# Betta with African dwarf frogs?



## Jazzlyn (Jun 25, 2018)

Im wondering if i could keep a male betta with 2 african dwarf frogs in a 5 gallon tank. The biggest i can fit in my stand is a 5 gallon. If not, what could i keep in a 5 gallon, keeping bettas or african dwarf frogs in mind? Thanks!


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Welcome to the Forum! :wave:

A Betta in a five gallon would be fine; with two ADF not so much. The ADF should be kept in at least trios to observe natural behavior. They are very social creatures and three is, IME, a minimum. Also, a five is very close quarters to have even two ADF and a Betta. Remember, ADF are next to blind and anything that lands in front of their faces they will attempt to catch and eat. The minimum I'd have with Betta and ADF is a 10 gallon so the Betta has room to swim without encountering "Frog Jaws."  This is especially a hazard if you have a long-fin male.

Keep the Betta alone in the five to check his personality. Not all Betta are suited for tank mates; most are, but not all. Plant the tank well, cycle it and get a Mystery snail or Ramshorn snails in either pink or blue. Quite pretty. And remember that Betta are solitary fish; they don't need "friends." Tank mates are for us. I say that with several Betta-based community tanks so I'm not anti-tank mate.


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## trahana (Dec 28, 2015)

Same here, I had a betta escape through an inch wide space.
Also, isn't there a relative of the ADF that grows to be larger?


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## TheMisfitToys (Jun 26, 2013)

Maybe I had an African clawed frog... Mine liked to eat goldfish for meals after he ate my Betta. And he was a good sized frog. I used to feed him one feeder goldfish a week, and he lived for years on that diet. He didn't like the tubifex worms that I'd give him. He wanted live food.


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## Nova betta (Dec 5, 2014)

TheMisfitToys said:


> Maybe I had an African clawed frog... Mine liked to eat goldfish for meals after he ate my Betta. And he was a good sized frog. I used to feed him one feeder goldfish a week, and he lived for years on that diet. He didn't like the tubifex worms that I'd give him. He wanted live food.


There are a few ways to tell the difference. The dwarf frogs never grow more than 1.5 inches in length, if the frog is albino it is 99% a clawed frog, the clawed frogs front hands are larger and aren't as webbed as the dwarf's they also will usually have claws, hence the name.


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## moodynarwhal (Mar 24, 2016)

Did you google pics? The ADF I saw at the store were all smaller than a betta. When I googled the clawed ones they looked huge with huge webbed feet


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## TheMisfitToys (Jun 26, 2013)

I just googled the pictures. Mine was definitely an African clawed frog. Damn Walmart for selling frogs under the wrong name. (Back then my local Walmart had a well taken care of aquatics section. That was back when we first got a Walmart in our area, more than 20 years ago).


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

The best way for me to tell the difference is ACF have eyes on top of their head; ADF eyes are on the side.

BTW, a strain has been developed and so albino ADF are now plentiful in the US. Lost one of my ways to tell the difference. :-(


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## TheMisfitToys (Jun 26, 2013)

During my research into the differences between ACF and ADF, I found out that ACF can live 20-30 years. I also discovered that they're opportunistic eaters. If there's food around, they'll eat it whether or not they're hungry. I wish I would have known that at 14 when I got my clawed frog. He might still be alive. But he gorged himself to death on a half dozen comets one night, and I woke up to find him bloated with a fish tail sticking out of his mouth, and no comets in the tank. I'm contemplating getting another one and setting up a 10 gallon tank for him, but I know this time to only feed one fish a week, and not to put other fish in the tank with him.

Thank you guys for this thread. I've become much more educated on ADF and ACF. I didn't know there was a such thing as an ACF. Makes me a better pet owner in the future.


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## KendraPM (Feb 13, 2018)

I have a betta with some ADFs, currently just two since I didn't properly plug a hole and one disappeared on me.  But my betta is a puppy personality wise and the most aggressive he gets is when its bloodworm day because he recognizes the tweezers and will immediately dart for them if I don't feed him first. (I usually cup him on frozen food days, as the frogs' tray is well covered and he leaves their pellets alone, but sometimes I get a little lazy and just distract my betta while feeding the frogs), but even that is towards the food and not the frogs. The frogs get a little nippy during bloodworm feeding days as well. I think they can smell it because the moment my tweezers touch the water they'll nip anything that get's in front of them. Even each other. 


It's working out for me, but it was never meant to be a permanent arrangement (the betta was an impulse buy since he was so sickly and had been at PetCo for so long), and I have a back up tank just in case something goes wrong. Eventually, I plan on moving the betta out and giving the tank to the frogs, since it's theirs and he's just subletting, but for now they are all living together quite happily. Until then I've upped my water changes to every three days and keep a careful eye on things.


