It is I, the mad scientist! Join me and my minions as we study some of God’s amazing creatures; learning tons of fun facts along the way.
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Did I mention our fish, Gubbles, is getting lonely? My youngest girl, ‘Mouse’, is the resident veterinarian in training and she is adamant that our newest pet needs some friends. The problem? Gubbles will kill off pretty much any other fish you try to pair her with.
Last week, we spent a little time learning about crustaceans. This week, we are going to do some learning ‘in the field’ at our local PetSmart! Let’s see what they can teach us about fun friends Gubbles will enjoy and not tear to bits.
What tank mates would be best for Gubbles? There are several it seems:
- Loaches
- Ghost Shrimp
- Zebra Snails
- Bristlenose Pleckos
- Neon Tetras
- and African Dwarf Frogs
Based on some preliminary research we did beforehand, I think we are looking at a few ghost shrimp. We don’t have an exceptionally large tank, so we don’t want to overcrowd our creatures. For now, this will work.
We had thought about getting a crab to spice things up, but that appears to be a bad idea. From everything we’ve read, crabs are a great deal of work and could cause potential problems with our betta. Wanting to keep things simple and peaceful, we’ll go with the shrimp for now.
The concern with new friends will be whether or not they will survive. Gubbles has been on her own entirely, so we’ll see how she takes to new inmates. If she does well with these new creatures, we might upgrade next year to a slightly larger tank and invest in a few more friends for her to enjoy.
For now… this concludes our lesson on both fish and crustaceans. Altogether a fun learning experience for all of us!
Time to Chime In: Have you ever owned a Betta fish? Which tank mates did you choose?
A Homeschool Mom 
Had a betta, he lined in a vase under a flower. If I recall correctly from my days working at Petco, depending on the size of your tank, you could get a betta of the opposite sex to live with Gubbles. You might get babies though. Good luck!
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According to our pet store, having a male betta is a bad idea. No matter the type, any other fish with long, pretty fins is going to be a problem and they will attack each other. We can get neon tetras, which we might later, but they require a larger aquarium, which I am not quite willing to invest in yet.
Thanks for the advice!
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to be honest the Plecko is probably a better that the ghost shrimp. We had a betta for a long time (was my daughter’s) and it seemed to like the Plecko better than the others we put in. Another one you might want to try would be a Cory…same general family as the Pleckos but a little more active. Overall, the betta fish are fairly solitary fish…good luck 🙂
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