Male Betta-friends?

[Swim Fishy Swim]

I have a male Betta. I am going to move him into a 10 Gallon tank once I get it set up. (Setting up tonight, waiting a few days to move him in) What would be good tankmates for him? I am aware that he may not accept the tank mates, so I am prepared to seperate him from them if need be!

I really like Angelfish, but know those are a little big for a 10 gal. I have been looking at:
Corys
Platys
Mollies
Neon Tetra
GlowLight Tetra

If I go the route of any of those, how many should I have in a school for a minimum?

[bettaboy691]

angels and bettas dont mix, no matter what ever sized tank, cories make great tank mates, livebearers are often miffy, can work, can fail.you caould always try it if you can seperate your betta later.if your bettas pieceful, its more likely to work.neon and glowlight tetras are probally either too brightly colored for the bettas liking or will nip the bettas fins, black neons i have with some of my bettas, thay are the least nippest and dont annoy the betta.

[Kageshi17]

I think neons seem to do REALLY good with betta. All the neons I had were quite and docile, only wanted to be crazy with their own kind. They also arent too crazy of eaters, there mouthes are just so small! So when you feed them, feed you betta off to the side so he can eat casually and not fight like the rest.

I would suggest 4-6 neons
2-3 small cories (pandas or spotted)
Mystery Snail (for upkeep and the shear awesomeness of the snail...hehehe)

Sometimes betta will nip at the tenticle thingies of a mystery snail but usually they get bored and leave it alone. Hahaha, I love those snails, thats maybe just my opinion, but they are AWESOME to look at and really really good at keeping up tank maintainence. Ha. Good luck!

[bettaboy691]

som neons can be great like yours, but then you get devils like mine, bulling other tetras for food and damance. im sure you will have great sucess though, i wouldnt suggest pandas as they nedd a well mature tank and good water.and they can be a little big for a 10 gallon, although lots of people do keep them in 10 gallons, may i suggest either albinos as they will make the bottom of the tank more active or pygmy cories as you can fit 5 or 6 in a 10 gallon.if their is enought caves and hiding places.

[Daniel1]

I had Black neons and platys with Bettas and it worked great. I thought Albino Cories were bigger than Panda cories bettabpy but i could be wrong. anyways i would suggest pygmy cories too

[Ringo]

I would suggest either the neon tetras or the glolights with your betta. To avoid any problems that could occur with the betta if he is slightly aggressive simply add the tetras first, so that way the betta enters 'their' territory and not the tetras entering his.
Pygmy cories are the smallest out of the cories. If you can find or order them (rare) go with them little dudes.

[Giddy012]

I would definatly go with Cories. I have kept just recently all the fish you have said you would consider, with both of my Bettas. In my 20,L., all is well, but sometimes all the amount of activity the other fish (mollies tetras etc.) do, may be to much for a Betta in a 10gal. I finally had to move my Betta back to his 5gal. to be by himself. With that said the Cories are active fish, but stay at the bottom so this does not stress the Betta out so much.

[Kageshi17]

How big do the panda cories get? I was thinking of housing 6 in my 29g. Should I go with albino instead? There is no such thing as pygmy at Petsmart and I dont want to order them. So out of those choices, how big do they grow?

[Kageshi17]

Theres also spotted, but I've had spotted before and would like to switch it up a bit. If they are the only option, though, I would go with them, no prob!

[Giddy012]

The Panda Cories I got from lfs says they shouldn't get any bigger than 1.5-2inches. And the boys stay smaller than the girls.

[Swim Fishy Swim]

I moved my Betta in already. The stupid plastic tank was starting to split & I was so afraid it would bust open on me!

Right now I'm torn. I like Corys & have found them easy to maintain. But, I also like Neons & the idea of mid-level fish in the tank(whether they be neons, platies, mollies or whatever). With the snow here, I have only had time to get to one fish store & the guy told me I could easily get at least a dozen goldfish in my 10 Gal with the Betta!! Needless to say, I'm never going back there again! I kinda wanted to that guy.

[Kageshi17]

That is so sad...hahahahah...man. You guys who trust the opinions of LFS people should really start to realize that....well....

They are not God.

Hahaha. Oh, I know that you didnt trust them, obviously with the and all, but man! Some people really do! They put up arguments starting with:

"The LFS told me..." Hehehe.

Anyway, I have only found 1 LFS guy who knew his stuff, but it was just his opinion of what happened in HIS personal tank. So ya know, no one is really a good enough resource on their own. Thats why the forums are cool, cuz they allow you to see multiple opinions which can amount to a much better outcome.

It seems nothing with fish is law.

[Swim Fishy Swim]

I know there is one Fleet & Farm that has a fish section. They have the healthiest fish locally & the "fish guy" really cares about them. The tanks are always clean & he'll always answer questions. He has freshwater & saltwater tanks of his own, a bunch of them. I plan on going in there to ask him some questions, too. At least he might have a *little sane* advice for me.

I'm not one to trust LFS people. I've had one tell me I can have 6 Angelfish in a 20 Gal. Unfortunately, I listened to him(I was a youngin, like 15 at the time). They all died very quickly(Duh!). Never again did I trust any fish place workers 100%. I value their opinions, but now call tell if they're complete morons!

[leafgirl115]

Every one goes through a time were we listened to a LFS guy/girl. It sad how they hire people who dont know anything about fish. I have encountered a few people who are very informed about fish but i only trust them when i have seen they know there stuff.

[Ripley]

Another suggestion for tank mates could be some smaller rasboras - harlequin for example. I have six galaxy rasboras in with my betta right now, and he doesn't bother them at all (though, they tend to stay close to the bottom of the tank, and are quite shy). I had him in a large tank (33 gallon) with guppies and platies and never had any issues - which I relate to the large tank size. I think it also depends quite a bit on your bettas personality. Just my 2 cents worth!

[Giddy012]

You just need to stay away from shinny fish, that seems to be what will trigger a Betta to get all manely (aggressive) towards another fish. I have more problems with finding fish that don't harrass my Betta's.

[manda]

my black neons have that shiny stripe. mr betta doesnt bug them so far.

i used to think VERY highly of my LFS until i asked for bio spirta and he said stress coat was JUST as good.