# Are my 10 gallon fish good tank mates for my female betta?



## DTetras2

Hi, I just got a female halfmoon betta and she's SOOOOOO beautiful!!! In about a week or so i'm going to try breeding her and my male betta which is also BEAUTIFUL!!! I would like to move her from a 2.5 gallon to a 10 gallon community tank, and i would like to know if the fish in my 10 gallon wouldn't mess with her, check my signature. Please write back as soon as possible.


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## chocolatecrunch

I think it would be fine but if you start to see any nipping at the betta or other fish, remove the female. Tetras have been known to nip at the bettas fins...But since she is a she, there may be no nipping at all because it is mostly directed at the male bettas. I say go for it! If things don't work out, you can always remove her 

Good luck with the breeding  Post some pics of the fry as they grow so we can see how everything is going!


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## DTetras2

Thanks I'll try putting the female in the 10 gallon tomorrow, but I don't know how to post pictures on a thread, so if someone can tell me how to do that than deffinitelly


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## DTetras2

Well, I put in my female betta and she's doing great The tetras aren't doing anything to her, and I actually think that she's freaking them out more


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## Plakat_bettas

what type of male do you have? you can also keep females in groups of 5 or more! PICTURES PLEASE lol


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## DTetras2

Well, I have a crowntail betta, that doesn't mean they won't breed, right?


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## chocolatecrunch

Bettas breed with bettas...I have a halfmoon double tail betta (one grandparent was probably double tail and the other halfmoon...Then one of the bettas was part halfmoon part double tail and breeded with a halfmoon to create my betta because you can barly tell he is a double tail). I don't know how to upload the pics to a forum either so just do something like this:

1.Take pics/vids
2.E-mail/download to computer
3.Post pics on photobucket or your fishforums album
4.Copy and paste the links to your post so people just click on the link and can see the pics!


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## KevinP

chocolatecrunch said:


> Bettas breed with bettas...I have a halfmoon double tail betta (one grandparent was probably double tail and the other halfmoon...Then one of the bettas was part halfmoon part double tail and breeded with a halfmoon to create my betta because you can barly tell he is a double tail). I don't know how to upload the pics to a forum either so just do something like this:
> 
> 1.Take pics/vids
> 2.E-mail/download to computer
> 3.Post pics on photobucket or your fishforums album
> 4.Copy and paste the links to your post so people just click on the link and can see the pics!


This is what you should do to get pictures but there is usually a little image tag that you can post with like







around it which makes it so the pictures load in your post. Makes it much easier


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## DTetras2

Ok, thanks I'll post some pics very soon


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## Peeps

It just depends on the betta, you won't know until you try. Some are okay in community tanks and some are not. Just keep an eye on them. Even some male bettas are okay in a community tank but it all depends on the individual fish.


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## Plakat_bettas

This is true, I have one male that I cant put even a snail in with or he KILLS it... he BITES if I have to put my hand in the tank... and it hurts. And did you know the gill plates can actually cut you, (its like papercuts) HE's my MEAN fish


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## DTetras2

Ok, here are 2 pics of my male betta and female betta


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## Plakat_bettas

are you sure the female is a female? she looks male too me... long vents stream lined body...


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## DTetras2

Ya, I'm positive, there bodies are the same size and when they were flaring at each other, her gill covers weren't very big, not NEARLY as big as the male's


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## chocolatecrunch

Wow! Both are lovely the male is stunning


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## Plakat_bettas

if she is flaring she may be a YOUNG male, or an over aggressive female... size of the gill plates isnt really a good indicatior as YOUNG males will have smaller gill plates... I honestly think you have a young male there


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## DTetras2

1st of all, they are actually both the same size, so she's not that young. 2nd of all, we really won't be able to tell until I try breeding them. Plus, when I got her, she was in a tank with like 5 other females and they were all very calm (this was also at my local fish store, not some other place like petco, i'd never trust them with fish)  Thank you very much for that, chocolatecrunch I really love your bettas too, i saw gummybear in some of your posts


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## chocolatecrunch

DTetras2 said:


