If you want a betta with other fish you need to avoid anything with long flowy tails and a lot of color. It is essentially a big middle finger to a betta fish.

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I agree with what others have said, if you are on a budget look into second hand tanks. I bought my 90 gallon with eheim filter for that (although it didn't include the stand or lights).

You might find this thread interesting:
Stocking a 10 gallon tank.

Ive had various small tetras,head-and-tail lights,and glo-lights to be exact,with mine before.They were pretty little schoolers yet not so colorful the male felt threatened.In a ten gallon you choices will be limited a but though,so your school cant be a massive one.

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http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

The tetras and very small fish don't really "do" it for me. Not sure why, maybe the way they tend to dart around makes me nervous, lol. I prefer slower moving fish. I had to crack up when I read that long flowing tails are basically a middle finger to bettas, LOL! How about an Otto? Would I have to have more than one for it to be happy? If I can only have less than 1 inch of fish per gallon, I'd have to have fish that are no bigger than about an inch long to have any more than about 5 more in addition to the betta, or is that still too much? I just want a few slow moving fish in addition to the betta, (as long as they are compatible) and maybe a couple of snails.

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10 gal., Male Turquoise Combtail Betta, 2 albino Corys, 1 Julii Cory, red cherry shrimp, 1 ghost shrimp.
20 galH, 4 female bettas, 1 Dalmation Molly, 1Calico Balloon Molly, 2 platies, 2 Otos, 3 Kuhli loaches, Mystery snail, 2 ghost shrimp.