Photograph courtesy of Irina Kukuts
Would you like extra selection in your fish tank? That’s a part of the enjoyment of protecting freshwater fish, is seeing the gorgeous variety in your aquarium.
Sadly, some fish simply can’t get alongside (like bettas).
That’s why it’s good to know which species are good matches for dwelling collectively in a group tank. Listed below are my solutions for mixed-species aquariums, in addition to recommendation on including the infamously aggressive male betta to your combined fish group…
Finest species for group tanks
I received’t preserve you in suspense, let’s get proper to the record. These are a number of species that do nicely in communities:
Cory catfish
This specimen is an albino, and so they usually are available speckled or noticed coloring.
Tetras
These small fish are available many breeds and are widespread in group tanks.
Ghost shrimp
Not a fish, however a superb aquarium addition. It’s good to have species that dwell at completely different ranges or areas within the tank.
Guppies
Like tetras, these are one other widespread small species that is available in a wide range of breeds.
Kuhli loaches
Kuhli loaches are an fascinating addition, as they give the impression of being considerably like a snake or eel on the backside of the tank.
What about placing a betta in a group tank?
You’ve probably heard that male betta fish are usually not very best group members. That being stated, you’re going to discover a variety of conduct patterns amongst people, so don’t get discouraged if you happen to’d like so as to add your male betta to a combined species tank.
The reality is that male bettas are predominantly aggressive with different male bettas and should do nicely in a tank with different fish species. There’s additionally the choice of including feminine bettas to your tank, as they’re much less aggressive than males typically.
Right here’s a fast take a look at you are able to do to seek out out whether or not your betta will do nicely in an aquarium with different fish:
Put two bettas in separate tanks subsequent to one another, and see how they work together via the edges of their tank. If you happen to don’t have two bettas, you may strive placing your single betta’s bowl subsequent to the group tank, and see if he reacts. A betta that principally ignores different fish or different male bettas is an efficient candidate for shifting to a bunch.
In case your betta looks like a great candidate for a group aquarium, right here’s learn how to proceed:
- Get a breeding tank that matches contained in the bigger aquarium (this assumes you have already got an aquarium with some fish).
- Introduce your betta to the surroundings within the breeding tank solely.
- Watch how the betta reacts to different fish that get close to the breeding tank.
- If the betta seems principally calm after a number of days within the breeding tank, let him free into the group, underneath your supervision.
- Proceed to observe the betta’s conduct; you may return him to the breeding tank while you aren’t round, if you’re involved in regards to the security of your different fish.
You can find that a few of the calmer betta fish can combine simply wonderful with different species. Occasional warning flaring of the gills is nothing to be involved about, so long as precise fights and nipping aren’t taking place (keep in mind that different fish could also be enticed to nip the betta’s flowing tail, too).
Clearly, if you happen to see the betta attacking different fish or being nipped, it’s not a great candidate for the group tank and can must be eliminated to its personal smaller aquarium. (Or, if tail nipping by different fish is the difficulty and the betta is in any other case a great candidate, it might be moved to a tank solely with species or people that don’t nip its tail.)
Listed below are a number of small aquarium solutions for lone bettas:
And listed here are the hanging breeding bins you need to use for testing the group waters:
When you’ve got extra questions on which fish go nicely collectively in an aquarium, ask our workforce on The Tye-Dyed Iguana’s Fb web page! We promote a wide range of lovely freshwater fish and have curbside pickup for purchases, as nicely.