> 1st of all, they are actually both the same size, so she's not that young. 2nd of all, we really won't be able to tell until I try breeding them. Plus, when I got her, she was in a tank with like 5 other females and they were all very calm (this was also at my local fish store, not some other place like petco, i'd never trust them with fish)  Thank you very much for that, chocolatecrunch I really love your bettas too, i saw gummybear in some of your posts


LOL. Thanks  I got some pics of him flaring...I'm probably going to regret saying this, but I wish he would stop flaring sooo much! It's fun every now and then but he is eventually going to kill him self from flaring at the filter so often -_-


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## DTetras2

Ya, that's exactly the same thing I thought about my betta the first day I got him, he just kept flaring at his own reflection in the tank, it really worried me, until the next day, he must've gotten tired


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## chocolatecrunch

For a fish with a brain about the size of dust, bettas are pretty smart ;D


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## DTetras2

Yes, yes they are Something totally random, I tried feeding my female betta a cricket, and she did, but the dang serpae tetra STOLL IT when she spat it out and was going to eat it again


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## chocolatecrunch

DTetras2 said:


> Yes, yes they are Something totally random, I tried feeding my female betta a cricket, and she did, but the dang serpae tetra STOLL IT when she spat it out and was going to eat it again


LOL. I want to try feeding my betta a cricket I just don't think he will eat it...I think he is too much of a little sissy boy to do that  :fish:


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## Plakat_bettas

DTetras2 said:


> 1st of all, they are actually both the same size, so she's not that young. 2nd of all, we really won't be able to tell until I try breeding them. Plus, when I got her, she was in a tank with like 5 other females and they were all very calm (this was also at my local fish store, not some other place like petco, i'd never trust them with fish)  Thank you very much for that, chocolatecrunch I really love your bettas too, i saw gummybear in some of your posts


This is not true the only way to tell IS NOT by spawning them and same size means NOTHING... PKS grow to be larger... my first PK male was from a lfs and in a sorority tank... he was YOUNG but the same size as my long finned males. YOU HAVE A MALE there I am 90% positive on that


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## DTetras2

I've seen many female bettas on google images and she looks EXACTLY like the ones on google images and I've never had a problem with different kinds of fish at my local fish store, they know a whoooooole lot


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## Plakat_bettas

lol, she looks like a boy to me I could be wrong but she does.. she is not round enough to be a girl but again I could be wrong... Either way they are pretty so it doesnt really matter lol


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## DTetras2

Ya, thanks You probably thought it would be rounder because you've seen pics of female pregnant bettas, but that's ok.


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## Plakat_bettas

I breed and show, as a hobbie... I prefer plakats but WILL breed long finned if I have enough interest.....


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## DTetras2

Oh, sorry.


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## Plakat_bettas

you couldnt have known.... lol I dont breed often enough to be a serious breeder and I dont show as often as I would like as when I get a winning fish its being bred for the next show or two...


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## chocolatecrunch

DTetras2 said:


> Ya, thanks You probably thought it would be rounder because you've seen pics of female pregnant bettas, but that's ok.


They are egg layers and don't get pregnant...LOL. Females always have the eggs and the male has to fertalize them. So females are always supposed to look "round". I personally think that IS a female and agree with you DTetras...I'm not 100% sure though.


Peace!


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## Plakat_bettas

its not round though... and its vents look fairly long in the picture... that and it flaring say MALE to me


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## DTetras2

Well, I still think she looks exactly like the female bettas i've seen.


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## Plakat_bettas

lol like I said I could be wrong....


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## chocolatecrunch

I'm 75% sure it's female...I could be wrong though. I would just try to spawn them and see what happens  It's you fish and if you think it's female, don't let anyone give you crap about it!


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## DTetras2

lol Ill try breeding them on teusday I've been feeding them both frozen bloodworms so hopefully they'll be full and ready to spawn


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## chocolatecrunch

Yay  Post some pics of the spawning prosses and the fry when they hatch!


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## DTetras2

I'm going to, but i've been trying to feed the female frozen bloodworms, but she just won't eat them The male LOVES them and my mom's betta LOVES them too, but the female just won't eat them


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## Plakat_bettas

I would wait to breed her till she is ROUND.... she has to have eggs to be ready to breed. try bbs? what are you going to feed the young?


