Although the peacock gudgeon is not a very popular fish within the fish keeping hobby, it is slowly increasing in popularity due to the prices of peacock gudgeon falling over the last couple of months.
This coupled with the fact that the prices for rare colored and patterned betta fish is also falling, we have noticed a number of people reaching out and asking questions about keeping a peacock gudgeon with a betta fish in the same aquarium with people being worried about aggression issues between the fish.
You should try to avoid keeping peacock gudgeon and betta fish in the same tank in smaller aquariums as it is likely that the betta fish will nip and chase the placid, more peaceful peacock gudgeon as it goes about its daily business.
If you have a larger tank that is 30 gallons or more then you can often keep a peacock gudgeon and betta fish together with minimal problems though.
Please note that even in larger tanks, there can still be problems with your betta fish chasing and nipping your peacock gudgeon, especially if you keep a male betta fish as they do tend to be more aggressive.
One way to avoid this is to try and include as many fish hides and fake aquarium plants as possible to break the line of sight between your betta fish and peacock gudgeon as much as possible to prevent displays of aggression.
Can You Keep A Peacock Gudgeon With A Betta Fish?
Provided that your aquarium tank size is at least 30 gallons or larger with plenty of cover such as fish hides or aquarium plants then you can usually keep a peacock gudgeon in the same tank as a betta fish without issue.
The larger the tank is the better but smaller tanks that are 20 gallons or smaller have a higher chance of your betta fish being aggressive towards your peacock gudgeon and nipping its fins.
Please keep in mind that a 30 gallon aquarium is the absolute minimum tank size that we would recommend for anyone looking to keep a peacock gudgeon with a betta fish.
Ideally, the tank needs a long design rather than a tall design too with 40 gallons usually being recommended as the minimum aquarium size for tanks with a tall design.
Realistically though, even with these larger tanks we would usually recommend against trying to keep a betta fish with a peacock gudgeon as it just wastes so much real estate in the tank that can be used for other uses.
Due to the placid nature of the peacock gudgeon, you can usually keep a number of other non-aggressive fish in a 30 or 40 gallon tank with the peacock gudgeon without issue and keep your betta fish in a dedicated 10 gallon aquarium to maximize your fish stocking potential in your larger tank.
Will A Betta Fish Be Aggressive To A Peacock Gudgeon?
A betta fish will generally show signs of aggression to a peacock gudgeon in smaller aquariums no matter what you try to do due to the territorial nature of betta fish, especially male betta fish forcing your betta to see the peacock gudgeon as a potential threat.
The chances of a female betta fish being aggressive to a peacock gudgeon in a small tank is still high though so we would always recommend larger tanks for people looking to keep a peacock gudgeon with a betta fish.
As we mentioned earlier in the article, in tanks that are 30 gallons and over, you can usually integrate some cheap fish hides and fake aquarium plants into your setup to help reduce the chances of aggression.
This technique has been used time and time again within the fish keeping community by people looking to keep passive fish in the same tank as aggressive fish such as bettas.
It works by offering your peacock gudgeon plenty of places to hide away from your betta fish by breaking the view your betta has of your peacock gudgeon and thus reducing the perceived threat to your betta fish’ territory.
Although this may sound simple, it works, and it works well in larger tanks with other aquarium decorations and rocks also helping to break the line of sight that your betta will have on your peacock gudgeon throughout the day helping to keep it calm.
What Should I Do If My Betta Fish Is Attacking My Peacock Gudgeon?
If your betta fish is constantly attacking your peacock gudgeon then the fish will often have to be separated into their own tanks or have their main tank upgraded to something of a suitable size.
If you do need to purchase a new, larger tank then we would recommend that you consider keeping your betta fish in the tank it is currently in and putting your peacock gudgeon in the larger tank with other peaceful fish species.
In addition to the falling prices of peacock gudgeon fish, another reason that they are increasing in their popularity at such a rapid pace right now is due to their reputation of being such a peaceful and relaxed tank mate for other fish becoming well known within the fish keeping community.
The peacock gudgeon can be an excellent addition to a wide range of different community tank setups making a great addition to other tanks without aggressive fish such as bettas in them.
We know that some people may have the idea of keeping their betta fish and peacock gudgeon in the same tank without issue but most people will be better off separating the fish.
The betta will usually be fine in a tank as small as 10 gallons or even 5 gallons in some specific situations and then you can put your peacock gudgeon in a larger tank with other friendly fish.
Conclusion
That concludes our article going over keeping a peacock gudgeon with a betta fish and we hope that you have found it helpful. Just because you can keep a peacock gudgeon and a betta fish with each other in some situations doesn’t mean that you should and in all honesty, the majority of our readers will probably have a better time by keeping the fish in separate tanks as explained above. This will usually also increase the quality of life of your peacock gudgeon too as it doesn’t have a betta fish chasing it around the tank while the peacock gudgeon can be added to community tanks with other fish to add variety to your fish keeping hobby.
