I would take the gamble and do both. I have my Betta in a community tank with a shrimp colony. The little skrimps are thriving. Barnabas (my Betta) loves laying on their favourite plants and watching them. I know not all Bettas have the same temperament, but you could start small with just a few shrimpies to see how well they do together and go from there.
Shrimp heaven (I have an opinion where I believe you shouldn’t only care with the bare minimum you need to go all out but you don’t have to agree with it 🙂 )
I would do both! I’ve managed to have (mostly) good luck with keeping the two together. I would start with shrimp and allow them to get established first. Then I would pick the chillest-looking betta you can find (even better if it’s already in a community tank in the pet store).
If you want to play it safe, you can keep the betta in one of those breeding boxes for a day to monitor its behaviour. Does it seem interested in the shrimp and try to go after/attack them? Or does it mostly ignore them?
Another way you can go about it is getting a betta and a “cheap” shrimp (like ghost shrimp) and testing out how they get along before buying fancy shrimp. (You know, with the caveat that the betta might eat/attack the ghost shrimp.)
Both, shrimp & a female betta. Add shrimp (make sure yet parameters are shrimp safe) and once it’s established (6 months or more), then the female betta two weeks later. Been running the same combo countless times since the 80’s when i was down with the ladies. Never had an issue.
Neither — I had this dilemma with my own tank and ended up making it a bladder snail haven! 😂
Seriously though, it’s a beautiful tank and I think it would be cool if you tried keeping both. Some bettas are really chill with roommates! Besides, it’s unfortunately common now for bettas to have poor genetics and pass in a couple of years so you can always decide to have a shrimp-only tank in the future.
Shrimp. Lots and outs of them. And nano fish. 5-7 Endlers. Or 3 Killifish.
I love my Betta, but he’s boring. He’s also not very smart. I’ve had really smart, active, agile Bettas. Not him. But we’re a couch potato family. It was bound to happen.
If you’ll be near the tank a lot, then Betta. They’re intelligent fish with weird ass personalities and they love when their humans are nearby and interacting with them. If you’re in the room, it’s almost guaranteed that a Betta will be at the front glass watching you.
Shrimp 100%, so easy to care for, you can go on vacation and just leave them, they breed like crazy and they are really fun to watch. You can get some chili rasboras to put in with them.
Shrimp. You don’t have to pay store prices. There are hobbyists on Facebook or groups on Facebook you can join locally and get from them. When trade in is around $1 a piece of credit at LFS, you might as well sell it $1 a piece. Sold my whole colony of cherry shrimp in one go for $1 a piece to someone from a group on Facebook I join
So many responses! I’m reading everyone’s responses and taking some consideration from all. However, some of y’all need to open up to shrimp! Haha. I think you’ll find they’re not as boring as you think if you’ve got a whole lot of them !
A betta or
Shrimp with a pair of sparkling gouramis.
Bettas and shrimp can be awesome together, but it really depends on the personality of the betta. I’m lucky, I have two chill males that are fine with the shrimp. One even shared his log with them.
For my female, she’s overlord of her domain and shrimp aren’t allowed unless they’re snacks :p (6 yellow shrimp gone even though they were there first).
If you want to try the pairing add the shrimp first, then the betta.
britishparl 
Depending on the bettas personality you can get both since they have so many hiding places
Personally, I’d go with a Betta. They have more personality than shrimp, imo 😊
Up to me? So many shrimp.
But it depends on what you prefer: more numerous/active little critters or one beautiful and personable star fish?
shrimp! Lots of them! Like way more than a sane person would put in there.
This looks perfect for some chili rasboras, shrimps and a mystery snail!
I’d do a betta and some cories.
Betta all the way. They live a nice long time and the bond you can build is great <3
Go get yourself a beautiful friend 🙂
Both
Plakat betta.
Berta would probably fill the space better. If you want a niche choice, try a school of Bumbleebee Gobies.
