20 gallon stocking ideas

[penguin03]

Hi all,

I will be setting up a 20 gallon high with one male betta and I want to get him so tank mates. I understand that cories and tetras are good tank mates.

I'm wondering, will guppies be okay in the tank? I've heard mix reviews on this. I would really love a pair of guppies.

Best inverts as well (I want shrimp).

Thanks!

 

[Raka]

Betta's tend to be hit or miss on what they will accept into their tanks.

After 12 years of betta keeping I never had a successful tank mate from shrimps to sororities(long term).

Ive had betta's relentless attack snails and others that could care less about them.

I have never had success with any other fish. We had some females (3 in a 29) together for awhile but they seemed to outgrow each other after a few months. I beg and plead with my fiancee not to go down this road anymore as its just a crap shoot of returns with our setups.

I have seen success in heavily planted black water tanks where the fish essentially cant see each other, and thats about it. Not my choice of tank so I moved away from community betta's.

A plakat betta will fair better than a long fin'd variety as far as tetra's fin nipping goes. Betta's may leave the cory's alone or they may turn on them out of the blue. Avoid barbs.

 

[Rass]

Larger shrimp might be ok but baby shrimp and guppy fry would be seen as food for sure. I have had good success keeping shrimp together with guppies, and a few white clouds, in a planted 20 tall though. My betta is housed with cardinal tetras, black neon tetras, and standard blood fin tetras. Its been fine for all species long term. But it is a 72 bowfront that also houses five decent sized angel fish so the scenario is definitely different.

 

[Rass]

Scarlet badis are really cool small fish, but you'd have to search around for advice on keeping them with a betta. I'm not sure if its viable.