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My Betta, who is a really cool and gorgeous Betta is looking a lil lonely being in his 5 gallon tank alone.
He loves to watch me and welcomes my attention, which is really cool for a fish to do.
But, I feel bad for him as he really seems lonesome.
I have a 5 gallon Hex tank with filter and bio-wheel. I have live plants and good water.
I am wondering what one fish I could put in there with him. Obviously not a schooling fish or another male betta. Or a fish that will nip fins or cause stress.
Is there any one fish that you think would be ok with him?
Thanks

I know they arent fish but what about:
An apple snail,
or, a group [3-4] ghost shrimp
If you go with the ghost shrimp mae sure there is a refuge for them to hide in

There's a chance that the betta might eat shrimp...

Another idea is an ADF (some info]http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile99.html[/link], [link=more info).

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

I never really thought about ADFs as I thought they would get bigger and eat the fish but after reading the link you posted it seems they dont eat the fish. So, I might get one to live with the betta and maybe a couple for the 55 gallon. Thanks for the info.

I've kept them together a number of times without any problems. IME bettas will often chase or poke at new tankmates but generally settle down after a few days. A frog is less of a potential threat to a betta than a frog.

Not a great quality pic but one of my favorites:



Attached Image:


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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

The thing is not to confuse adf's with african clawed frogs and surinam toads, who both grow big enough to eat fish. One word of warning though, is that a significant proportion of ADF's never take dead food, and might need live bloodworm etc. They are also easily outcompeted for food by other fish, and the betta could get fat while youre trying to get food into the ADF's.

The way round this is to give the frogs live feeds after lights out, they hunt by sensing vibration, and will not be impeded by the darkness, and they will feed happily while the betta is sound asleep.

Also, sinking foods are ideal for frogs. My sister kept ADFs in a community tank and that really worked well... feed the betta first, then drop some sinking pelleted food right by the frog. Or maybe under something where the betta can't get to it. Long-handled tweezers would be good for that placement.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

LHG what types of live food would you use for ADF?

"No whammy, No whammy, No whammy, STOP!!"

1984-Michael Larsen On Press Your Luck

Both the ADFs I've kept and bettas liked frozen bloodworms. I used a medicine dropper to shoot some down to the frog after putting some on the surface for the betta.

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

I guess I shouldnt have a problem with feeding a frog as my betta hates most all foods. He will only eat the Hikari pellets. I have tried so many things and he ignores them.
I will be buying a froggie tomorrow and see how it goes.

For adf's any midge larvae will do, tubifex may need to be chopped for length and small earthworms , preferably home raised are especially loved. Should you ever have an excess of fish fry anytime, they will love those too.

Mealworms will be too big, although you can try a few of the quarter grown recently moulted white ones if you can find them.If you do use them, remember to crush the head as they have occassionally been known to chew their way out of toothless predators, and an adf might not have the bite power to crush them dead.

Most of the frozen food mixes for turtles that some shops carry go down well too, and a few of mine even accepted tetra reptomin, tiny pieces of fishmeat and beefheart will probably also be accepted my deadfeeders.Baby algae shrimp wil probably go down the hatch too, as will live brineshrimp. If you have to use live foods as oppose to frozen, (if the frogs wont take dead food, you might not have much option) always get them from a reputable source, or grow your own, as parasites can be a real problem if introduced in with lifefoods.

ADF's generally do better on the live or recently killed wormy foods,although zeigler do a specific diet for them thats used for lab animals if you can find it.

http://www.zeiglerfeed.com/product_literature/lab%20research%20literature_Aquatic/Adult%20Xenopus%20Diet.pdf

Obviously its for the bigger xenopus species, but theres no reason you couldnt grind it up and use it for ADF's. Their nutritional needs are pretty much the same.