# 5 gallon Betta Setup



## bumbleboo (Jun 6, 2010)

Hi there!

I was just wondering if anyone has any experience putting a female betta with shrimp in a 5 gallon tank. I know it might be risky, and you probably can't ever say for sure 100% it will be all right, but I wanted to try it.

Would getting a young female betta that is used to having tankmates be less risky? I'd probably put the shrimp in first... and then the betta. Would that make a difference?

(I want to try having a couple shrimp with her, but I can put them in my 10G if she started to be mean to them). 

I haven't gotten either yet, I'm still cycling the tank.

Any advice is appreciated!


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

I am planning to do something similar. Putting the shrimps in first may help but eventually the betta will try to eat the shrimps. If you start to see harassment towards the shrimp or missing shrimps, then move the shrimps to another tank. I am planning to have a 10 gallon shrimp tank with neon tetras since they can't really eat them, barely capable of eating the babies lol and maybe feed my betta in his 5 gal some baby shrimps from time to time just for fun and variety


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

Actually, if you try something larger like a few adult Amano shrimp, I don't think you'll have much of a problem. They didn't seem to bother each other when I had my 5G Amano-Dragonscale Betta tank. 

I've also heard that it does make a difference if you put the shrimp in first, because then the Betta doesn't think you're feeding it live food.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Are you planting this tank??? 

Some things that help shrimp hide are adding lots of plants which your female will also enjoy and putting some flat rock together in the tank. So that there are little slots they can hide in.

You can also add a neat bit of drift wood that the shrimp will also hide and feed on. 

Hope that helps!

I have 3 female betta in my 90 atm with shrimp, so....I can't really keep track of the numbers but I am always seeing shrimp


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## bumbleboo (Jun 6, 2010)

Philip.Chan.92 said:


> I am planning to do something similar. Putting the shrimps in first may help but eventually the betta will try to eat the shrimps. If you start to see harassment towards the shrimp or missing shrimps, then move the shrimps to another tank. I am planning to have a 10 gallon shrimp tank with neon tetras since they can't really eat them, barely capable of eating the babies lol and maybe feed my betta in his 5 gal some baby shrimps from time to time just for fun and variety


Okay, thanks for letting me know!



Joeee said:


> Actually, if you try something larger like a few adult Amano shrimp, I don't think you'll have much of a problem. They didn't seem to bother each other when I had my 5G Amano-Dragonscale Betta tank.
> 
> I've also heard that it does make a difference if you put the shrimp in first, because then the Betta doesn't think you're feeding it live food.


Oh, okay! I was thinking of trying Red Crystal, but would you advise against that?

Thank you for your response!



Ciddian said:


> Are you planting this tank???
> 
> Some things that help shrimp hide are adding lots of plants which your female will also enjoy and putting some flat rock together in the tank. So that there are little slots they can hide in.
> 
> ...


Yep! I love having tanks with plants in them... and I have so many now I need to spread them out!

Thank you for the tips! I am going to go and pick up some flat rock tomorrow then. 

That's cool! What kind of shrimp do you have?


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

I have mostly greens but my shrimps have gotten mixed with some cherry in the past. Just simple for me.  I have no-no hybrids. :/


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## bumbleboo (Jun 6, 2010)

Ciddian said:


> I have mostly greens but my shrimps have gotten mixed with some cherry in the past. Just simple for me.  I have no-no hybrids. :/


Oh, neat! The green ones are quite beautiful.


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## arktixan (Mar 30, 2010)

Depends on the female Betta I would say, I recently just purchased one at Petsmart, and she wont stop going after my Shrimp, I had to pull her out asap.

Which means I have one very agressive female .

Who knows you maybe very lucky right off the bat... you may have to go through 10+ Females to find one that wouldn't go after your shrimp.


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

bumbleboo said:


> Oh, okay! I was thinking of trying Red Crystal, but would you advise against that?


I use my lowest quality crystal reds (which barely meet C standards) to feed my Dragonscale Betta. xD

If you want to use Crystal Reds, then I personally think you should upgrade to a 10G, plant it, and throw in some neon tetras with the crystal reds.


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## bumbleboo (Jun 6, 2010)

Joeee said:


> I use my lowest quality crystal reds (which barely meet C standards) to feed my Dragonscale Betta. xD
> 
> If you want to use Crystal Reds, then I personally think you should upgrade to a 10G, plant it, and throw in some neon tetras with the crystal reds.


Hehe aww. Poor little guys!

Well, I do have a 10G, but it's reserved for some Celestial Pearl Danios... I thought you needed at 20G for tetras? (I could be wrong, I just thought they're pretty active?)



arktixan said:


> Depends on the female Betta I would say, I recently just purchased one at Petsmart, and she wont stop going after my Shrimp, I had to pull her out asap.
> 
> Which means I have one very agressive female .
> 
> Who knows you maybe very lucky right off the bat... you may have to go through 10+ Females to find one that wouldn't go after your shrimp.


Aww, that's too bad!

Well, I'll give it a shot anyway. I have another tank the shrimp can flee to for safety if my female turns out to be a nasty one.


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

Neon or cardinal tetras will do fine in a 10G, I would put 6 or 7 in there and 15 crystal reds.


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## bumbleboo (Jun 6, 2010)

Joeee said:


> Neon or cardinal tetras will do fine in a 10G, I would put 6 or 7 in there and 15 crystal reds.


Cool! Thanks for letting me know. I do want to get a female betta though, so I think I will still get one and hold off on the tetras - maybe sometime in the future.  I can't afford to have four tanks at the moment unfortunately!

But I appreciate the information.


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