Betta With Guppies

My betta has a small group of panda cories as tankmates. When I upgrade his tank I hope to increase the number of pandas and also get some otos.
I have heard of bettas in tanks with other fish, and one of the local stores often has bettas in with other fish, rather than keeping them in smaller, single fish tanks.
I guess it all depends on the fish.

Hi Matt
it was definitely a male betta, in a large planted tank with about 30 male guppies.  I've seen 4 different bettas for sale in the store all kept with guppies. I
read that if the betta is the last fish in the tank it doesn't claim territory

I have witnessed the opposite in a shop tank. The male betta in there was singling out the male guppies one at a time and herding the chosen fish into the corner of the tank before pouncing and ripping a chunk out of its tail. It was like watching a sheep dog at work. All the guppies had bits missing.
I told the shop owner who said he'd only been there since that morning, and she promptly removed the betta. If I was cynical I'd say that was because guppies with bits missing are harder to sell.

It is quite possible that most male bettas, when placed in a tank with a lot of guppies is too overwhelmed by sheer numbers to do anything about it. But in a tank in the home there aren't usually that many guppies so the betta attacks them.


I have seen bettas in with a lot of different species in shops over the years and in some of those tanks the betta has been in a pitiable state - either cowering away in a corner or with chunks of fin missing. The worst was the tank with 2 males in. That's right, 2 males  The fins of both of them were reduced to tatters.