New Betta

2725 Views 25 Replies 11 Participants Last post by Digitalfiend, Nov 23, 2016

yrral

Discussion Starter · Oct 4, 2016

3

Meet my new HMPK Betta. very active right out of the bag and stared me down haha. I'm going to keep the scape very minimal and let the monte carlo fill in.

I want it to have "red" tankmates, I think the contrast in colors will look nice. I am going to take a risk with Red Cherry Shrimps and start with 5 so I can monitor his behavior. If it goes well, I'll throw in some moss for cover and hope to start a colony. If not, then will go with a some Chili Rasboras and an Oto. What do you guys think?

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Tessa

· #2 · Oct 4, 2016

I love plakats! My boy looks similar shape wise, but he's a complete mutt: a cellophane half covered by white dragon scales and smattering of black pineapple markings. And yes, feisty.

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Varmint

· #3 · Oct 4, 2016

He is really cute.

Here are my thoughts:

I read somewhere that Plakat means biting fish. That being said, it might have been better to put the tank mates in first and then add the Betta second. If the tank mates come first, they usually look like part of the furnishings. If the Betta comes first, the new buddies often look like food. I would add the tankmates when you have plenty of spare time to hang around and monitor the situation. Have a bowl or extra tank ready for emergency evacuation (just in case).

Tank mates:

Shrimp: maybe. Some people on the forum have good luck keeping them with a Betta. Depends on the Betta. Shrimp are prey. Even if your Betta leaves them alone, your shrimp may be stressed. I had Amano shrimp climb out of their Betta tank twice. They didn't trust the Betta even though I never saw him attack them. Cherries don't usually climb. They may get ill from stress.

Rasboras: yes. They are great tank mates. They don't nip at my halfmoon. The Bettas leave their Rasboras alone except when Finn gets grumpy. He chases them but doesn't harm them. They are almost as interactive as my Bettas. They are faster than most Bettas and tend to stay safe.

Oto: I vote no. One Betta harassed his Oto to the point that he even bit an algae wafer in half and spat it at his "friend". Another Betta killed two Otos. The third Betta, a gorgeous halfmoon got attacked over and over by his Oto. I thought the fin damage was caused by a tail biting issue the Betta had before. The final attack happened while I watched. The damage was so bad the Betta died of infection.

Bonus: snails: maybe. Some live, some get harassed, some are way too tasty.

Plant heavily for maximum hiding spots. Good luck!

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yrral

Discussion Starter · #4 · Oct 4, 2016

Varmint said:
He is really cute.

Here are my thoughts:

I read somewhere that Plakat means biting fish. That being said, it might have been better to put the tank mates in first and then add the Betta second. If the tank mates come first, they usually look like part of the furnishings. If the Betta comes first, the new buddies often look like food. I would add the tankmates when you have plenty of spare time to hang around and monitor the situation. Have a bowl or extra tank ready for emergency evacuation (just in case).

Tank mates:

Shrimp: maybe. Some people on the forum have good luck keeping them with a Betta. Depends on the Betta. Shrimp are prey. Even if your Betta leaves them alone, your shrimp may be stressed. I had Amano shrimp climb out of their Betta tank twice. They didn't trust the Betta even though I never saw him attack them. Cherries don't usually climb. They may get ill from stress.

Rasboras: yes. They are great tank mates. They don't nip at my halfmoon. The Bettas leave their Rasboras alone except when Finn gets grumpy. He chases them but doesn't harm them. They are almost as interactive as my Bettas. They are faster than most Bettas and tend to stay safe.

Oto: I vote no. One Betta harassed his Oto to the point that he even bit an algae wafer in half and spat it at his "friend". Another Betta killed two Otos. The third Betta, a gorgeous halfmoon got attacked over and over by his Oto. I thought the fin damage was caused by a tail biting issue the Betta had before. The final attack happened while I watched. The damage was so bad the Betta died of infection.

Bonus: snails: maybe. Some live, some get harassed, some are way too tasty.

Plant heavily for maximum hiding spots. Good luck!

Thanks for sharing your experience. It's a gamble for sure. I know with every fish has different personalities and with aggressive fish it is best to have the more calm tank mates settled in first so it can learn the tank and find cover if needed. But this was an impulse buy :grin2: He will be solo for awhile though

mistergreen

· #5 · Oct 4, 2016

Keep the tank tightly covered. They jump.
When I had bettas, I kept shrimps with them so they can have live food.

Varmint

· #6 · Oct 4, 2016

mistergreen said:
Keep the tank tightly covered. They jump.
When I had bettas, I kept shrimps with them so they can have live food.

+1 (and make sure the water level is not too high for this reason. It sucks to find a crispy Betta on the carpet). I think I have had every Betta disaster known to man....

yrral

Discussion Starter · #7 · Oct 5, 2016

I know what you mean.. I've kept betta that has jumped, had dropsy, stuck between rock decors, and others. it sucks

Tessa

· #8 · Oct 5, 2016

I had my very first betta for only a month: somehow he managed to slither through about a quarter inch gap between the tank and cover glass. Found him the next morning on the floor, dried to a crisp.

Solitarianknight

· #9 · Oct 5, 2016

Betta's are prone to stressing out their tankmates so I'd throw in 2-3 ottos to keep them happy. Nerite snails come in some cool shades of red. Chili rasbora are kind of oblivious ime so they should be fine.