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## DTetras2

Well, females develop eggs during the bubble nest building procedure. I read online that when the fry are from 2 days to 2 weeks old you're able to feed them boiled egg yolk? If not, can you tell me what to feed them then? After 2 weeks, I'm going to feed them bbs and frozen bloodworms, than after 5 weeks, flake and freeze-dried foods


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## chocolatecrunch

After two weeks, the fry are only 0.25 inches long. 
For about the first three weeks, feed them newly hatched brine shrimp, microworms, and/or vineggar eels (sorry for spelling). When they are about 3-4 weeks old, use a cheese grater to grate some frozen blood worm and mirco worms...Sounds pretty nasty but they fish will thank you! You could also just keep feeding them micro worms, or larger live food like young brine shrimp that arn't so tiny. 
When they are 6-7 weeks, then you can start feeding them stuff like frozen blood worms, flakes, TINY betta pellets...

Good luck! Here is a link to the betta fry growth rate (really good site!)

http://www.bettatalk.com/fry_growth.htm


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## DTetras2

Thanks for the info, chocolatecrunch Well, the male betta's in the 10 gallon breeding tank, here are 2 pics of both sides of the tank, sorry there's a huge glare








Here's the left side








And here's the right side 
If it's no good, please tell me how I can make it better before I breed them both tomorrow


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## Plakat_bettas

NO SUBSTRATE, or a dark dark substrate makes it easier for the male to find the eggs... and no the female doesnt get eggy during the bubble nest making she gets eggy when the conditions are right. a mature female should be eggy to some degree


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## DTetras2

Ok, the male and female are now in the breeding tank, and they're doing very good so far As soon as I put the female in the glass in the tank, they started flaring at eachother and then 5 minutes after, the male started making his bubble nest Here are some pics








Here is the male's bubble nest so far








Here's the tank








Here's the male making his bubble nest








And here's the female in her glass


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## hXcChic22

I'll say my piece... that looks like a female betta to me. Some females have nice longer fins and it's not unheard of that they flare. Just like males, you get aggressive ones and not-so-aggressive ones. http://www.healthybetta.com/male-vs-female-bettas
I know because we had a female betta go around flaring at her tank mates. She just happened to be a little more aggressive than any of the other females we had. 
And IME, even when a female is VERY eggladen, she will still sometimes freak out about being with a male, even if he's got a great bubble nest and is doing everything he can to impress her.


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## DTetras2

Ya, that female looks almost just like mine, except mine has more blue in her fins, which i think is really cool


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## DTetras2

Well, I tried taking out the betta about 20 minutes ago and they seemed to be doing very good They were only nipping a little bit at eachother, but after about 10 minutes the male was paying more attention to his bubble nest, so I put the female back in the glass (by the way, when I put the female in the tank, she showed VERTICAL LINES, which means she's holding EGGS!) They were deffinitely doing there mating rituals so they are ready, the male just needs to make his bubble nest better


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## MsBugg

That's so cool! I'd love to see the progression of the fry as they grow. I'm actually thinking about getting a couple of betta fishies to possibly mate. How many babies do betta's produce?

Btw, your fish are really beautiful. ;D


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## DTetras2

Thank you so much I'll take pics of the fry and the spawning process, which is actually going to happen tomorrow Bettas probably produce around a couple hundred (I'm not actually sure, this is just my guess, but it's probably somewhere around that). You should do a lot of research before you do any betta breeding whatsoever, there are a lot of things to worry about while your bettas are breeding and you need to know what to do with the fry, I'm bringing most of the fry to my LFS


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## MsBugg

Your welcome. ;D 
Yeah, I know, I'm gonna hold out on the baby-makin' process for a while... I already have enough platy fry to take care of.  But I just got my first male betta, I think he's a crowntail, not entirely sure... The guy that sold it to me had a thick chinese accent, couldn't understand him. Haha xD I have no idea how to care for them... and since you have one, would you be willing to help me out?


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## chocolatecrunch

I'm so exited to find out it WAS a girl after all! Did they spawn??? How are the fry? Tell us everything  Glad you posted pics...I would have not had any gravel/black gravel and would have added lots more plants but over all the tank looked fine


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## heatran15

the tetras might nip on the betta depending.


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