my betta fish is in a 30 gallon aquarium would?

[Paul S]

would my betta prefer a smaller aquarium than 30g??he is o.k but he only stays in his corner.his tank mates are:black ghost knife,african knife,2 tiger barbs,a swordtail,and 2 platies.i just heard from someone tey don't like bigger spaces is that true???

[FishMomma]

I have yet to see a Betta argue about having a bigger space to live in. However, having said that usually it's recommended that they have about 2-10 gallons per Betta fish. It may be that living with the other fish has him a bit shy so he prefers to stay in his corner. Each fish will stake out their territory and then the other fish will usually avoid going to that area as much as other areas in the tank. Has he suddenly started staying in the corner or has he always done this? It might be that he has been bullied enough to not want to come out of his corner. How long has he been in this tank setup? It might be a better option to put him into a tank of his own if you see a lot of bullying going on. If you end up having to set up another tank, use some of the water from that tank along with some of the gravel to "seed" the new aquarium with the good bacteria so that you don't have such high ammonia and nitrIte levels that you see in new tanks.

Hope this helps!