do serpaes and bettas mix?

[ima_kitty_kat]

i just recently got a ten gallon tank and was planning to fill it with guppies and corydoras, but the fish person at the pet shop told me to put in a large tetra that would get along with guppies until the water cycle(cant remeber what its called ) is set up. he recommended serpae tetras.

well, then i caught bettatitis
. after looking at some photos of a few beutiful bettas, and watching my friends betta, i was hooked. now i would like to put a betta in my ten gallon with a couple of corydoras, but just have a small problem.....the serpae tetras. after researching online for a bit, i read some info that they are little nippers, and dont do good with long finned fish, but i was told by the pet store fish person that they would be fine with guppys( which i would consider to be long finned fish). does anyone know if they would be okay with bettas???

 

[Lotus]

Serpaes can be mean fish. I wouldn't risk a betta in there with them. Hopefully your guppies will be OK. You might want to see if the pet store will take the serpaes back, unless you really like them.

Bettas and guppies aren't the best mix either

If you really want a betta, I would suggest getting a 2.5g or 5g tank for one, and keep him separate from the other fish. Bettas are just happier on their own.

 

[ima_kitty_kat]

thx

thanx for the fast reply!!
the betta will probably go in my room.
guppies are gonna hang with the cory.
the serpaes are going back. that fish person didn't seem to be "fishy wise". he also gave me a "female" swordtail to go into my twenty gallon. "she" turned out to be a he, and wasn't a swordtail at all!

 

[mcshell]

Yes... my serpaes are mean too. they tend to be active fin nippers. Not only to betta, but also too other fish.
I ended up putting the serpaes in an isolated 10 gal tank.

 

[AquaticGem]

Yes, I would definitely not recommend serpae (or black skirt, lemon, or bleeding heart) tetras with a betta. Neons, and glo-lite, however, usually tend to work out okay. Whether a betta accepts tank mates of any sort, though depends completely on their personality.

 

[Leopardess]

Have you read about fishless cycling a tank? It sounds to me like he suggested the tetras to cycle your tank...but it can be done using pure ammonia and that way you don't have to harm any fish to get it done. There are many posts on this if you use the search feature or look at the Sticky at the top of the Beginner's section

I also wouldn't put guppies in with bettas. They *will* tear each other up.

You could definitely do 3-4 cories, 1 betta and 5-6 glowlights/neons though, with no problems.

 

[Ndavis]

I have a 20 gallon with 2 gold gouramis which I told were male and female but landed up being 2 males. I did the research about sexing them and the males dorsal fin is longer and more pointed and the female short and rounded. I also have 3 serpae tetras and a dojo in the tank and they all seem to get along just fine.