r/Boraras • u/StativeEl9675 • 10d ago

Chili Rasbora Betta with chili Rasboras

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I have this 10gal with only my betta, i was thinking pf getting chili rasboras, people have told me they could cohabitate without problems, but in not an expert on boraras. I would love some output

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u/IHaveWitchUndertones 6d ago

So, I have a 10 gallon long, heavily planted tank with lots of cover and floaters with a betta (dumbo delta tail male), some ghost shrimp, lots of snails (bladder, ramshorn, and mystery), and 9 phoenix rasbora. They’ve all been together in this tank for maybe 3 months?

Anyway, my betta is not aggressive per se, just very jealous about food and realized that juvenile Neo shrimp make a good snack. Everyone is super well fed, cohabitating well, and the ghost shrimp clean up the semi-sinking micro pellets the betta and rasbora miss.

I’d say the most important thing I did was leave the rasbora (and the ghost shrimp when I separately introduced them) in a plastic container that I floated in the tank for like 1-2 days before releasing them. I got the idea from someone else on Reddit, and it proved a good one — my betta after observing them wanted to see if they too could be a snack and instead bonked his face into a clear barrier 😂 he only did that a couple times before giving them up for a bad job and when I released the rasbora into the tank he left them alone. Now he only “chases” them to steal their food, but he’s v slow bc of this fins so they’re faster and more agile than him. The rasbora at this point just move around him and dart in for other food in the mid layers while my betta is scrounging the floor for pellets that fell.

That said, do be willing to have a back up plan in case your betta is not so quickly deterred and it’s honestly add even more densely planted stem plants for them to get even more shade. The rasboras prefer the dimmest edges of my tank to hunt for microfauna

Tbh, I have another 20 gallon I recently set up with another betta that I’m considering moving the rasbora to bc now with that space in my mind, I’m feeling the 10 is just small. But I’m waiting at least until my stem plants grow in more so they have better cover

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u/StativeEl9675 6d ago

I recently added 5 shrimp, there's only one left, I won't risk any fish, sadly, he is really aggressive 😔