The number of people getting involved in the fish keeping hobby is at an all time high and the popularity of keeping fish, especially freshwater fish just keeps on increasing with each month that goes by.
As you can probably guess, this resulted in a huge spike in questions from the community about caring for various fish as well as many beginners reaching out to ask questions about what fish species they should start with.
Both guppies and betta fish are very popular with fish keepers of all levels of experience within the hobby so it is easy to see why so many people reach out to ask for a guppy vs betta fish comparison article.
The popularity of both fish species is also on the rise due to viral photographs and videos of rare betta fish and rare guppies also being common giving more exposure to the fish too.
We actually featured both species in our article on the best fish for a 7 gallon aquarium too due to both being excellent fish to keep but we can see why people often need a little advice on what fish is ideal for their needs.
This is why we have decided to publish our own dedicated article going over the advantages of guppies and betta fish in the hope that we will be able to help our readers better understand the perfect fish species for them.
The Advantages Of A Betta Fish!
The betta fish is definitely the more popular of the two fish species due to its popularity growing exponentially over the last couple of decades.
In addition to that, breeders are getting better at consistently producing rare and unique looking betta fish further spiking the interest in the species.
Betta fish, especially male betta fish can be aggressive towards their tank mates so the majority of people will keep their male betta fish as a solo occupant of a cheap 5 gallon aquarium.
If you are wanting to keep multiple betta fish in the same tank then you are able to keep a betta sorority in a 10 gallon tank but larger tanks are often recommended.
Betta fish are relatively low maintenance once they are settled in but they do have some quirky behaviours that can surprise people brand new to fish keeping.
Although betta fish can live on a decent fish food we would highly recommend that you go with a betta fish food if possible as they are around the same price and do a great job of maintaining the colors of your betta fish.
You should clean your tank at least once a week but due to betta fish usually being a sole occupant of smaller tanks, their water parameters tend to degrade slower than other fish so you can often extended the periods between tank maintenance without issue.
The Advantages Of A Guppy!
The popularity of guppies fades over the last decade or so with people moving on to other fish species but due to a number of dedicated guppy breeders working out how to produce rare and unique looking guppies, their popularity is starting to increase again.
Guppies are a very easy fish to keep but they can breed at a rapid pace if you fail to keep male only or female only tanks so you may find your self needing to upgrade to larger tanks sooner than you thought.
Although you can technically keep a single guppy in a tank, most people choose to keep multiple guppies so the minimum recommended tank size is usually a cheap 10 gallon aquarium with a maximum of six guppies in it.
Many people like to go with a cheap 20 gallon aquarium though as it allows them to keep up to twelve guppies in the tank letting you mix and match their colors and patterns.
Guppies tend to do well on a decent fish food without having problems with color loss but if you do opt for rare guppies like the metallic gold guppy then you should probably feed your guppies a specialist guppy food to help maintain their unique colors.
Due to having more guppies in the tank, you really do need to go through tank maintenance more often to ensure that you are keeping correct water parameters for your fish with guppies with tank maintenance once per week often being recommended.
Can Guppies Live With Bettas?
Guppies can live with betta fish in some situations but we generally recommend that you keep them in separate tanks unless you are an experienced fish keeper.
Not only will male betta fish often be aggressive to guppies but male guppies often try to breed with female betta fish resulting in female bettas being aggressive to the guppies too.
We often see people new to fish keeping trying to keep guppies and betta fish in the same tank and it usually ends up resulting in issues.
Just because you see people on social media saying that they are keeping guppies and betta fish in the same tank does not mean that you can.
Experienced fish keepers usually have much larger tanks than beginners giving the fish far more space than they would otherwise have.
This can help to keep the fish in the community tank calm and prevent aggression between the species but even then, very few fish keepers will choose to mix guppies and betta fish in the same tank.
Is The Guppy Or Betta Fish Best For Your Needs?
We feel that the majority of people will be better off going with a betta fish due to it being cheaper to get the aquarium as it needs a smaller tank while also usually requiring less time from you for tank maintenance too.
Although guppies are making a comeback within the fish keeping hobby, they are often overshadowed by betta fish and we don’t expect this to change.
As we touched on earlier in the article, the main reason that guppies are making a comeback right now is due to guppy breeders being able to produce rare looking guppies but there are far more betta fish breeders in the community producing even more unique looking bettas.
This coupled with the advantages above keep betta fish in the top spot when it comes to choosing between a betta fish and some guppies.
If you have your heart set on getting yourself some guppies then feel free to get some, they really are great fish but the majority of our readers will have an easier and cheaper time if they go with a betta fish.
Betta fish don’t have the risk of you accidentally mixing male and females too due to most people keeping a single betta so there is no risk of a rapidly increasing population but this can be very common with guppies.
