A guppy keeper will be curious about if they can add betta fish in their guppy tank or not. So, can guppies live with a betta fish? Let us get into it and find the answers to the question.
Guppies can live with betta fish if you keep them in a large aquarium with lots of aquatic plants and hiding spaces. Make sure you only add one small-sized betta fish to your aquarium and feed the betta fish adequately to avoid conflicts. Some breeds of betta fish are more aggressive than others.
You should take several precautions to protect your Guppy from betta fish, which we will discuss in this article, so let’s get deep into it.
Contents
Can guppies survive with betta fish?
| Particulars | Guppy | Betta |
|---|---|---|
| Water temperature | 72-82°F | 78-80°F |
| Water ph level | 6.8-7.8 | 7 |
| Food | Both Meat And Veggie Pellets | Meat |
| Behavior | Non-Aggressive | Semi-aggressive |
Water parameters needed by guppy and betta fish
Before adding betta and guppy fish together, it is essential to know the water parameters both fish need to live comfortably.
Water temperature:
- Guppy needs a water temperature between 75-85°F to live comfortably.
- Betta fish needs a water temperature between 78-80°F to live comfortably.
Water ph level:
- Guppies need a ph level between 6.8-7.8 to thrive.
- Betta fish need a ph level of 7 to thrive.
We can conclude from the above data that betta fish and guppy fish need the same water parameters to thrive.
Now, after knowing that betta and guppy fish can live together in the same water parameters, there are some precautions an owner should take before adding betta fish to their tank.
Betta fish are a semi-aggressive fish species and can harm your guppies if precautions are not taken carefully.Â
Also read: What Is The Ideal Water Temperature For Guppies?
Measures to take before placing betta and guppy fish together
These are the measures you have to take before placing betta and guppy fish together:
Choose the right tank size
Providing enough space is essential for your fish. However, an overcrowded aquarium can lead to various health issues.
The possibility of conflicts increases when you have an aquarium overcrowded.
Thus, an owner should make sure to provide their fish enough space to live comfortably.
In a 20 gallons tank, you can keep 9-10 guppies and a betta fish without any issue.
You can add more Guppy if you have a larger tank, but make sure to add only a single betta fish.Â
Also read: How Many Guppies In A 20 Gallon Tank?
Don’t add larger betta fish breed
An owner should make sure not to add a large betta fish in their tank with guppies, as adding a large betta fish can be dangerous for your guppies.
Instead, it will be a wise idea to add a small size betta fish in your aquarium with guppies.
Go for the right betta fish breed
Betta fish comes under a semi-aggressive fish species. There are quite some breeds of betta fish, of which some are aggressive, and some seem to have peaceful behavior.
An owner should add betta fish breed of a calm behavior and less aggressive in their tank with guppies.
There are two types of betta fish that you can go for adding to your aquarium with guppies:
- Halfmoon betta fish
- Delta betta fish
Adding these two betta fish species will be a good choice instead of going for other betta fish species.
Make sure to add only one betta fish to your aquarium.
Add only one betta fish
For the protection of your Guppy, it is essential to limit the number of betta fish.
In addition, we recommend you to keep only one betta fish with guppies, as two betta fish can fight each other.
Male betta fish are aggressive, whereas female betta fish seems to have peaceful behavior.
Betta fish are aggressive fish species and will try to hunt down your guppies.
Thus, they will try to nibble on your Guppy’s fins, which can sometimes be harmful to your guppies.
Knowing the behavior of betta fish, keeping only one betta fish with a bunch of guppies is the best way to protect your guppies as only one Betta will not be able to focus on one Guppy.
Provide appropriate food
Providing appropriate food to your fish is essential for their health and growth. Betta fish and guppy fish needs a different type of food.
Betta fish
Betta fish are a carnivore fish species. They feed on smaller fish, insects, and worms in their natural habitat.
Thus, owners have to provide their betta fish with lots of meat-based food to keep them healthy.
Betta fish loves to have live or frozen worms in their meal. Thus, we should provide our Betta with various food to have all vitamins and minerals in their diet.
These are some food you can feed to your betta fish:
- Mosquito Larvae: Mosquito larvae are a very nutritious food, and your Betta will love it to have in their meal. You can simply grow mosquito larvae in your home; all you need is a container, water, and a watchful eye. You can feed both live and frozen mosquito larvae to your Betta.
- Brine Shrimp: Brine shrimp are a good source of energy and protein for your betta fish, and also you can cultivate brine shrimp at home. You can feed both live and frozen brine shrimp to your Betta.
- Mysis Shrimp: Mysis shrimp are larger than brine shrimp. Mysis shrimp are healthier when it comes to frozen food. An owner can feed both live and frozen Mysis shrimp to their Betta.
Feeding your betta fish this food in the rotation will help them gain every nutrient they need to grow healthy and live happily.
Guppy fish
Guppy fish are omnivore fish species. Thus, they will feed on anything you present in front of them, which means that guppies will eat betta food.
Guppies can survive by feeding on betta food, but it is not good to consume soo much protein in their everyday diet. So your Guppy needs veggie pallets too in their diet to live happily and grow healthy.Â
Also read: Best Food For Guppy Fish.
Feeding orders for guppy and betta fish
Make sure to feed your Guppy first, as the betta fish will not feed on flakes and veggie pallets.