AquaAurora

· #10 · Oct 7, 2016

Lovely new betta. If you want to keep shrimp you should densely plant the tank including a lot of moss for hiding BEFORE getting the shrimp.
Don't get 1-3 oto. Otos are shoaling fish and do better in groups of 5-6 or more, less stress and more active that way. You need a 20g+ that's well established (and plenty of diatoms to start them off) to keep a proper group of otos.
Another potion for some red in the tank would be the tiger nerite (also called red spot nerite) snail.
All bettas have different personalities and temperaments. Some won't tolerate ANY tank-mates, some will. Have a back up tank with cycled filter ready for whatever you try to keep with your betta so they can be separated if needed.

yrral

Discussion Starter · #11 · Oct 7, 2016

AquaAurora said:
Lovely new betta. If you want to keep shrimp you should densely plant the tank including a lot of moss for hiding BEFORE getting the shrimp.
Don't get 1-3 oto. Otos are shoaling fish and do better in groups of 5-6 or more, less stress and more active that way. You need a 20g+ that's well established (and plenty of diatoms to start them off) to keep a proper group of otos.
Another potion for some red in the tank would be the tiger nerite (also called red spot nerite) snail.
All bettas have different personalities and temperaments. Some won't tolerate ANY tank-mates, some will. Have a back up tank with cycled filter ready for whatever you try to keep with your betta so they can be separated if needed.

Yup. Going to let the carpet fill in more and going to start growing xmas moss. got a scape in mind. I'm leaning away from otos because of those reasons. I will check out those nerites in the future if shrimps dont work out

Solitarianknight

· #12 · Oct 7, 2016

You could also plant some ludwigia for some spots of red! Here's a shot of one of the red nerites I have

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yrral

Discussion Starter · #13 · Nov 16, 2016

3

Small Update:

Added some Painted Fire Red Shrimp to see if my Betta will be compatible. He does chase them around but is too slow, but most of the time they're fine under some cover.

The Monte Carlo is growing in. I've trimmed down the Water Sprite, it got too tall and grew a lot of new plants. The plants are growing slower now than before because I halved the dose of excel for my shrimps. I've also added 3 halfdome moss cages that should grow and spread out providing more coverage for the shrimp. Will shift it around to see where is a good spot once more full

This is basically all I'm going to do with this tank and have it fill up. Maybe add a Nerite Snail as well. Here are some photos

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Snowflake311

· #14 · Nov 16, 2016

Betta fish and shrimp do not go. The betta will kill the shrimp just because they are pretty fish dose not mean they can't hunt and kill.

I have been keeping betta fish for 15 years on and off I even got into breeding for a short bit. These fish are addictive. I have kept them in community tanks.
Here is what has worked for me.

Cory cats are good take mates I love the pygmy corys cats.
Neon tetras. The bettas like to chase them but they soon grow bored of them. The best were White cloud minnows. They are awesome and don't mind being chased around super hardy fish mine even bred for me.
I had the Celestial Pearl Danio with one betta. They did ok but I found them boring and too much money.

thats about it. Any fish too big will stress the betta out and cause it to hide all the time. You don't want any nippy fish. Guppies not such a good idea the guppies tend to really piss the betta fish off. I tried.

JJ09

· #15 · Nov 17, 2016

I also caution agains otos. It looks like too small a tank for them. They really need more space. I had three otos in a ten-gallon with a betta and almost lost all of them. When I was down to one, the betta started chasing him around I moved him out to my larger tank and the oto is much happier.

My bettas have been fine with nerite snails and there are some pretty ones out there with bright red/orange shells. But some bettas harass the snails, bite at their feelers, so you have to just try it and see.

Econde

· #16 · Nov 17, 2016

Really nice betta!

Solitarianknight

· #17 · Nov 17, 2016

That tank looks plenty big enough for ottos? I've had a trio in a 6gal for a year now doing great. You just need to provide them with more cover.

ArchimedesTheDog

· #18 · Nov 17, 2016

Beautiful fish! I often see Red Ember Tetras listed as tankmates for Bettas if you are looking for red. I haven't kept them myself, though.

I'm subscribing to see what your experience with shrimp is with the Betta.

Those moss cages are interesting, where did you get those?

yrral

Discussion Starter · #19 · Nov 22, 2016

Solitarianknight said:
That tank looks plenty big enough for ottos? I've had a trio in a 6gal for a year now doing great. You just need to provide them with more cover.

I wont be putting in otos since I want this tank looking more open. I will get 2 nerites as clean up crew

ArchimedesTheDog said:
Beautiful fish! I often see Red Ember Tetras listed as tankmates for Bettas if you are looking for red. I haven't kept them myself, though.

I'm subscribing to see what your experience with shrimp is with the Betta.

Those moss cages are interesting, where did you get those?

The betta really doesnt show interest with the shrimps anymore so I say its a success. They are wandering out in the open now. Time to add more shrimps. And I got those moss cages on ebay, shipping didnt tank too long either.

I have embers in my other tank in case I want to switch it up. But leaning towards Chili or Exclamation Point Rasboras if it has other fish for tankmates :smile2:

Varmint

· #20 · Nov 22, 2016

yrral said:
I wont be putting in otos since I want this tank looking more open. I will get 2 nerites as clean up crew

The betta really doesnt show interest with the shrimps anymore so I say its a success. They are wandering out in the open now. Time to add more shrimps. And I got those moss cages on ebay, shipping didnt tank too long either.

I have embers in my other tank in case I want to switch it up. But leaning towards Chili or Exclamation Point Rasboras if it has other fish for tankmates :smile2:

I have a mixture of chili and exclamation point Rasboras in two of my Betta tanks. They have been living with their Betta buddies for a couple of years with no problems. Finn ate one (I'm not sure if he killed it or scavenged it if it died beforehand). He was a juvenile Betta at the time, it gave him a massive bellyache and he never tried it again. Aside from some pissed off chasing around the tank each morning after breakfast, Finn gets along with them

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