairly easy to find in shops and usually cost $3-5 apiece. They are not algae eaters or scavengers and you’ll need to feed them sinking wafers made for catfish. Downside: you have to keep your gravel clean, since their barbels (whiskers) are sensitive and can become infected if you let gunk accumulate down there.

    A trio of platies. They’re colorful and playful and add life to any tank they’re added to. They’re hardy and easy to take care of. I’ve never seen a fish shop that doesn’t sell platies! and they’re usually very inexpensive, sometimes under $1 apiece. Be sure you only get one male and several females, or all one gender. If you get one female and several males, they will harass her to mate until she is exhausted and sick or even dead. Downside: They breed like bunnies and sometimes people have trouble with the tank getting overcrowded. However, in my experience, bettas LOVE to eat platy fry and I haven’t had a single baby survive in my tanks in over 6 months now. Also, platies poop like pigs! so be ready to do extra gravel vacuuming.

    A couple of filter feeder shrimp or a half dozen ghost shrimp can be added to any of the above choices. They’re interesting to watch, help pick leftover food out of the gravel, and add hardly any bioload to the tank. I paid about $5 each for my bamboo shrimp and 39 cents for my ghost shrimp.

    I wouldn’t recommend an apple or mystery snail, since they get too big for a 10 gallon, poop a TON, and their antennae are sometimes tempting snacks for bettas.

    Don’t buy guppies, larger tetras, any type of gourami, or any kind of fish that will grow bigger than 3″ long. Don’t get other bettas, even females, unless you’re planning on using a divider. And don’t buy goldfish!

  10. MusicalHeart  •  Dec 23, 2009 @1:03 pm

    Harold

    Tetras are usually good like Neon Tetras but some are not because they will nip the bettas tail. Cory fish would be good too. I would add 5 Neon Tetras and a African Dwarf Frog (AFD stay at the bottoma dnare so cool).

    set-ups

    1 male Betta
    5 to 7 Neon Tetras
    1 or 2 African Dwarf Frog

    OR

    1 male Betta
    1 to 3 Cory fish
    Snail

    OR

    1 male Betta
    1 to 3 live bearers (mollie, guppy, platy)
    - get males of you don’t want baby fry
    5 Danios

    ect…

    Do what ever you want.

  11. Mary  •  Dec 25, 2009 @8:16 am

    Juan

    any barb…rosie barbs…tiger barbs…and other things like that.

    nothing with a fancy long tail like the bettas because he will pick at it and so will barbs.. danios are also good fish

  12. nosoop4u246  •  Dec 27, 2009 @12:48 am

    Clinton

    You could get almost any non-aggressive fish that doesn’t have long, flowing fins, to a Betta, it looks like another Betta and it will likely attack it. You could get some fish suggested by Kylie Ann and add some Ghost Shrimp, they look cool.

    Nosoop4u

  13. GAgirl  •  Dec 27, 2009 @4:13 am

    Jared

    a betta fish should be in a tank 1/2 gallon or smaller and should be kept alone

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