[Raaan]

I have a halfmoon betta in my 40 gallon breeder along with 12 espei rasboras, 8 pygmy cories, 6 female cherry barbs, 6 Amano shrimp and a bristlenose pleco.

I want to add one more school of 10-12 fish, but I'm worried about putting something in there that would nip at the betta. I've never seen the betta go after anything else in the tank, so I'm not too worried about aggression from him.

My current shortlist of species I really like (in order) includes black phantom tetras (Hyphessobrycon megalopterus), Celebes rainbowfish (Marosatherina ladigesi), snakeskin barbs (Desmopuntius rhomboocellatus), emperor tetras (Nematobrycon palmeri), and rosy/ornate tetras (Hyphessobrycon rosaceus).

Unfortunately, I'm having trouble finding information on any of these with a long-finned male betta specifically. Has anyone here had experience with them and can you advise me one way or the other for this situation? If none of these would work, can you suggest a fish that would work that is either round-bodied (like the phantom/rosy tetras) or has extended fins (like the rainbowfish)?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

EDIT: Also, if anyone has experienced any of these fish eating plants, that would be a deal breaker. I don't think that's an issue with most of them, but I'm not too sure about the barbs.

 

[Betta132]

Phantom tetras will relentlessly attack your betta.
I wouldn't suggest the barbs.
How high-strung is your betta? The tetras and rainbows might upset him with their activity.
What about hatchetfish? Large-bodied fish that are peaceful and shouldn't upet anybody.

 

[namicat101]

I had emperor tetra in with my male betta (he passed away not too long ago of something unrelated) and they did very well together. I now have a pretty female betta in with them and she does perfect. My other fish are silver tip tetras, serpae tetras, giant danio, bristle nose pleco and so forth. If your betta is mild personality, he can go in with just about any peaceful community fish without you needing to worry. I do not recommend if he seems on the aggressive side.

My other tank had a betta in it a year back and he got along with most of the other fish, I did notice that my red eye tetra and my female zebra danios would pick at his tail a little. The tetra being territorial and the danios thinking its food. I had to take him out after a friend gave me a cute little croaking gourami. OH he got along with my Celebes rainbow (my gourami does too) I also had a blue eye rainbow in there too.

Edit-
My longfinned rosey barbs left him alone, they found it more entertaining to pick at my plants ;A; I dont really recommend barbs either, I was lucky enough that mine are moderately behaved.

 

[Raaan]

Thanks for the quick replies. I had a feeling the black phantom tetras would be too nippy, which is a shame. He doesn't seem very high-strung, but the places I'd get the fishes from would take them back no problem if the rainbowfish or tetras ended up stressing him out.

I've been looking for marbled hatchetfish for several months now to no avail, except one LFS that told me they could order them, but they'd be $12 apiece. I would do silver hatchets, but my boyfriend doesn't like them; he says they're too boring looking. I'll probably decide between the Celebes rainbowfish and the emperor tetras, which are the ones I had the most confidence in to begin with.

Another fish I've read scattered reports of being kept with betta are Indian glassy fish (Parambassis ranga). I've only ever seen them in the store dyed, but assuming I can find some that aren't, do you folks any thoughts on them?

 

[namicat101]

I actually had the same problem looking for marbleds, solved it by going to my favorite pet store (country max chain) and asked the fish department to specially order them for me. Once they were available on the list of fish that the stores source provided, the order went out for them and a week later I found myself with 5 little hatchets at 3.99 each.
I dont know about the Parambassis ranga, as this is first time I have heard of them but another fish that is "see through" and does amazingly in communities that include bettas are glass cats. Those guys dont bother anybody, are great eaters, and look amazing in planted tanks. I must say though, Parambassis ranga are freaking cool looking.