[xdow]

I've been looking at these fish a lot lately, as there's been some absolutely gorgeous males in the shop, which isn;t to say that the females haven't been lovely too but they seem to be a rare occurrence.

I'm wondering though, what would i be taking on if i were to take the plunge, so to speak?
if anyone has any experience keeping them

would there be a problem when housing one with
an albino red tailed shark (this would probably be the main problem causer, i expect.)
neon tetra
golden (zebra) danios
black phantom tetras
rummy nose tetras

i likely won't go ahead getting one for the time being as the one i absolutely fell in love with has been sold unfortunately

if at all, I'm not sure about having one with my shark at all

[Tass]

I don't know an enormous amount about them but a friend of mine kept a beautiful red/blue/purple single male and he set up his territory in one area of the tank (he didn't make it very big, maybe about 3 or 4 inches around a weed strand he had adopted), and he would chase any other fish out of "his" area but in terms of actually connecting with other fish their angels could be worse.
I gather male Siamese ff do tend to be territorial in the tank but they seem to save their real fighting for other male Siamese, however fish are not my forte!

[Aarghawasp!]

They're more commonly known as Betta fish in the US, if you search on that you'll probably find more info. Here's a forum.

[StressMonkey]

Mine is a complete sod - Guppy Killer!! Would suck their tales into his mouth and swim around the tank shaking it. Which is why he is in 'solitary' with a bunch of Panda Corys in another Guppy-Free tank.

On the other hand, I have heard of Bettas being 'bullied' by tank mates because of the long fins. Never keep one with anything that has a reputation for being a fin nipper.

And only ever one male per tanks. If you intend to keep females (I'd say don't) then you'd need at least 3 females to one male IIRC otherwise he will harass the females.

[xdow]

i heard three or more females is a minimum of them to keep, so they can sort out a hierarchy

wouldn't really dream of having a male with a female as i have been told they can fight to the death amongst opposite sexes too

i don't have any terrible fin nippers myself - as i used to keep guppies in the same tank described above
i know bettas are notorious guppy killers though - anything with a fancy, flowing colourful tail. they think it's another fighter and have it!

i'll ask around a bit more and do a search for betta - i realised it's a common name for them but didn't think to change me search to that name

[Nocturne]

I do not want to sway you, ,.... here comes the but, I have had about 4 in the past and they have been rather aggressive/miserable fish that do not last for long, I have had trops for 25 years but have not bothered with a Siamese in the last 20, but they do look good, as for probs with a red tail, they are bottom feders, Siams are usually near the surface.

[RubusRoo]

They are all different & have different behaviours. Some will be fine, others will not.

[crazychris12]

I have two tropical tanks and a fighter in each, one blue and one red. I'm not buying any more when they die though as one's always flaring at any fish which goes near his corner and the other keeps getting split fins but I'm not sure which fish is the culprit. They're not really community fish.

[xdow]

i wish someone would tell my red tail he's a bottom feeder. he's all over the place
lower and mid feeder my butt.
i thought i might have problems with him as he has chased my phantoms if they've gotten too close, a fighter wouldn't likely get away quick enough

but thanks anyway.
i think i'll leave it & just top up my neons instead

[surfie]

Originally Posted by xdow

i wish someone would tell my red tail he's a bottom feeder. he's all over the place
lower and mid feeder my butt.
i thought i might have problems with him as he has chased my phantoms if they've gotten too close, a fighter wouldn't likely get away quick enough

but thanks anyway.
i think i'll leave it & just top up my neons instead

I've kept a single fighting fish in tanks before with Neons and found the fighting fish was more preoccupied starting at it's reflection and posing at one corner of the tank than anything else

I did try one keeping a couple of females in with a male but one female killed the other.

Once site though suggest there is a problem keeping them with some "sharks" but doesn't say exactly what sort though.

[Rhodes666]

I had a dark red beta in one of my smaller tanks,he was fine at 1st but then became agressive to anything that came near his end of the tank,they WILL fight to the death with other fish or sometimes with their own kind,they are labyrinth fish and do require good hiding spots to make them feel at home,they really are lovely looking fish though they do require some care,if ur putting it in a tank with a red tailed shark he may start to nibble the betas tail and once they start they wont stop.