How many neon Tetra's should I put with a beta fish ?
 

As the title states. I have a small 4 gallon tank that has a filter system. I am going to be getting a siamese fighting fish. I was also thinking of putting in some tetras. I have heard that if you put a few in then the beta will leave them alone. I don't want to overpopulate my tank but would like a few neon tetras. How many should or could I put in ?

tetras need at least 6 to feel comfortable schooling together., personally i wouldnt even. i had my betta alone in a 3 gallon with plants. he got upgraded yesterday to a 33 gallon lol

none with a betta

None as other's have said, 4 gallon is enough for the betta only, if you wanna add a school of neons you should have at least a 10gallon.

like everyone said, 4g is too small for a betta + other fish.

You should cycle the water first too.

you guys are nuts.

I have a 5.5g long, i had 12 tetras and 1 betta and a few japonica in there for the longest time. the neons schooled together and stayed away from the betta. they left each other alone, but then again my betta wasnt aggressive, and the neons never fucked with the betta's fins.

that was 2007. they're all still around now. well the betta anyways.

in 2008 my 5.5g tank had 18 tetras. 12 full grown and a 6 younger ones. it also had 7 japonica. 1 betta, and 12 galaxy rasboras. yes all in my 5.5 gal. that was when it was max packed. they did fine. i found the 3 groups of different fish stuck to their own territory in the tanks. the betta stayed where there was less current, the rasboras stuck around the very planted areas and the neons kinda went wherever the betta wasnt, unless it was feeding time.

fuck it i'll just post pics. im sure some of you have seen before.

summer 2007 a few hours after i set up:
5.5G
http://members.shaw.ca/g0207/fish/tank1.JPG
2.2G
http://members.shaw.ca/g0207/fish/tank2.JPG

like 3 or 4 months later:
http://members.shaw.ca/g0207/fish/updatetank1.JPG

http://members.shaw.ca/g0207/fish/updatetank2.JPG

2 years later:

this dude is dead, he decided to find out what life was like outside his tank, needless to say, I didn't find him till he was a crispy dry.
http://members.shaw.ca/g0207/fish/betta2%20flair.JPG

this fucker is still around, he took over the 2.2g (smaller tank)
http://members.shaw.ca/g0207/fish/merovingian.JPG

well, actually it's kind of a lie, my tanks are horrible and disgusting, right now. the smaller tank is over run with blue green algae, and the larger tank it's semi undercontrol. I never took a pic when i had all the rasboras.

I plan to completely destroy the smaller tank and redo it sometime this summer, make it nice again and throw in a few japonica and feeder shrimp (which breed and clean up like crazy). make it a simple betta tank.

the larger tank I'm going to completely redo as well, keep which ever tetras survive the cleanup process, throw in some more japonica and a shit ton of feeder shrimp. It's cruel but I'm going to get rid of the neons by letting them die of old age. I'd rather have a tank that almost takes care of itself completely.

if you're wondering where I got the bettas (and tanks/lights), I got them in taipei, i flew them back with me lol (yes the bettas and shrimp flew back with me haha). next time i go back im gonna get some more crown tails and half moons. they're dirt cheap there, like 3 dollars to 15 if u want a super duper nice one. I'll probably bring a shit load of super red cherry shrimp back with me as well.

I'll post pics in the near future of the cleaned up tanks.

some people give their fish a lot of room, most ppl don't give enough. I find that you can slightly give them less room, but just have plenty of plants and if you keep the water clean, no problem.

Wow those are some nice looking fish!!! I wish I could have that setup on my desk.

I say 6 Tetra's and a Beta and call it a day :)

a long tank is different from a standard size tank.
you have more surface area=more oxygen=more swimming room.
also being planted makes a difference

don't forget, this person might be a noob and not do water changes weekly.

Nice setup though, all products from asia. :D

i have a 26 gallon with live plants and I never clean it...just add water (no filter change either, just take the filter out and rinse it out with the same water from the tank in a bucket). Cleaning causes way more issues from what I've seen, this is based on advice from several folks and I've confirmed it works.

how do you guys deal with algae? I don't like a spot of algae of any kind. there are some algaes shrimp just don't eat. and i don't want an infestation of snails so i try not to use snails.

Long and planted, nice tank.
A group of ottos are awesome for algae.

Ulic: how about a chinese algae eater? they worked great for me before. BTW great setup, nice and simple.

they're no good.

They grow up to 11 inches (27 cm). They are mature at 4.5 inches (12 cm). Personally we have seen them at 5 inches which is a surprisingly large fish, but we have never seen one approach 11 inches.

that's way too huge for these tiny tanks!

I find with my beta's in the past with a tank that has a filter I don't change the water often three of my beta's have lasted 4 + years. Then because of moving too often I packed all my tanks away. I haven't put anything in with my betas' though. I was told I could add a few tetras but I didn't know how many I'd need for the beta to leave them alone. Someone had told me at least three but that was a long time ago.
Years ago I had a 40 gallon tank with tropical fish but was just too much work and kept getting aggressive fish (they were types that aren't aggressive).

So what I'm hearing is my 4/5 gallon tank is too small to hold one beta and 3 or 4 tetras ?

algae probably are the result of too many fish crowding smaller tank area. Your light seems great for the plant, but also promotes algae growth if turned on for too long during the day.