Cherry Shrimp and African dwarf frogs

[allikins]

I've read that ADF are alright with bettas but what about cherry shrimp? I'm new to fish in general and i'm just not too sure. :[

I'm planning on getting plants for my tank. Would a heavily planted tank be wise for the shrimp so that it could hide? Also. no fishies in my tank yet! Still setting it up. :] Just wanna get the questions outta the way first.

[Adastra]

They should be no worse off than they would be with the betta. Frogs are sluggish hunters since they have very, very poor eyesight. The biggest issue you're probably going to run into is going to be feeding the ADFs--since the shrimp and the betta will probably steal all of their food before they even get a chance to eat. Make sure you come up with an effective feeding strategy and have the proper food to satisfy their needs, or they may starve.

A densely planted tank is always a good idea. All of the inhabitants would benefit from the security and water conditions that plants provide. Keep in mind that bettas are very smart--if they see a shrimp go into a cave, for instance, they will continue to chase it down and root it out. It is inevitable that you will suffer some shrimp losses--if you aren't ok with that prospect, you should consider having just ADFs and shrimp since the ADFs present less of a threat, or just skip the shrimp.

[allikins]

alright, thank you.
What about balloon mollies with betta? They have shorter fins imo but Iunno if they'd be too long for the bettas liking.

[Adastra]

Mollies prefer hard water with some salinity, bettas are a soft water fish. I'm personally not a big fan of putting them together because they like different water conditions and mollies are considered a semi-aggressive fish--they can bully and nip at a betta pretty badly since bettas aren't able to swim fast enough to get away from them.

How big is your tank?

[allikins]

My tank is a ten gallon.

[Adastra]

Have you considered a school of pygmy cories? They're cute little peaceful bottom dwellers--you could easily fit a small school of them (6) in a 10G, and they wouldn't harm any RCS. They'd be easier to feed than ADFs.

[allikins]

I was just looking at cories on another post and they definitely are cute!
what do they eat?

[Adastra]

They're omnivores--you could grind up some of your betta pellets and combine that with some veggie flakes and they'd probably love that. You can also use vegetables from your freezer like peas and zuchini, and any frozen food you'd normally feed your betta would get eaten by them as well. I mix flakes and ground pellets in a little tank water and then use a pipette to make it easier to get the food to my bottom feeders--this way you can avoid overfeeding your betta.

Keep in mind, though, that cories will do best in a sand substrate, or at least a fine and smooth gravel. The barbels on their faces are very delicate, so you want something fine enough and smooth enough that they can push it around without being injured.

[allikins]

I have very tiny gravel and as far as I can tell it's all smooth. Maybe I should mix in some sand just to be safe if I do decide on them? And I really like the idea that they're omnivors.

[FuulieQ]

Uhmmm.... I don't know... if the frogs see it moving they might go for it. They can be fast when they want to. It sounds like a bad idea to me, shrimps are just perfect sized snacks for an ADF, and if they get within range, they'll get snapped up.

I guess you just have to know your frogs. I have one frog that goes for moving things and one that's really slow but expert at finding pellets.