Because i have an aquarium in my room and my family has a betta. And we are considering putting it in the tank with the goldfish will this work?

I wouldnt do it, hon. I have heard of putting bettas in with small schooling fish and tropical community fish such as zebra danios, cherry barbs, etc. We keep some male bettas in with those fish in our store, and they get along ok. I dont know about goldfish though. I was told not to put bettas in tanks with fish that have long flowing fins because they may nip at them.

ok thanks!

that stinks because I would love to have one of those white/pinkish betas...is it OK to try and see what happens when you put them together or is it a definate it will nip at my comets LONG fins?

I agree with Gia 100%. They eat different foods as well. So it's not something you should do. The fins on a goldfish are like a big bullseye for a betta. You'd think that a small fish would stay clear of such a large fish like a goldfish eh? LOL

The goldies would go after the bettas' tails and give them no rest at all!

well today i when i was at petsmart the betta was with goldies and koi and they werent fighting i promise its tha truth

i wouldn,t doit cos when your giving yur betta food the goldfish may swim and eat it b4 the betta dose cos bettas are slow swimmers

I wouldn't do it either for the sake of the betta. I had my female in a seperate 2 gallon bowl and then decided she looked kind of lonely in there so I put her in my unheated goldie tank and she loved swimming around in there with the other fish, however it made her more suseptible to fungus and she she caught fungus and died. So still might want to keep them seperate.

just cause the time frame that you saw then not fighting doesn't mean they weren't fighting later or earlier that day.

Trust me I have placed Bettas with goldfish watching them when I first got goldfish and its not funny, the goldfish will be chased around if the betta (male) thinks its a pretty female....Is it worth the goldfish being killed by being chased to death or there fins being picked at or eaten off

I say NO!!

even a complete NO to female bettas? I know the males is an iffy proposition at best, but what about the docile, smaller-finned girlies?

I wouldn't do it either but you could just put a divider between the two species. (I am no expert so don't try it is just my opinion).

No can do. Betta and goldfish need completely different tank set-up therefore it's not feasible just putting a divider in a tank.

I've had a betta in with my 2 fancies for 3 years now and I've never had a problem. They swim along like buddies all the time.

Maybe I got a betta that doesn't know he's a betta? Or, I just have overly peaceful goldfish?

Lisa

I think maybe you've just been lucky there Lisa. I'm glad they're getting along so well

I think generally speaking they are better kept apart, as strictly speaking they do have have different requirements really and you never know how a Betta will react to tankmates especially ones that occupy the same tank levels as they do

I've tried mixing the two, once, as I rescued a female betta and had no place to put her except the goldfish tank. Everything was going along fine until I noticed that my goldie's fins were splitting at the edges. I checked water chemistry, did big water changes, etc and couldn't figure out what was going on! Then, one day, I actually SAW the betta bite the goldie's tail, and the goldie started thrashing and swimming, trying to shake the betta off! I couldn't believe it!

IMO, mixing bettas with goldies is just like mixing common plecos with goldies. Things will be fine for a while, and then BAM! It's like a ticking time bomb.

I have and currently do keep bettas with goldies. Though I have to say that it's not something that should be done carelessly.

Right now one of my female bettas (Bauble) shares a tank (36 gallons) with two fancy goldfish, and there are no problems whatsoever. The backstory for that particular betta, though, is that she was originally put with another, unusually agressive female, who within a couple of days had picked her fins down to almost nothing. Bauble recovered very well after they were separated, but from then on was extremely shy of any other tankmates. Then at one point, I had to put her with a small pearlscale for a while (I was moving things around and pressed for space). At first Bauble was totally freaked out, but since the goldie pretty much ignored her, after a while she got used to it and didn't mind it at all.

Since then, she's been fine with any goldfish I've had her with--they all ignore each other. Bauble stays out of the goldies' way and does her own thing, and they treat her like just another spot of water.

I've also, for short periods of time (like, a few weeks), had a couple of my male bettas with a goldie or two. However! In these cases, one of the bettas, Dun, is extremely mellow (to the point that if another male is put next to him, he'd rather just ignore it and go find something to eat), and the other, Bebe, was old. Aside from those particular two, I wouldn't even consider putting any of my other males with goldfish.


Really, when it comes down to it, it depends primarily on the temperment/personality of the fish...and maybe some luck, too. As a general rule, I would say it's best to keep the two species separate, but, in some cases at least, it can work.

oh my i always have bettas with my fish not 2 males but several females

I used to breed and raise Bettas...

They are VERY aggressive and territorial. It is best not to put them in with anything. They do best in their own enviroments. I agree with everyone else on a 'no-go' but for different reasons. I had many many fish over a few years and they would shred a fancy's fins as soon as they saw it :\

Please watch out for old threads as we try not to surface them again after they're a couple months old.

Beta= Warm water tropical.

Goldfish= Cold water carp.

Either the beta will die from the cold the goldfish requires, or the two are going to rip each other's fins apart and die from fin rot or some other infection from that sort of thing.

I definitely agree that Bettas and goldfish are not compatible, I tried it, and the next morning I woke to one dead goldfish and several ones with no fins. Definitely, DEFINITELY do not put Bettas in a goldfish tank, they do best alone, and they don't need a lot of space.

I already posted a reply to this topic some time back, but I've had time to think on it a bit more and read other's thoughts to take into consideration.

In reply to the title of the thread, specifically: I'd say it really depends on the individuals. Both goldfish and betta would have to be relatively docile and not try to eat one another. In that case, I'd say that most, if not all, male bettas are out, since I'd expect they'd be too great a risk to the goldfish's fins. The betta would also have to be large enough that the goldfish wouldn't consider it a snack. So I think that a large female betta could quite easily "get along" with goldfish.

As to bettas being tropical and goldfish being coldwater, yes, at first glance it seems they could not be compatible at all. However, goldfish live in tropical areas, as well as their more native colder waters; it's not just people living well away from the equator who can be very successful goldfish owners. And there is a fair amount of crossover in trop and cold aquarium temperatures, especially during the summer. Those of us who live in areas that can get up to 100+° know how those goldfish tank temps can rocket up over 80° quite easily. And we cope. So do the fish. Having plenty of aeration in my tanks, my goldfish have already gone up to at least 84° this summer and been perfectly fine--no lethary, no unusual behavior, no gasping. Water that warm would be plenty toasty for a betta.

All that being said, I would not recommend putting bettas and goldfish together, unless through some series of circumstances there was no other option for the fish to survive. It'd just be a lot of worry, I think, to try and make the combination work, especially long-term.

I have had both good and bad experiences with this......I had a male in with goldies and they were fine.....later I had a different male in and he almost shreaded my fantail. I think the crowntails are less aggressive than the regulars, and also, put the one you are conidering buying next to one that is flaring at everyone else (in the store) and see what you potential does. This is a good way to see how aggressive they are.