Once your guppies feed themselves, then you can feed your betta fish. An owner can use a net to keep their guppies away while betta fish are feeding.
Make sure you don’t overfeed your guppies and betta fish, as overfeeding sometimes is the primary source of disease in your fish.
Feeding one time a day or one time in 2 days is suitable for your fish.
Add lots of aquatic plants
Adding live aquatic plants to the aquarium will provide many hiding places for your guppy and betta fish.
In addition, plants will provide your Guppy an excellent place to live comfortably and in a more natural environment.
These are some of the plants an owner can add to their guppy and betta fish aquarium.
- Guppy grass
- Java moss
- Duckweed
- Hornworts
- Watersprite
- Amazon Swords
Also read: Does Guppy Eat Plants?
How to save guppy fry?
Breeding of guppies, while there is a betta fish present in a tank, can be a critical issue as betta fish will feed on guppy fry in the first place.
Keeping the guppy fry in a breeder box is an option, but the fry needs enough space to have fast growth.
It is not a wise idea to release your guppy fry in a community tank when they are 3-4 weeks old, as betta fish can feed on 1-month-old guppies.
An owner can keep the fry in a separate tank and introduce them back to the aquarium when they are fully grown.
Make sure not to overcrowd your aquarium because an overcrowded aquarium can be a primary cause of inadequate water conditions.
Also, a crowded aquarium will result in a lack of space, and there will be greater possibilities of conflicts between the fishes.
It will be the best decision not to breed your guppies if you plan to add a betta fish in an aquarium.
Adding only male guppies will prevent breeding, and there will be no issue of an overcrowded aquarium.Â
Also read: Can Guppy Fry Survive In A Community Tank?
Can guppy attack betta fish?
An owner should not only worry about the guppies while adding guppies and Betta together in an aquarium but should worry for their bettas too.
Fin rot is a disease that eats the fish’s fins and can be critical if not treated carefully. Fin rot disease is more occurrent in the fishes with nipped fins because of open sores or stress.
As Betta, male guppies are also territorial within their species, but they can also attack the fin of other fishes if they see any threat in their territory.
However, Guppy will mostly attack the fish, which are having brightly colored and flowing tales.
This is also why you should add only female guppies in your tank, as they don’t have such territorial and aggressive instincts as far as male guppies.
Be wise in choosing the gender of guppies and betta fish
The gender you are choosing to keep in the case of Betta and Guppy together also determines the likelihood that they can live together or not.
Male bettas are aggressive, while female bettas seem to be peaceful and less aggressive.
Adding female bettas can sometimes be a wrong decision because female bettas are much faster than male bettas.
Let’s know about the combination of the gender of betta fish and Guppy we can keep together.
| Gender Combination | Good/Bad/Excellent |
|---|---|
| Male guppy and Male betta | Bad |
| Female betta and Male guppy | Good |
| Female bettas and Female guppies | Excellent |
| Male bettas and Female guppies | Good |
Male guppies and male bettas fish
Male guppies have a very bright color with flowing tails, which can trigger territorial instinct and aggression.
Thus this combination of adding both male Betta and Guppy in an aquarium together will be a terrible idea as it can result in your guppies coming under critical situations.
Female betta and male guppy
Female bettas are relatively less aggressive than male bettas, which means you can add them with your male Guppy.
Still, male Guppy sees female Betta as Guppy and will try to breed with them, resulting in female Betta attacking Guppy.
Female bettas and female guppies
Keeping Female guppies and female Betta together seems to be the best combination to keep in your aquarium.
This combination is best because female bettas are less aggressive than male bettas. Also, female guppies will not be likely to trigger aggression in female bettas.
If an owner plans to add bettas and guppies together in an aquarium, then the combination of female Betta and female guppies will be the best for them.
Male bettas and female guppies
An owner can add male bettas and female guppies together as female guppies are duller than male guppies, not triggering aggression in male bettas.
But an owner should know that this combination can be harmful in case their female guppy is colorful.
From the above, we can conclude the best gender combination to keep guppies and bettas while planning to add them together in your aquarium.
Other precautions
There are other precautions an owner should take if they have decided to keep guppies and bettas together in an aquarium.
- Keep a tank divider or tank spare to separate guppies and bettas if something goes wrong with them.
- It will be a good idea to add other fishes first before adding Betta in your aquarium, as if there will be no territory of Betta, they will not feel like their territory is being threatened.
- Make sure to have many hiding places for your guppies, and bettas also tend to hide from time to time between live plants. Thus, adding a hiding place will not be only beneficial for guppies but will be helpful for your bettas too.
Conclusion
Betta fish and guppies can live together with enough space and lots of hiding space. However, make sure to choose the right combination of gender before planning to add Betta and guppies together in an aquarium.
Betta fish are a semi-aggressive fish species, so there can be a conflict, but we can minimize the possibilities by choosing the right breed and providing adequate food to our bettas and guppies.
Betta is a carnivore fish species, whereas guppies are omnivores, which means bettas need a lot of meat in their diet, and guppies need meat and veggies.
Guppy will feed on bettas food, which can result in their conflicts, so it is advisable to provide your Guppy first, and when they are full, you can go for feeding betta fish.
Adding lots of live aquatic plants and other hiding places will benefit both your Betta and guppies. Betta will also hide in plants from time to time as per their natural habit.
Reference: Peta, ScienceDirect