Betta in community tank?

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Oiler3535

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Mar 29, 2015
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Grade 3 teacher and we had a Betta in a tiny 5ish L tank. Year is over and now I have a Betta. Don't want to keep it in the little unfiltered tank (my kids did daily water changes and argued over who got to do it lol). My home tank is 46G with 2 big Angels, a bristlenose pleco, 8 Pristellas, a cherry Barb, 4 dwarf rainbows, and an African butterfly. Any big worries or way to mitigate risk in adding it to my tank? It's a male Betta (made a bubble nest repeatedly so I'm assuming).
 

SnakeIce

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What? Yeah right, I had two bettas at different times with my angel in the community tank and didn't have any issues. The first betta and the angelfish were friends and when things were quiet would rest in the corner together. Both the angelfish and the first betta were very laid back, not aggressive compared with most bettas or angelfish. The angelfish missed him when he passed on, and tried to strike up a friendship with the next betta, but he wasn't interested. No issues between them though. The second betta was less laid back than the first but still less aggressive behaving than most bettas.

Never, yeah right. But I will say it depends on the personality of the betta and the angelfish, some are more pugnacious than others. Also a caution about smallish fish with bettas, a friend's betta in a community tank ate neons before they took him out and put him in his own filtered tank. Both fish are potentially pugnacious and your mileage may vary.
 
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Oiler3535

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Mar 29, 2015
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So I put him in the tank yesterday but kept his old tank ready in case there were problems. When in the bag to acclimatize to the higher temp, the Angels came to investigate a bit, but once in the actual tank they couldn't care less. The first few times the Angels swam past Bob (kids named out Betta Spikes, but I called him Bob to annoy them and they liked it so much they renamed him Bob lol) the Betta bolted away, but after that they just ignored each other. The pleco and Pristellas couldn't care less. The dwarf rainbows (they like to stick together in a tight school so swarming is all they do) swarmed him a few times, but never an issue and they leave him alone now too. My big worry was the African Butterfly bc they both like the top water and can breathe air. The first time I saw the butterfly go near Bob, Bob flared up and made a threatening pose. The butterfly showed no interest and just kept swimming by. Bob quickly swam out of his way. This happened twice and now Bob doesn't flare up at the butterfly. Checked him this morning and Bob seems fine, and is actually swimming around all the other fish and going around at all different layers of e tank, not just the top. Seems to really like the tunnels in my driftwood. I'll be keeping a close eye on him, but so far so good. Bob really seems to like the proper size tank, and his blue/red colours shine nicely in the light.

Besides Fin nips, anything behaviour wise I should keep an eye out for if he's not acclimatizing well?
 

Aquaticfrog32

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Mar 17, 2016
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Glad your Betta's doing okay! Other fish or your Betta might Become a little aggressive during feeding time, but that's it, I think. IMO, Bettas actually make great community fishes.
 

Oiler3535

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Mar 29, 2015
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My Betta was actually eating the flake food yesterday. Is that okay or should I keep trying to get him alone for the Betta pellets?
 

Aquaticfrog32

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Yep. I let my Betta catch some of the flakes, but also give her separate pellets. If you want to do both, I would reccomend 2 pellets and a couple flakes.
 

FreshyFresh

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I've kept sororities of female bettas in my community tank that contains an angel. Never had an issue between angel and bettas.
 

Kannan Fodder

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I posted based on the experience I had years ago when my idiot cousin decided that my family's community tank "needed" an angelfish because she herself wanted one. I said no, but Mom overrode me because it was a "gift" and had to be accepted because it was bad manners to refuse it. The tank was already stocked and established, and the angel was one of the more aggressive and ill tempered ones. It went on a mass murder spree until it went after the betta, who killed it in response to being attacked.

I've heard others caution against keeping bettas with angels for the simple reason that both species have the potential to be nasty. I've kept my bettas in their own tanks because I have incompatible fish in my main tanks - like bichirs.

Anyway, I'm glad to be wrong and that it's worked out for you guys.
 

FreshyFresh

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Michelle, you're definitely not wrong. It's all about the traits of the individual fish. Some angel fish are nasty buggers, others not so much.
 
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