Bettas and Gouramis in one tank?

[BettaChick84]

I actually find female bettas to be more agrressive than males in a community tank with other fish species (could be just me). They nip guppy tails & outright attack them. It's all trial & error... you may have a really placid female. Have you breed her? That tends to make them far more aggressive too.

 

[echoofformless]

Female bettas...the one I have in my 20g is so docile and sweet. The nicest fish ever. I have never...not once seen her even chase away other fish to get to food. Just never.

I also had one who was mean as hell. She scared the crap out of every new fish we put in the tank, and pretty much harrassed them even after they became residents. All except our paradise gourami who somehow managed to be exempt from her hazing rituals. (Another example of gouramis and bettas living well together.) Man that girl was a spitfire. She is very missed.

Someone once posted on this forum about trying to breed bettas, and having the female beat the hell out of the male, destroy his bubblenest, and otherwise terrorize him until she had to be removed. I love that story.

Female bettas are just beautiful...smart...sassy...tough...you name it. If I had to date a fish, that is my dreamgirl hands down.

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

i have a female betta in my community. its a 29 gallon tank with about 29 feeder guppies, an african clawed frog, and a crawdad. i keep my tank about 71. (yes i know its a bit cool for the guppies and betta) but my female betta is pretty fine. when i first got her shewas in a 12 gallon with 2 other females. they nipped at each others fins pretty bad fora few days untill a pecking order was established. the one i have left was the top female, and is hardly ever aggressive to my other fish. she gets a little nippy around feeding time, and tries to chase the guppies away, but theyre too fast, and they have short fins. other than the occasional chasing away from food all is peaceful. the only thing is she really doesnt like my hand for some reason. whenever i have to put my hand in the tank she tries to attack me.

 

[geekrockgirl85]

hehe... don't take the hand-nippings personally, yahoo. i've never met a betta, male or female, who didn't lunge to taste my finger at one point.

 

[spud]

Hello,

Thanks for the advice everyone, didn't mean to cause any arguments!!

I've decided to not get the Gouramis as I don't want to distress any of my fish. Bruce my male betta has already struggled with the 2 polka dot loaches enough. They seemed to like chasing him but have stopped now.

I do worry about him though, he does stay at the top of the tank in one corner alot and it's quite a tall tank really. Is this normal?

 

[MissFishy]

Hmm, my betta is never idle. He constantly "patrols" his 20 gallon and is one of the most active fish in there. It could just be he's a shy betta, but to me it sounds like he isn't happy with something in there.

 

[spud]

Oh dear, that's not very good.

I did mention it to the in my local fish shop and he's said keep an eye on him.

He does seem to get excited when I go near the tank though which is nice!! Even if he does only want me for my food!

Have you any idea what could make him happier and unhappy? He really does just tend to sit in the top corner!

If this helps I have a 30g tall tank that's still rather new. There's a rock cave and a nice bit of bog wood though which 3 rather tall plants and 2 small plants. I've also got 2 polka dot loaches (Oink and Doink), 1 bristlenosed catfish (Mr Cat), 5 Cardinal Tetras and a red tailed black shark. They're all still very small and seem to get on ok.

Can anyone help?

 

[Mom2Angel]

I have a 46 gallon community tank which has one female betta and two male gouramies along with the other tank mates which pay absolutely no attention to each other! In fact, the female does not bother any fish in the tank whatsoever. The gouramies only nip at each other occasionally....otherwise everyone gets along just fine. Just my experience. My male betta is in with my skirt tetras and they all chase each other around the tank on occasion, but only that...chasing a bit...no nipping, raming or anything. Maybe I have just gotten lucky!

 

[usacutie81]

Oh dear, that's not very good.

Have you any idea what could make him happier and unhappy? He really does just tend to sit in the top corner!

If this helps I have a 30g tall tank that's still rather new. There's a rock cave and a nice bit of bog wood though which 3 rather tall plants and 2 small plants. I've also got 2 polka dot loaches (Oink and Doink), 1 bristlenosed catfish (Mr Cat), 5 Cardinal Tetras and a red tailed black shark. They're all still very small and seem to get on ok.

