SprinklerBandit
New Member
I love the beauty of Betta fish, but it seems sad to me that the males live out their lives in solitude. I try to give them token friends, when available. Caesar, my sedate VT blue, has a freshwater snail I got from my dad's tank. They don't interact, but at least it's a symbolic companion.
For my other Betta, a gorgeous non-VT whose type I haven't identified, I wanted something else. This fish, Octavian, is very high energy. I researched online for several weeks trying to find a suitable, inoffensive companion. I made a list of every kind of fish or creature that I'd heard of being kept with a Betta, then went through the list and removed anything that required lots of space, might be threatening, or had conflicting accounts. Then I went to local pet stores to see what they carried, how much it cost, and what sort of maintenance was required. I finally settled on a little African Dwarf Frog which cost about $2.50 at Petsmart and eats the same thing Octavian does: blood worms. I added another shell/hiding place to the tank, and set out to get him.
The new frog's name is Cicero; after acclimating him to the water in Octavian's tank, my sister and I released him, kept a net and bucket of water handy, and hoped for the best. Octavian immediately flared at him twice, then proceeded to ignore him. Content that Cicero the Frog would still be alive later, I went to work to finish out the day.
That was last week. They coexisted pretty well, even so far as sharing meals. Yesterday, I came home to a surprise. The usually spastic Octavian was resting near the surface of the tank, his head leaned against the also-floating Cicero. They weren't dead. They weren't fighting. They were (apparently) napping together. Later that evening, they "played" together. Octavian likes to rush from the gravel to the surface of the water as quickly as he can. This time, Cicero had joined him in the game and they were dodging around together.
I've also noticed that Octavian is considerably less excitable than he used to be. This has to be the cutest, weirdest thing I've ever seen with fish.
For my other Betta, a gorgeous non-VT whose type I haven't identified, I wanted something else. This fish, Octavian, is very high energy. I researched online for several weeks trying to find a suitable, inoffensive companion. I made a list of every kind of fish or creature that I'd heard of being kept with a Betta, then went through the list and removed anything that required lots of space, might be threatening, or had conflicting accounts. Then I went to local pet stores to see what they carried, how much it cost, and what sort of maintenance was required. I finally settled on a little African Dwarf Frog which cost about $2.50 at Petsmart and eats the same thing Octavian does: blood worms. I added another shell/hiding place to the tank, and set out to get him.
The new frog's name is Cicero; after acclimating him to the water in Octavian's tank, my sister and I released him, kept a net and bucket of water handy, and hoped for the best. Octavian immediately flared at him twice, then proceeded to ignore him. Content that Cicero the Frog would still be alive later, I went to work to finish out the day.
That was last week. They coexisted pretty well, even so far as sharing meals. Yesterday, I came home to a surprise. The usually spastic Octavian was resting near the surface of the tank, his head leaned against the also-floating Cicero. They weren't dead. They weren't fighting. They were (apparently) napping together. Later that evening, they "played" together. Octavian likes to rush from the gravel to the surface of the water as quickly as he can. This time, Cicero had joined him in the game and they were dodging around together.
I've also noticed that Octavian is considerably less excitable than he used to be. This has to be the cutest, weirdest thing I've ever seen with fish.
