# 10 gallon tank with 1 betta and 2 corys, what else can go in??



## Tali (May 20, 2012)

Hi!
I'm new to freshwater fish but i have a 10 gallon set up and its doing pretty well. I have one crown tail betta and 2 peppered corys and they all get along great! I have 5-6 different types of plants doing ok and hiding places for the fish. My betta hangs out in the plants and my corys hide and chase each other around the bottom. I'm wondering what else i can put in to make it more interesting. I do small frequent water changes and i am willing to do anything to keep my fish happy. 

My dad and i kept a huge in wall saltwater tank for years but it got to be too much. I decided to try a 10 gallon and possibly in the future set up a 30 gallon tank we have.
Thanks!


----------



## Reece (Aug 10, 2011)

Hi, welcome to TFK! 

Sounds like you've got a good tank going on at the moment! I'm not too sure about the specifics but one guideline for selecting tank mates for betta fish is to make sure that the other fish doesn't have very large or just large fins. This is purely because the betta could mistake that fish as a betta and therefore become very aggressive with it as they're very territorial (as I'm sure you know). 

Be sure to read up on the Betta profile in "Tropical Fish Profiles", second on the left on the top bar at the top of the page. You can read up on lots of different fish there too, I'm not sure but it could contain information on possible tank mates for a betta fish. 

EDIT - sorry, device glitches and posted twice :L

Another tank mate guideline for betta fish is to make sure that the other fish isn't too fast like Zebra Danios, I think that's purely because the Betta could get stressed out. Good job on giving the betta hiding places too by the way!


----------



## Reece (Aug 10, 2011)

http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/betta-fish-compatibility/

Post this thread in that part of the forum, which is specific to your question.


----------



## Stormfish (Apr 30, 2012)

If your betta is a female, you could add more of them. I used to keep a female betta sorority years ago. Sure, they established a hierarchy with some chasing and so forth, but once they did, they got along great.


----------



## Tali (May 20, 2012)

My betta is a male


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

If all you have is one betta and 2 peppered corys you could add a couple more peppered corys. Or you could add a few shrimp or snails.


----------



## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

You should add another 3-4 peppered cories. They are a schooling fish and do best in groups. There is also a betta subsection of the forum here that you may find interesting. 

As far as the compatibility issue, betta usually get alone with substrate fish very well. It's the column-swimming fish like guppies and neon tetra that often have problems. 

And welcome to the forum! There is also a saltwater section here. And if you see a fish name highlighted like Guppy or Goldfish, then you can click on it for more information about the fish.


----------



## dmuddle (Nov 14, 2011)

Sorry guys but when I saw this thread I just had to jump at the opportunity. When I got my 1st Betta I had him in there for about a month then added a cory. He drastically got ill and I automatically did water changes and altered the ph levels unfortunately he passed away :'(. I bought a second fighter and added him into the tank the exact same thing happened but this time I thought that it could have been my cory so I removed the fighter and held him temporarily and he got better he passed away last year after a relativley long life and now I finally have my own without the cory and he is fine. The tank is 8 gallons so I wanna know what happened.


----------



## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

dmuddle said:


> Sorry guys but when I saw this thread I just had to jump at the opportunity. When I got my 1st Betta I had him in there for about a month then added a cory. He drastically got ill and I automatically did water changes and altered the ph levels unfortunately he passed away :'(. I bought a second fighter and added him into the tank the exact same thing happened but this time I thought that it could have been my cory so I removed the fighter and held him temporarily and he got better he passed away last year after a relativley long life and now I finally have my own without the cory and he is fine. The tank is 8 gallons so I wanna know what happened.


Well you just had one cory. They are supposed to be in groups. He might have lashed out at the betta due to stress. You also added a fish without quarantining it. This is probably what did in your Betta splendens. Changing the pH is also hard on the fish, and with a hardy fish like betta pH is best left alone. You also said nothing about cycling the tank, so there could have been toxic levels of ammonia and nitrite in there. But without a diagnosis of the betta as well as water tests, there is really no way to know exactly what went wrong.


----------



## dmuddle (Nov 14, 2011)

Wait quarantining my fish? At the time I was a beginner and had read up on that stuff and have never heard of quarantining, I have 1 albino and 1 pepper atm in my community and they don't "lash out" so I am still lost.


----------



## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

Tons of people keep betta and cories together, myself included. I have never had any problems with them together. Even a slightly more aggressive betta will usually accept them pretty soon simply because they are dull and don't get in the betta's way.
I agree, you should really up your cory group to 5-6 cories, and maybe some shrimp or a snail. Cories need groups of 4 or more to feel secure.

Quarantining is done with new fish from stores, just in case a fish brings in a disease, you can watch for it in a separate tank instead of potentially introducing it into your established tank.


----------



## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

dmuddle said:


> Wait quarantining my fish? At the time I was a beginner and had read up on that stuff and have never heard of quarantining, I have 1 albino and 1 pepper atm in my community and they don't "lash out" so I am still lost.


Quarantine is typically done to prevent fish from bringing in disease. Many fish from pet stores carry a lot of disease, and to prevent infection of the entire tank, it's best to keep the in a separate but suitable tank for a few weeks before adding them to the main tank. It's becoming standard practice as pet stores just aren't trustworthy anymore. 

Your current cories may not be lashing out, but you could have gotten the odd one that did lash out when stressed. I would also suggest bumping up the numbers in your tanks to 3 cories of the same species.


----------

