cdoty wrote in message ...
Wouldn't it be an especially bad idea to put a Betta in a community tank?

If not what could go in with them? Could you have two males in a 55
gallon tank?

Algae eaters are ok in the tank, anyone have experience with other fish
that don't cause problems?

Keep in mind that all bettas have a strong individual personality. Any
betta may be more aggressive then another and may have to be removed
from a community tank. Be prepared to take a betta out and have a tank
he/she can be placed in if he can't play nice with others.

Bettas can do great with other community fish. There are hundreds of
commonly kept freshwater aquarium fish so I won't go into which are
good and which are bad, but here are some general rules of thumb.

1. Don't place bettas with other brightly colored fish or fish with
large flashy fins like guppies or mollies. They might react to them as
though they are another betta and sometimes show aggression toward
those fish.

2. Don't place bettas with other Anabantidae fish such as Gouramis.
Anabantidae are fish, which possess a labyrinth organ allowing them to
breathe air from the water's surface when dissolved oxygen levels are
low. Bettas generally will be aggressive to these fish as well.

3. Don't place bettas with other aggressive fish or fin nippy fish.
Nipped betta fins can become infected or generally stress out you
betta leaving him open to other ailments.

4 Bettas are tropical freshwater fish and shouldn't be mixed with cool
water fish like, goldfish. Ok, you already know this, but I'm just
covering all possibilities here.

5. As I said, some bettas will attack anything you put in the water
with it. The only way to know is to try. Some fish that usually work
well with bettas are, small cat fish like Otocinclus and Corydoras,
Snails, ghost shrimp, and Neon Tetras.

If you're considering adding other fish, be sure to check the tank
size requirements for the total fish load and have proper filtration
and aeration in place. Yeah Yeah, you know this too.

Also, one final note: 55 gal tanks tend to have a vary strong current
that can be tough on bettas, which aren't strong swimmers. Usually,
you'll either need a couple smaller filters (that don't produce strong
currents) or keep your tank heavily planted and use something which
can dampen the force of the water. Lots of betta keepers use a new
soap dish (that has never seen soap) and will fasten that to the
inside of the tank wall with suction cups. The filter water flows out
and is difused by the soap dish lessoning the current.