Betta Fish Can Live With These Other Fishes

If you are looking for other fish species that can live with betta fish, then there are some simple rules that you must follow, so that every fish feels safe. Each fish species have their own characteristics and parameters for safe and stress free living and it's your duty to study these before you get into this hobby seriously.

Male betta fish love to have their own territory and space within the fish tank and that is why two male bettas are never kept together in the same tank. 
The original name of betta fishes is "Siamese Fighting Fish" for the same reason that when they feel that their space is being occupied by other betta or any other community fish then they will attack or fight causing even death.

Now what about male and female bettas getting together? 

The only time when you must bring them together is when you want to breed them. However if you want to keep female bettas together then there's good news. You can house them together in a group of 3 or 4 and not more than that. It's not that female bettas don't fight but are less aggressive that males. Betta fish have their own individual taste of living and demand space and respect in their species and other individual fishes.

If you see that a particular fish is being too aggressive and biting and fighting with others causing deaths then be prepared to keep him away in a new tank of his own so that others feel safe in the tank. If you want to keep bettas with other fishes then there are some generalized rules that if you follow will be good for the whole community. 

1. Avoid mixing other bright colored and fish with big fins with male bettas. Male bettas will react strongly to these characteristics and are likely to start a fight if their territory is disturbed or occupied with these other fishes. 
2. Avoid mixing bettas with fish species called as Gouramis because these have an organ called as "Labyrinth" which helps them to breathe oxygen from outside air above the tank water. Since bettas have these organs they will swim with other fish with the same organs. 
3. If you have other fish species that are as aggressive as bettas then you sure have a war ground in your fish tank. 
4. Avoid keeping bettas with Goldfish as goldfish are cool water fish. Cool water fish don't require a water heater in the tank and bettas as tropical fish that can survive in warm water. 
5. Some research has shown that some fish species will go well with bettas like Neon tetras, and small catfish. Again the key is to try out for a few hours only and observe closely the behavior of your bettas as well as other fish that are living with bettas in the tank. 
6. Avoid any other fish that has long fins and bettas will get a lot of stress just looking at those flowing fins and is most likely to attack the fish. Also check that the other fish species don't grow more that 2 inches in size.
7. One of the biggest and the most important factor in having healthy and stress free battas is tank size. No less that 5 gallon tank for a single beta fish is advisable. 

Here are some possible tank mates for bettas

• African Dwarf Frogs
• Apple Snails
• Neon Tetras
• Otocinclus Catfish
• Bristlenose plecos
• Cory Catfish
• Glass Catfish
• Blue Gourami
• Khulii Loach
• Ghost Shrimp
• Cardinal tetras 
• Platies 
• Swordtails 
• Female guppies (NO MALES)

Image Credits - By Lerdsuwa (Own photo (400D + 50/1.4)) [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC-BY-SA-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons