My First Post...Fishy Questions.

[Alzone]

First off, thanks to the folks that put this forum together for us fish hobbyist. I have already gleaned alot of information from the "Beginners" Sticky.
About 2 weeks ago I returned into this hobby slowly with a 2.5 gallon tank. I first had it stocked with fish that made it look too busy, like the neurotic speckled catfish, or too chaotic with the bickering Dwarf Rainbow Gouramis and Head n' Tailight Tetras.I moved them to a new 5 gallon aquarium in hopes they would chill out but it didn't happen. I donated these fish to a coworker with an empty 55 gallon tank.
The 2.5 gallon tank has been restocked with a beautiful male Bette, 2 glo-light Tetras and 3 Bloodfin Tetras. They got along great and watching this aquarium was relaxing. I still had a 2" Clown Loach, a small pleco-something and a 2.5" red-finned shark in the 5 gallon tank. I moved the 2 glo-lights and 2 bloodfins in the 5 gallon last night. Everybody is getting along fine. I'm now moving the Betta to be with his Tetra friends. The only concern I have is the redfin shark. Will he mess with the Betta? He hasn't messed with anything else. He seems quite docile. I just remember one I had years ago to be more aggressive than this one.
Would there be any problem putting some fantail guppies or Neons in this tank also?

 

[PlecoCollector]

I'm not sure if they'll get along or not, but I think your 5 would be overstocked if you put the betta in there, if it isn't already. Plecos and Clown Loaches get big, so in few months, they'll have way out grown a 5. I'd suggest getting a bigger tank for all of them. Maybe a 20 gallon?
I'm rather new to this too, but I'm pretty sure that you're overstocked.

And to take a shot at your question: I always thought it was the Bettas that were aggresive towards the other fish, not the other way around... but I'm really unsure on that.

 

[FroggyFox]

Bettas are really differing in their personalities...some of them get along well in a community tank and others are best suited to live alone. Bettas usually get along ok with neons, but in a 2.5 gallon tank there isn't enough room for a betta and a school of neons. I would never suggest putting guppies with a betta, bad idea. They go after each other because of their tails and bright colors.

If I had a choice I'd probably leave your betta in the 2.5 and do some more reading on suitable fish for a 5 gallon tank, as well as the size requirements for the fish that you already have. I would agree that no matter what arrangement you have them in, the red tail and the loach are going to be way too big (size and attitude) for a 5G tank. Also, clown loaches and tetras etc are schooling fish, which means they're happiest in groups of at least 3...so if you kept the loach and bought two friends...you should plan on keeping them in at least a 30G tank. If you wanted to keep other fish with them it should probably be bigger. A 29G is a great size for a good community, your choices for suitable fish go up really high. Have you checked out the freshwater profile section (tab up at the top left that says Freshwater Fish Profiles)? There are fish missing from it, but its a good cross section. You could also look in people's signatures and see what kinds of fish they have together, numbers and sizes of tanks for some ideas.

Good Luck! Keep us posted on how you're doing