5 Gallon tank mates

[Pitluvs]

Your options are to upgrade to a 10g and get bottom dwellers or divide and get another betta. There is nothing wrong with dividing a 5.5g for two bettas. But with the ADF, you can't divide. Hope your little guy pulls through and solves all your problems :)

[ChoclateBetta]

It just seems like Bettas have an easy time making it to the other side even in a ten gallon your options are small.

[Alcemistnv]

Chocolate, if one prepares the tank well enough, there's a less likely chance of the fish jumping over.

I have a 5 gallon divided and neither fish has made any attempt to reach the other side. Even when there was a mishap and one divider was afloat, the fish didn't behave any differently.

I would honestly suggest to divide and maybe get another betta.

Upgrading is always an option as well.

[LadyVictorian]

I might go with shrimp until Bilbo is in better health. Like I said with Chystrid Fungus after it's gone through the heat treatment he needs to be qt from Aquarius for three months after the tanks been nuked to make sure the spores in the tank are 100% gone or it could reinfect him and I could be back at the beginning. Meanwhile Aquaman has taken two bites out of his tail now and I tried to remedy it by putting Bilbo's hospital tank next to the main tank for a few hours but I don't think that matters. He's bored without another animal with him to watch and interact with and he refuses to play with anything I give him from bottle caps to lazer lights. He has two caves and five plants so it's not a cover issue, he's just an overly social betta and I can't sit near the tank all day and have him chase my finger. I moved my females tank next to him fr the time being but I don't think he really noticed her. Just waits at the surface for food or sits in his cave. Can't catch him nipping his tail either. He's sneaky about when he does it.

After Bilbo is better the shrimp can go in Nix in her 10 gallon, might even get more then.

Been looking around for shrimp and not sure what is betta safe. Havn't been able to find cherry or ghost shrimp but there are bamboo and whisker shrimp but both seem pretty big. What is the verdict on bamboo and whisker shrimp? I hear they will attack betta's is hat true?

[aokashi]

stay away from whisker shrimps. if you get a bamboo that's fine. but you will need a decent flow and ideally a planted tank to keep him from starvation

[LadyVictorian]

Does feeding algae wafers help? I can't get new live plants until 3 month qt is over in the main tank, had to throw away my java fern because the spores can cling to it and so I was told all live plants had to be tossed out or reinfection was going to happen. Maybe I can also get a cheap plant and throw it away after three months? Though then I think if the spores could cling to the plant they could fall back into the water...T.T Not sure that would work either.

[OrangeAugust]

Bamboo shrimp creep me out. lol. I don't know how aggressive they are, so I don't know if they will go well with a betta. The good thing is that they get pretty big so there's less of a chance of the betta eating it. Your local pet stores might only get ghost shrimp in on certain days of the week, so ask them about it. My Petsmart only gets them in on Wednesdays, and they're usually gone by Thursday. One of the Petcos in my area usually has ghost shrimp all the time. They're ginormous, though, so I question whether they're actually ghost shrimp or macrobrachium shrimp which are more aggressive and might grab your fish's fins.

[CharStarr]

I dont recommend getting whisker shrimp, I had one once and had it with my male betta. They had a lot of standoffs and before it could escalate I took the whisker out.

[LadyVictorian]

If I were to get one or two shrimp and then once Bilbo goes back to live with Aquarius moved them into the 10 gallon with my female I'm thinking I would want some more shrimp then but would i have to then qt the new shrimp from the current shrimp?

[aokashi]

answering the questions from above...

bamboo shrimps are not capable of aggression. they do not have pincers. instead they have these pompom looking front legs. they get the majority of their food from the water column. so what ever you feed them have to be particles of food floating around in the current. live foods like daphnia will wotk great.