Would this be a good idea or not?

Question

Hi, I have one Male Beta in with my community tank and he's fine, i read several sites and a few books that they can get along with a varitey of fish just as long as its not their own kind ( unless if male and female are both ready to breed) or if you had a long finned fish.

A few years ago i had a tank with 2 Cherry barbs, one Angelfish,2 X-Ray tetras, 1 common pleco, 1 Peppered Corydoras, 1 Red Tailed Shark and 3 Zebra Danios. The Pleco, Corydoras, and the Zebras are still alive, i just bought 2 more Barbs and the one from the previous tank just died because he was sucked up into the filter =[.

But, my question is, I loved that Angelfish that was in my tank, it was a Koi so i was thinking about getting 3 or 4 of them to put in my tank, and upgrade to one of my family's bigger ones ( I'm only 13 and still sort of new to this) but, i read that you shouldn't put long finned fish with the Beta and it might nip their fins or possibly attack them and i don't want that to happen! So would this be a good idea or not? Wouldn't i be taking a big risk wouldn't I? All answers apperciated, but please be serious!

Thanks!

Answer 1

What size of tank is going to house your Angelfish? They do need large tanks as well. Be careful as to the Tiger Barbs with Angelfish...if they are not schooled properly (in groups of 8 or more) they will nip the fins of any other fish in the tank. They take out their aggression on each other in large schools. I have a Angelfish in my 55 gallon, I have a large school of Tiger Barbs as well, they do leave the other fish alone...but at the first sign of them tormenting my Angel or any other fish, I will have to part with them...as so will you if you choose to house Tiger Barbs. I would suggest Black Skirt Tetras for your Angel..but school them as well I have 6 in my tank, hope this helped. Oh....buy your Cory Cat some buddies, he would enjoy that, they need to be in schoolds as well, I have 4 Albino and 2 Panda Cories who are very happy lil critters.

Answer 2

They might be ok.  Angels can generally fend for themselves pretty good, and despite the prevailing opinion, bettas aren't all that vicious, at least in the bigger scheme of things.  If the angels pair off and your tank isn't big enough, you will likely see them kill other fish, including the betta.