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Tankmate for male betta in 5g tank?

2K views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  Kytkattin 
#1 ·
So now that we learned my husband's betta is NOT sick with some contageous fungal or bacterial infection (turns out he has the marble gene... played tricks on our minds worrying about him) we want to get his betta a tank mate.

Mine own betta has an african dwarf frog, and I LOVE it. She cleans up after my betta when he doesn't eat something and lets it float to the bottom (in addition to her froggy bites) Thanks to her, there are never any bits left on the bottom of the tank to harvest more bacteria :) It makes tank maintnance just a bit easier for me.

But my husband doesn't want a frog, yet he wants the advantage she gives the tank.

So... what tank mate options are there for a 5g heated tank with 1 male betta already occupying it, that would also clean up the bits on the bottom of the tank like my frog does? Also that does not require it's own maintnance manual, lol.

He said if I give him some options, he'll see what he likes and finally get him a tank mate n.n
 
#3 · (Edited)
You can't do much, you need 10 gallons to get another fish so your options are currently.

shrimp or snail.

You can try a SINGLE African Dwarf Frog but then you have to hand feed it every other day which can be a pain and the upkleep of the tank will be more work. Mine is fully planted and is cleaned twice a week plus fully cycled.

Honestly if I were you i would get the snail as they are better at protecting themselves from betta and still very interesting. Get a larger snail but not quite a mystery snail.

Edit: OH YEAH snail would be his thing then, my snail cleans food up better than my frog or any shrimp ever could. It's also fun to feed them their snail foods. My mystery Tesla will DRAG his zucchini across the tank to keep my little pond snail away from it xD He will then try to wrap as much of his body as physically possible around it and nom and if someone wants his food then there he goes moving it away again. He's such a greedy little stinker.
 
#4 ·
I am planning on one day starting a sorority tank (I'm not sure how cruel it would be to constantly transport them back and forth from home to college) but I would love to give my girl company (I think I'm going to purchase the 15 gallon tank...maybe...I'm so excited! Especially because mom will kill me :p) so would a snail really be good company or is that more of just another mouth to feed and a mess to clean up?
 
#5 ·
As far as company for betta, betta don't care for company, they either attack or ignore their tank mates so really any animal you add into a betta tank isn't company, they are always just another mouth to feed and mess to clean up. At most betta's watch snails sometimes just like they watch other tank mates or attack or chase them...even kill them, but when push comes to shove a betta loves being by itself. I have two males who will kill or attack everything and anything you put in their tank but you know...they love being alone.

The only company for a betta is a moss ball, NOW THOSE THEY LOVE.
 
#6 ·
Thank you Lady Victorian :) Like I said, I have an adf with my own betta (we have 2 bettas each one with it's own 10 gallon tank). They are best buds (or... maybe my betta is just in love with my frog, hahaha) but we all know that bettas have their own personalities and some are more or less aggressive :)

Mine was acting very depressed for a couple of weeks after we moved my husband's betta from his temporary tank (which was just a couple feet from my betta's at the time) to another room in it's own tank. I got my adf because I grew up with bettas and always kept them as tank mates. I expected my betta to either attack it or ignore it completely, but they have the cutest little relationship. Sometimes they literally get up on the silk leaves and sit together.

maybe it's unique of my frog, but she really does clean up 100% of any pellets that my betta drops. She was difficult (girl frog) to feed the first week I had her... but I guess she got used to it. She will not eat if you try to hand feed her. She'll eat her froggy pellets and blood worms and such, but the picky weird frog would actually rather go at it bobbing up and down in the water to nip at the floating betta pellets than touch her food.

She's the perfect little tank maid, lol.

But my husband said he doesn't want a frog, and he's not partial to snails. Fish probably aren't the best idea (particularly in a 5g tank) so I was wondering if there was anything besides shrimp, snails, and frogs that are good tank mates in that size and also like to clean the substrate.

Maybe I just got lucky with my crazy frog. How big do ghost shrimp get the biggest? They look small... but do they get big in adult hood?

Thanks for the advice :D
 
#7 ·
Frogs really shouldn't eat pellet's though as it will block their digestive track, just a warning. Most people who own frogs don't feed them any form of pellet. I myself only feed mine worms, brine shrimp, mysois shrimp, and beef heart.

Other than snails and shrimp there is nothing else you can keep in a 5 gallon so answer is...no. He could also keep his betta solo or divide the tank and have two males.
 
#8 ·
The only way I could keep my frog from eating them, would be to put her in another tank. I feed her other stuff, it's more a matter of her choice than her available selection.

Anyway, that's what I wanted to know about if there were more than just shrimp and snails :)

I know I always hear of people getting ghost shrimp. Is that the only kind which is appropriate by size? and is it best to get just 1? He seems to be leaning towards the shrimp idea than any others.

Thank you n.n
 
#9 ·
Ghosties are the most recommended because they are the easiest to find and tend to be really cheap in case your fish decides to make them into a snack! Cherry shrimp are another option, but you would likely have to order them online, and again, they frequently become snacks, albeit a more expensive one. I prefer to keep groups of 5 or more shrimp. They have a very small bioload, so you can easily have 20 or more in a heavily planted 10 gallon. Don't go over 10 though if you don't have a lot of plants. Start with a smaller number and work up to a higher one too.

They are also the most extreme escape artists I have ever had. While you need a top for a betta, you absolutely need one that covers every nook and cranny for shrimp. Obviously not air tight, but close enough to it.

Though really I think the issue here might be overfeeding. There should be no extra food sinking to the bottom after a feeding, especially not with pellets. 3-8 pellets (highly dependent on size here) twice a day is more than enough to keep a betta going. And unless you are using a pellet like the NLS Small fish formula, that number is really right around 3-4 pellets per feeding. Obviously you might like to have tank mates for your bettas because they can be very enjoyable to watch, but they should be looked at as additional fish in the bioload (meaning increased water changes) not as your clean-up crew. Even if the fish (frog, snail, shrimp, etc) eats something, they still poop it out later and overfeeding always = overfeeding and decreased water quality.

Though if there was a species that was the designated clean-up crew it would probably be shrimp...
 
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