Should i get a betta fish?

Bettas are lovely looking fish, but they do fight with each other, so one per tank only! 10 gallons is a very decent tank and getting a betta as your main fish would be lovely but you could also get a small schoal of 5/6 neon tetras.

I'm taking it the tank is currently empty by the use of the word 'had' relating to other fish.

A betta would do great in a 10 gallon tank and you would be able to add a couple of other fish too (eg a group of microrasbora, ember tetra, endlers or pygmy cories). They have tonnes of personality and are fairly hardy little fish. Mine swims up to me when I go anywhere near the tank and will readily take food off of my fingers.

I can't really think of many downsides, other than that some can be more agressive than others and attack tankmates. Some will accept tetras whereas some won't, some will accept shrimp whereas others won't. It's a bit trial and error with them sometimes. You cannot keep two males or a male and a female in the same tank as they will fight, though you can keep males together in a sorority. I wouldn't recommend trying the latter in a 10 gallon, though it could work in a 15. You also generally cannot keep any fish with long flowing fins or very bright colours with them (eg guppies) as they will often mistake them for fellow bettas due to their poor eyesight. You also generally should not keep them with other fish of the same family.

a betta would be fine, there might be a bit of fin nipping towards the guppie but you said it had a short tail, so it should be okay. i had a female betta with a few guppies once and the FEMALES were very AGGRESIVE towards the guppy but the male betta was fine with the guppys.

i would just get a male betta and see how he goes with the guppy

hope that helps :-)

I have a male halfmoon purple/blue betta in a 20 gallon with:3 male guppies and 10 neon tetras and their fine!depends on the fishes personality

Ya...get a betta...and put in a tiger oscar in it as wel...they'll be good.