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Tank Mates

I've had lots of notes from people asking me what kinds of fish they can keep in the tank with their betta, so I thought I should ask my friends. I've gotten lots of sugestions, and recomendations and tried to put it together here, but understand,... these are suggestions made by my friends, and by no means are any of these fool proof. Fish have their own minds, and sometimes they just don't like each other,... just like people. I suggest that you wathch your fish,... if anyone of them gets to aggresive then take action,... eather seperate them,.... or get rid of one. The main point of it all is that there is no fish that I can say is 100% reliable,.... there is always that 1 in the crowd that could be aggresive.

First lets talk about bottom feeders.

Most people like a Plecostomus, but they can get very large. I don't recomend them in a tank smaller then a 55 gal.

Another choice is an algee eater, Chinese or Siamese are used, but I've heard friends talk about Chinese algee eaters becoming carnivorous. I my self would not keep one. If I needed an algee eater I would make sure it was a Siamese algee eater.

I also recomend Otocinclus as an algee eater. I have a few in a 20 gal with some older betta fry.

My favorate bottom feeder is a Coryodorus Catfish. They come in many differant looks, from white, to green, to spotted, and striped. I have them in most of my tanks.

Now lets talk about some fish for the rest of the tank. These are some of the fish that my fellow list members keep with their bettas. I myself believe that it all depends on the fish. Just like people, each fish has it's own personality, and will get along with only who he chooses to get along with. I've seen fish together that should never have gotten along, but they loved there home together. Watch your fish closely for nipped fins, and other injuries caused by incompatability.

Three people said that they had Zebra Danios in with their betta. One ended up moving the bettas into another tank due to incompatability. It was also stated that you had to keep your Danios in groupes of no less then three.

If you want to keep Female Bettas in with a male, that is okay sometimes if you have more then one female.

One person kept Swordtails and Mollies in the tank, Another has Tetras, Barbs, and Gouramis. I keep guppies and Mollies, but I keep them as food for the bettas. They love to eat guppy and molliy babies. It's good exercise, and the guppies parents eat them most of the time anyway.

I hope this helps when picking your betta a new friend.

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