Bettas as pets? Never had one...mini tank for my son

[JoeBoxer]

Looking to set up a small, colorful and active tank for my little guy.

Thinking 20 gallon with some fancy guppies and one nice male betta, and maybe some small cory cats and ottos for the bottom.

What are bettas like? Any personality to them? Kinda want him to be the showcase of the tank and the guppies are the entertainment haha.

Let me know your thoughts and suggestions.

 

[Ihsnshaik]

Tried tank mates for my nephews male betta he would pick on them.

Betta very territorial fish. Fish like tetras fast swimming can hang with them because they can't catch them.

 

[fishnatics]

Imo bettas are not really good pets for kids. They're not really that active and kids lose interest really fast. Don't get me wrong they are very pretty and come in different colors and tail fins but if you're gonna setup a tank for your son, I would go with a group of tetras, guppies, cories and as a center piece maybe a blue ram. Or you could go with the glo-fish theme. Comes in different colors. Just a thought.

 

[Kittiee Katt]

My betta has a ton of personality, he was very active when he was younger (not so much now he's old, but..) However I don't recommend keeping guppies with one. Bruce (my betta) didn't like the guppies we tried with him, he would flare up and chase them I assume because they were colourful but I'm not sure exactly. I also seen them nip him once or twice. The best tank mates I've found for him are glowlight/torchlight tetras, cory catfish, bloodfin tetras, kuhlli loaches, white cloud minnows (although these would rather cooler water than bettas) etc. Just anything peaceful and not likely to nip is what you want as tank mates if you get a betta.

 

[JoeBoxer]

Hmmm okay so maybe scratch the betta. I really dont want to deal with any aggro in the tank or issues among fish. It doesnt sound like theyre that active either.

Ok, so a big school of guppies to start I think. Maybe a trio of cory cats, and a yoyo loach or two? Sounds good to start?

Maybe once the tank is settled I can try adding a German or Blue Ram?

I've done the schools of tetras thing before, and I'm kind of "over it" (even though its not MY tank haha).

And what is a glo fish....?

 

[Ihsnshaik]

Hmmm okay so maybe scratch the betta. I really dont want to deal with any aggro in the tank or issues among fish. It doesnt sound like theyre that active either.

Ok, so a big school of guppies to start I think. Maybe a trio of cory cats, and a yoyo loach or two? Sounds good to start?

Maybe once the tank is settled I can try adding a German or Blue Ram?

I've done the schools of tetras thing before, and I'm kind of "over it" (even though its not MY tank haha).

And what is a glo fish....?

Flo fish are genetically modified specimens. You see them at petsmart Walmart petco and are man made. They use some dye in them or something to get that type of glow effect

 

[JoeBoxer]

Flo fish are genetically modified specimens. You see them at petsmart Walmart petco and are man made. They use some dye in them or something to get that type of glow effect

That sounds awful. I've never seen that before. Maybe we don't have them north of the border

 

[Ihsnshaik]

I don't buy fish like that. That's just wrong and look at this picture. Crazy how someone can monetize on something like that

 

[Wailua Boy]

Please no one encourage the Glofish lol

 

[JoeBoxer]

That's crazy. Never seen that before!