On the ACF vs ADF, I'm glad I did research before buying and learned the ways too tell. There was a female African Clawed Frog at the pet store the day I went to get my ADFs and the salesman kept trying to get me to buy her, claiming she was an ADF. I think he just wanted to get rid of her, because he was really pushy.


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## trahana (Dec 28, 2015)

"African clawed frogs are known carriers of the highly infectious amphibian chytrid fungus, _Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis _(Bd) which causes the disease chytridiomycosis"
Apparently, they carry the disease that has caused die off and extinctions of other species of frogs. Quite a useful fact to remember.


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## Littleangel77007 (May 17, 2018)

Slightly related, I actually inadvertently just did a bunch of research on ACFs and ADFs today. I was talking to someone yesterday about having had one of those Grow-A-Frog kits when I was little, and I was mad because I tried it 3 different times, and the tadpole died each time. It got me wondering what species they sold in those things. After thinking about it, I thought it was probably ADFs. Turns out, the kits are still on the market, and the frogs are ACFs. (The seller names the genus in one spot on their website, but never the species. I had to check a couple other sites to find out for sure.) That fact really surprised me. 
Good to know. So, don't mix a Grow-A-Frog with anything else you want to keep alive.


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## TheMisfitToys (Jun 26, 2013)

Littleangel77007 said:


> Slightly related, I actually inadvertently just did a bunch of research on ACFs and ADFs today. I was talking to someone yesterday about having had one of those Grow-A-Frog kits when I was little, and I was mad because I tried it 3 different times, and the tadpole died each time. It got me wondering what species they sold in those things. After thinking about it, I thought it was probably ADFs. Turns out, the kits are still on the market, and the frogs are ACFs. (The seller names the genus in one spot on their website, but never the species. I had to check a couple other sites to find out for sure.) That fact really surprised me.
> Good to know. So, don't mix a Grow-A-Frog with anything else you want to keep alive.


Those Grow-A-Frog things are sold by the National Geographic site. I was going to get one, because I thought it'd be cool to watch a frog grow from a tadpole into a frog, but it's good to know what kind of frog those are. I won't get one unless I'm going to set up an entirely new tank for that specific frog and nothing else. Thanks for that information!


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## SciFyDi (Apr 22, 2018)

When I was a kid my mom bought me the grow a frog tadpoles from Insect Lore. The first time they arrived the post office put them on the ground and when I opened them the tadpoles had all been eaten by ants. My mom called and they sent a replacement order. I got eight tiny tadpoles with the guarantee that one would make it. 
A year later I had eight huge monsters. They lived in one of those critter keepers. No heater, no filter. I just did weekly water changes. 
The company said these were dwarf frogs but they were huge. I remember them being brown not albino like the clawed frogs. 
One day my cousin woke me up to tell me something bad was happening to my frogs. I came downstairs to see one frog devouring one of the others. The next thing I knew he reached out and grabbed another frog and all I saw was legs flailing out of the frogs mouth. These guys were all the same size and got feed an ample amount of food. 
I now had five frogs. The cannibal frog got to live by himself but they all continued to grow and grow. My mom called the company who still maintained that these were ADF’s. 
One day I came home from school and they were gone. My mom had decided to put them in the pond while I was away. 😢
They had some beautiful huge clawed frogs at my local pet store the other day. I’m still deciding if and how I can get them. One tank has my Betta and the other has my Bichir so I don’t think I could.


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## trahana (Dec 28, 2015)

SciFyDi said:


> My mom had decided to put them in the pond while I was away.



This is why we have invasive species. And Also why I respect Californias policy on certain species being illegal.


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## HumanArtRebel1020 (Jan 13, 2018)

I think its a good idea and hence the color and how it sits in one place till it moves quickly im sure there wont be any harm done.


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## HumanArtRebel1020 (Jan 13, 2018)

easy to feed too with pellets.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

HumanArtRebel1020 said:


> I think its a good idea and hence the color and how it sits in one place till it moves quickly im sure there wont be any harm done.





HumanArtRebel1020 said:


> easy to feed too with pellets


These make no sense in the context of this thread????


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## HumanArtRebel1020 (Jan 13, 2018)

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> These make no sense in the context of this thread????


Oops sorry Russell. I meant to say I think its a good idea, and that you may be able to keep both ADF and a Betta since to color of the frogs are mute and camouflaged and move very quickly, no harm may be done to them by the betta. Not only that but they also can eat pellets which makes them easier to feed. This is my response to the original post.


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