Trichogaster chuna/Betta splendens Comm.

[delhezi]

As per the title, do you think this could work in a 2 feet tank?

Fairly aggressive male betta splendens. Intending to get 4 honey gouramis.

Thanks.

[Rutilans]

Bad idea it's either the honey's get stressed to death or Betta gets nipped

[lucasjiang]

In my opinion i think it should work. Normally male bettas are more aggressive towards males and female of the same species but actually get along quite ok with other fishes. A 2 feet tank is a good size, as long as you provide enough plants and decorations in case of a territorial skirmish, they should do fine. Ive ever commed bettas with blue eyes rainbowfish, pencilfish, and licorice gouramis.

[stormhawk]

This will work but you need a lot of cover in an around the tank. The Betta does not practise a zonal territorial system, like the Trichogaster do, so sufficient items at the surface to break their line of sight will help. I have juvenile Bettas that were meant to be culled, but currently living in my community tank with barbs and some T. chuna too.

[Rutilans]

And put some plants and driftwood too

[delhezi]

Thanks for the replies. I did search around on google for people who have attempted the same combination and many of them only had offhand answers. I'm actually intending to also have celestial pearl danios with them, thus my other thread. Also is T. Chuna good in groups? Similarly mixed opinions about them.

Thanks all!

[Rutilans]

Maybe in groups they will be less scared of the Betta. And the celestial pearl you should buy mee than 7 pieces so that they will school.Its quite unsafe as if the Betta is fast enough the danios would be lunch

[delhezi]

It did not occur to me that the celestial pearl danios are small enough to become snacks for the fighting fish. I will have to check the max size of a Betta splendens, and as far as I am aware, CPDs get to about 2cm. As of now, my Betta remains capable of only eating hikari Betta pellets.

[Rutilans]

He will slowly attack them then when they die he will slowly eat them.

[delhezi]

Re-reading I notice that Rutilans is the only one who has said something contrary to the flow of this thread. Mind sharing your personal experience, if any?

Also what I meant in the second post is how much intraspecies aggression there is amongst T.chuna themselves.

[Rutilans]

Re-reading I notice that Rutilans is the only one who has said something contrary to the flow of this thread. Mind sharing your personal experience, if any?

Also what I meant in the second post is how much intraspecies aggression there is amongst T.chuna themselves.

everytime I mix gouramis with Betta splendens nothing good comes out of it except for croaking gourami and croaking gouramis.
and about the agression,I've never had honey gouramis fight before

[stormhawk]

T.chuna are not overly aggressive towards their own kind provided there is sufficient space and cover. Occasionally they will chase each other but that's about it. Fairly easy to trigger them to spawn even in a community setting. My 2 pairs of T. chuna would spawn like clockwork every few days. But in a community tank it is difficult to keep any eggs or fry alive. Their bubblenest is quite flimsy so some support for the nest is helpful.

[Rutilans]

Mine spawned In their QT tank an they're actually quite hardy

[delhezi]

If I want this set-up to be as affordable as possible, what lights and plants are good? I was thinking of using Sagittaria subulatus as a carpet, but I have no idea how this works.

I do have some duckweed from a fishpond so that should settle floating cover.

Perhaps some crypts? Anubias?

[stormhawk]

You don't need a lot of light to be honest. Don't need a carpet, maybe one or two Cryptocorynes or Java Fern will do as cover for the females. Duckweed is messy and hard to maintain, so I would suggest Water Lettuce or frogbits. Best would be a small Water Hyacinth.

Surface agitation should be very low, because they dislike strong currents and their nests easily break apart. The eggs will naturally float, but the fry require the bubblenest just like typical bubblenester fry.