WOOT! Fully cycled!

MattD

A male Betta WILL fight with the swordtails.

Similar size, relatively lengthy fins, bright colors. To your betta, a potential threat indeed.

Nice tank though, looks great! Congrats on ending the cycle, it feels great when a tank cycles.

Good luck!

Little-Fizz

Thanks! Hmm I never thought about that... I've got my money on the swords they would take one look at the betta and be like "thats bad news" and gang up. Mind you I don't know that Swordtail 'gang up'.
And yes, cycling my tank made my day. Because my little sisters having been asking me "when can we put the fish in the tank blah blah blah" So finally last week I was like "If you stop asking we'll do it next weekend" And yeah, luckily I could do it this weekend so they will leave me alone now. Well they will probably start asking "when are you getting new fish?" And my mom won't leave me alone about moving the ten gallon to my room. But to be honest.. I'm way to lazy to do that right now :)

Oldman47

You mentioned keeping the 10 as a QT or hospital tank. Either way, if you run the old filter on the new tank beside the new one, you will always have a cycled filter ready to go for your 10 when its needed.

Little-Fizz

I was just thinking about that this morning! Lol thanks! This worked out pretty well. Now I have two filters running on the one tank so I don't have to worry so much about water conditions. And whenever I decide to use the ten gallon I've got the filter all ready to go! :D Sweet.

southafrica1001

just some insight but i have have had two betta's (one at a time of course) and they havnt really bothered my fish. the one i have now *touches wood* has not really had any problems with my Swordtail but then again my lfs mixes its bettas with other fish. opps ive just checked one of the posts yea i only have one Swordtail not 4 maybe thats why it could be different sorry

Little-Fizz

I've decided I won't risk it. I'll just get a Betta for my ten gallon... Even though I thought I would use it for a hospital tank... Ugh I can't make up my mind. Lol I don't want an empty fish tank. But I saw an add for a 5.5 gallon tank with a hood and light and filter. I already have a heater. It was only 20 dollars so maybe I'll just buy that and keep a betta in it. 5.5 gallons still sounds pretty small to me but I'm sure its better then the nasty little bowls they keep them in in my lfs. Or... Could I keep a male and a female betta together at all times?(in the ten gallon) Or will they fight too... Lol bettas don't sound like very sociable fish.

southafrica1001

yep thats the safest way to go. im not sure about the male and female im not the most experienced but from what ive heard people say its not always that safe, but some people seem to do it. don't take my advice though hehe

Oldman47

Unless you have a very unusual male betta, it can only be in a reasonable sized tank with other species. By reasonable size I mean anything less than several hundred gallons. It will definitely fight with other male bettas and will soon attack a female unless they are breeding at the time. Even betta breeders will not leave a female in with a male at all after the actual breeding is done. Its just not safe for the female. They even introduce them by letting them see each other without being able to make contact and will judge when its safe to remove the partition for breeding by the male's actions.
For other fish, the betta is more often a victim than an aggressor. It can sometimes mistake a fish with long flowing fins as another betta but most small community fish such as zebras, platties, neons, swords, etc. are just fine with a betta male or female. Fin nippers like tiger barbs will damage a betta because of their own personalities, not the betta's.