I would take the gamble and do both. I have my Betta in a community tank with a shrimp colony. The little skrimps are thriving. Barnabas (my Betta) loves laying on their favourite plants and watching them. I know not all Bettas have the same temperament, but you could start small with just a few shrimpies to see how well they do together and go from there.
Shrimp colony first, pygmy cories 2nd, betta as the final addition.
Scarlet baddis instead if betta if your worried about bio load
Shrimp.
Shrimp heaven (I have an opinion where I believe you shouldn’t only care with the bare minimum you need to go all out but you don’t have to agree with it 🙂 )
Or? How about “and.”
I would do both! I’ve managed to have (mostly) good luck with keeping the two together. I would start with shrimp and allow them to get established first. Then I would pick the chillest-looking betta you can find (even better if it’s already in a community tank in the pet store).
If you want to play it safe, you can keep the betta in one of those breeding boxes for a day to monitor its behaviour. Does it seem interested in the shrimp and try to go after/attack them? Or does it mostly ignore them?
Another way you can go about it is getting a betta and a “cheap” shrimp (like ghost shrimp) and testing out how they get along before buying fancy shrimp. (You know, with the caveat that the betta might eat/attack the ghost shrimp.)
Betta. I’ve never seen the attraction with keeping shrimp.
Betta + panda corys (what i have in my 10g!)
Shrimps for sure.
I went betta for my 10 gallon and no regrets, but I’m picturing a bunch of pretty brightly colored shrimp all over those lovely rocks. Shrimp!
Lots of shrimp and some nano fish like endlers or pygmy cories
Both, shrimp & a female betta. Add shrimp (make sure yet parameters are shrimp safe) and once it’s established (6 months or more), then the female betta two weeks later. Been running the same combo countless times since the 80’s when i was down with the ladies. Never had an issue.
Neither — I had this dilemma with my own tank and ended up making it a bladder snail haven! 😂
Seriously though, it’s a beautiful tank and I think it would be cool if you tried keeping both. Some bettas are really chill with roommates! Besides, it’s unfortunately common now for bettas to have poor genetics and pass in a couple of years so you can always decide to have a shrimp-only tank in the future.
Yes
Goldfish.
Shrimp. Lots and outs of them. And nano fish. 5-7 Endlers. Or 3 Killifish.
I love my Betta, but he’s boring. He’s also not very smart. I’ve had really smart, active, agile Bettas. Not him. But we’re a couch potato family. It was bound to happen.
Get 10 shrimp, wait 6 months or have over 70 shrimps, then Betta💯
If you’ll be near the tank a lot, then Betta. They’re intelligent fish with weird ass personalities and they love when their humans are nearby and interacting with them. If you’re in the room, it’s almost guaranteed that a Betta will be at the front glass watching you.
Shrimp 100%, so easy to care for, you can go on vacation and just leave them, they breed like crazy and they are really fun to watch. You can get some chili rasboras to put in with them.
Shrimp. You don’t have to pay store prices. There are hobbyists on Facebook or groups on Facebook you can join locally and get from them. When trade in is around $1 a piece of credit at LFS, you might as well sell it $1 a piece. Sold my whole colony of cherry shrimp in one go for $1 a piece to someone from a group on Facebook I join
I have no bias…
Both
So many responses! I’m reading everyone’s responses and taking some consideration from all. However, some of y’all need to open up to shrimp! Haha. I think you’ll find they’re not as boring as you think if you’ve got a whole lot of them !
A betta or
Shrimp with a pair of sparkling gouramis.
Bettas and shrimp can be awesome together, but it really depends on the personality of the betta. I’m lucky, I have two chill males that are fine with the shrimp. One even shared his log with them.
For my female, she’s overlord of her domain and shrimp aren’t allowed unless they’re snacks :p (6 yellow shrimp gone even though they were there first).
If you want to try the pairing add the shrimp first, then the betta.