Can anyone help?

What are the parameters of your tank? And what is the temp? Cuz I noticed that my beta always used to hang out behind the filter until I turned the temp up. Now he's pacing the whole tank all day long.

 

[spitfirekitty]

I have a female 3 spot gourami in a 20 gallon with a catfish, tiger barbs and small tetras. I recently (3 weeks ago) added (cautiously ) a male Betta, and everyone is fine. No chasing by either party.
The betta was shy at first, hanging out in the top corner, but now he's out and about with the rest of the fishies.

 

[spud]

The tank's set to 30 degrees as I'm preparing to add some discus in the future. So I think it should be warm enough for him.

 

[usacutie81]

The tank's set to 30 degrees as I'm preparing to add some discus in the future. So I think it should be warm enough for him.

I'm sorry, is it just me, or does that say 30 degrees? That's a typo, right? Tell me that's a typo and you don't have your tank at 30 degrees.

 

[spud]

Yeah 30 degrees Celsius. Please don't tell me that's bad? It's about 86 Farenheit.

 

[MissFishy]

Hmm, 86 is a bit warm for tropical fish like bettas or gouramis. I wouldn't personally keep them at so high a temperature. They prefer the 78-82 range, it may affect their metabolisms...but someone else may have a different perspective on that.

USA - I always get confused with C and F degrees as well!

 

[Frozenspokes]

I have recently added a few Harliquin Rasboras to my 10 gallon tank with the male betta. They completely ignore each other.

I have an aquaintence with Gouromis, Angelfish, some redtail sharks, and many more that I don't remember. I can recall reading on these boards that Angels and Gouramis should not be kept together. I wouldn't try it though.

I was also under the impression that bettas would not be comfortable in larger, deeper tanks like a 55 or 75 gallon tank. Seems that many people have had no issues with their bettas in tanks that size.

Let the debate continue.

 

[usacutie81]

Yeah 30 degrees Celsius. Please don't tell me that's bad? It's about 86 Farenheit.

I just saw "30 degrees" and assumed Farenheit. My bad. Although Miss Fishy is right, it may be a few degrees too high. I've noticed that with some fish, 2-3 degrees makes a huge difference. Your call though.

 

[echoofformless]

I was also under the impression that bettas would not be comfortable in larger, deeper tanks like a 55 or 75 gallon tank. Seems that many people have had no issues with their bettas in tanks that size.

Let the debate continue.

Bettas are a highly variable type of fish, as they are more evolved than say, cyprinids and characins. That means they have more individuality and unique character.

That being said, I have known bettas who hated living in anything but a small unfiltered bowl. I also knew bettas who loved frolicking all around a big tank.

So it all depends on the betta.

 

[Clover9990]

I just saw "30 degrees" and assumed Farenheit. My bad.

Ummm...wouldn't a 30 degree Farenheit tank mean the water is frozen?!?!

 

[TexAg08]

sorry, im new here and read the first page with missfishy and some guy arguing about something and thought it was funny i had a few dwarf g. and female bettas together and they are fine. and im not very experienced. so ha

 

[Brinny-chan]

After reading this thread a while back I decided to see if it was possible.

The candidates: a dwarf gourami and a very docile crowntail betta.

I tried putting my crowntail betta in with my 10 gallon, which has a female dwarf gourami in it. The betta was immediately chased around and hid alot, so about 30 mins of watching I took him out.

So I decided to try it the other way; I took out the dwarf gourami for 3 days and put the betta in, to let him get accustomed to the tank. I then put the gourami back in, watched them for about 30 mins, and had to go to work.

I left for work at 10AM and it's now 9PM and neither of them are showing any sign of a fight. They were on opposite sides of the tank, and when I tapped the glass to make sure the betta was alright, he came out to the middle, saw the gourami, and flared at it, following her, but never did he attack or chase her. He has just been kind of watching where she's headed and going back to his own business.

So I agree with echoofformless, that keeping the two together is possible, but you just need to be careful!


In the end, I'm still worried about the betta pestering her, so I took the gourami out just incase.