I have kept female bettas with little incident in community set ups. I had a female sorority but it collapsed into bloodshed when the little guppy died. I think he was bottom of the pecking order.
I have kept male bettas singly in community tanks without incident. I have not made many attempts to cohabitate male bettas. I've tried once and that was plenty.
I've kept females before in comms with moderately aggressive things like smaller cichlids. I found them to be somewhat aggressive and faster because of their shorter finnage.
I may try a pair of platys, or killies, or go the cory route. I'm glad shrimp came up, I thought about those but I guess they're not a good bet either. But I think my daughter will like the platys, so when she asks I'll probably go with them.
The wrath of betta's is famously exaggerated IMO. I have two males living in a twenty and they have never shown any aggression. They even like to huddle together in the plants. I have found guppies are great tank mates. They are pretty like betta's ( not as pretty, but still pretty) and the bettas don't seem to care about them at all.
See I had a male betta in with about 5 fancy guppies in a 20 long and the two guppies who had long blue or red tails were tore to shreds by the bettas. I guess just try fish who look nothing like a male betta and go from there.
within a year ill have a 2.5 to 5 gallon tank with a betta. 2 apple snails 5 feeder gups ( the wild ones ) and 15 ghost shrimps or 5 ghost shrimps and 5 cherry shrimps.
within a year ill have a 2.5 to 5 gallon tank with a betta. 2 apple snails 5 feeder gups ( the wild ones ) and 15 ghost shrimps or 5 ghost shrimps and 5 cherry shrimps.
I agree. If you want to stick with the 5 gallon, you'll need to cut it down to just 5 shrimps and a betta (although I tried to keep ghost shrimps with one of the bettas I've kept in the past, and after 2-3 weeks, all the shrimps had disappeared...).
