I am very new to aquatics and as stupid as it may seem to some of you I am still grieving over my first betta who died of stress. When he died my mom convinced me to try again and whilst looking for other bettas I came across the African dwarf frogs. When asking different employees from different stores who specialized in aquatics they all said that keeping an African dwarf frog and betta together in a 1 gallon tank (I plan on upgrading eventually I know bettas need more space) wasn't recommended but that I was welcome to try and that it wasn't a doomed idea. Just to supervise the introduction to make sure the betta didn't attack the frog. They also recommend I get a girl so they'd be less aggressive. So, now I have both the frog and the betta but still in separate containers. I got a baby betta girl and she is very small. And despite both multiple store employees telling me, and doing some research saying they should get along fine, and to worry more about the betta's agression, something kept telling me I should be worrying about my baby betta's safety more. On this website finally I got a different message. I read that people saw their dwarf frogs eating guppies and grabbing other small fish in their tank and biting the head off. I am very emotional just thinking about this possibly happening. I don't think I could handle another pet's death. Being eaten no less. I know this may sound stupid to some of you but this betta is my new baby, one I promised to take better care of then the last. One who I took in trying to honor my last betta. I still feel guilty for stressing my last fish out and killing him. I was very hesitant to get another one and if I got her eaten alive because I was selfish and wanted to hoard more animals I don't think I could take it my mental health would really really plummet and i just can't take the risk if this is a possibility so someone please help me out is this even safe to try?
WILL MY DWARF FROG EAT MY BABY BETTA
- Thread starter Mothmorrianne
- Start date
no fish should be in 1 gallon tanks. you need to upgrade it asap otherwise i cant say you can get the frog. african dwarf frogs should be kept in 10 gallon tank in a group 4+ with no fish ideally as they can become shy and hide.
They will eat any small fish. are you sure the betta died of stress and not ammonia or nitrite poisoning? are you even aware of the nitrogen cycle? do you even have a filter or heater for the betta? get a 5 gallon tank, sponge filter and a heater for the betta and let her live alone. even females can be aggressive and since you are a begginer, i do not recommend frogs.
They will eat any small fish. are you sure the betta died of stress and not ammonia or nitrite poisoning? are you even aware of the nitrogen cycle? do you even have a filter or heater for the betta? get a 5 gallon tank, sponge filter and a heater for the betta and let her live alone. even females can be aggressive and since you are a begginer, i do not recommend frogs.
As it pertains to the tank care outside of the size, yes. I know it for certain was the stress. I have a filter with a stream that oxidates the water and live plant planted in the soil specifically for aquatic plants and fish. As for the heater, my home is plenty warm especially where I live it rarely gets cold enough to be an issue. I even got the water tested and I was told my water quality better than most. However my fatal mistake was replacing majority of the water only 1 week in and removing him from the tank while doing so. He was happy until this removal and reintroduction to his tank. It was still 100% my fault. I got many mixed messages from different people and I feel terrible for not doing more of my own research. As for the tank size I can't afford a bigger tank at the moment, which I feel extremely guilty for and am considering just rehoming both the fish and the frog as I already have them both. But are you sure about the 10 gal for the African dwarf frog? The basic care I've looked into says it's a minimum 1 gal since they're like 1inch in size. Very small. I apologize if I'm wrong.
No, 1 gallon is unsuitable for frogs. 10 gallon with 4 or more with them. Are you aware of the nitrogen cycle? if you have a filter it doesnt change anything, your filter is not cycled instantly. the cycle takes up to 4-6. you change only 50% or more weekly of water and no more, during this process you do not remove fish. he still could have died from ammonia or nitrite poisoning as removing 100% of water removes the toxins the bacteria feed on not letting the tank cycle. if this is ignored, do not expect your fish to thrive, live, survive.
The only thing that can live in a 1 gallon tank is shrimp or like 1 Pygmy sun fish African frogs are social and need at least 10 gallons and a betta needs at very Least 2.5 with 5 being better and does your room constantly get over 78 degrees, bettas and dwarf frogs both live in warm waters if I were You I would just use that 1 gallon as practice to keep plants alive then buy a 10 gallon tank. I would advice you to not do bettas as a beginner fish even though tey are hardy they can have problems from inbreeding and ones from breeders are super expensive. A nice planted 10 gallon lighted by sun for the plants or a led floodlight and maybe some diy co2 with maybe like guppies or something is very low maintenance and all you have to do is water change and feed. Get a bottle of seachem prime and some bottled bacteria to cycle your tank ime it’s better to add fish in like the 1st 2 weeks and slowly ramp up the stock and just let your tank get established because waiting 6 weeks is just a waste of time.the frog is going to eat the betta most likely and doing a baby doesn’t change anything. Females are somewhat Less aggressive I would return the betta and the frog and wait and do lots of research before you keep fish.
Last edited:
Not even pygmy sunfish. They get 3-4cm long, at very least i would put in a 10 gallon.
if it’s one of those hex things it won’t work but like a bowl or a ads or uns shallow nano scape tank thing can have like a pair to breed
But yeah just put it in a window return fish and get plants and a couple shrimp and a couple rams horn snails you could do like a cpo or a micro crab colony if you want something cool
