5 Gal, divided Betta tank (cleaner question)

[canuckaquarist]

Hello,

I have a 5 gallon divided Betta tank setup. I have a sponge filter running. I cut the divider perfectly to fit the sponge filter with no holes/spaces so that it could filter both sides.

I do not overfeed them, and they like their food. But sometimes they will spit their food out and have no interest in it, and it drops to the bottom to rot.

I was curious if there is any kind of cleaner species I could add to help keep the tank clean.

Thank you.

 

[mr funktastic]

as long as it is heated u could try a small pleco like a otto or maybe even a snail would probably do enough clean up.

 

[hc8719]

actually it should be heated anyways, arent bettas tropical fish?

i cant promise how the betta would react to a shrimp being in its bowl, but mystery snails would probably work well, and it takes a male and female to breed, so no worries about an "invasion"

 

[canuckaquarist]

Yeah I have a Stealth 25 submersible heater, automatically turns off to avoid overheating.

Would an Otto in each side be too much fish for a 5 gallon?

About the snails, is there a clear way to determine male/female? Just worried about them because if they are mixed, and I got a female, she would probably already be pregnant.

Thanks for the suggestions Just a little more curious about them.

 

[hc8719]

two otos may not be enough, they are fragile animals, and i cant imagine how they would feel that there isnt more of them, let alone a wall seperating them

EDIT: ohh i dont think you can tell the difference between snails, joande is the expert on them though

 

[Gena575]

What about a few MTS snails? Yeah, they can breed like mad if the food is there, but they are pretty cool little guys. You can hand pick out some if they start getting over populated. A divided 5 is pretty full with the 2 bettas in it. 2 mystery snails would max out a 5 gallon by themselves. They poop A LOT! Some bettas will harass a mystery to death too.

And sexing mystery snails can be done. Its kind of icky to do and takes a bit of patience. If you pull them out and turn them on their backs they will eventually open up and try to right themselves. Getting them ALL the way open is the tough part. A friend told me her method of putting a finger below their foot so they will reach for it and that helps a lot. Once you've got them open, look on the spire side of the opening. If it is a male, you will see the penis sheath. A female won't have one. Of course, I've got pics LOL! These are from the same friend who taught me how to sex them. She's given me the ok to share them. (Thank you Asyasa!)

 

[JohnPaul]

Cleaup crew I would say either one or two ghost shrimp in each half, or else one smallish apple snail in each half. Or, if there are no live plants, one ramshorn snail in each half.

An oto in each wouldn't be overstocking, but I'm just not sure how interested they are in cleanup. They are great for eating algae off tank class, but if you're looking for something to eat leftover bits of food that drop to the substrate, something tells me the shrimp or snails would be more effective at that.

 

[joannde]

My vote is for the mystery snails - I love mine.
You CAN tell the diff between male and female (see pics above- Gena comes through on the snail questions again!) but there's no worry about unwanted babies as mystery snails lay their eggs ABOVE the water line and are easy to find and remove

 

[canuckaquarist]

Thanks for the suggestions, I think I might try the Ghost Shrimp first, see how that goes.

Speaking of which, would Mollies eat/kill a Ghost Shrimp?

 

[flip_lx]

I second the ghost shrimp suggestion. just got some to help my currently empty 10gal fight the algae very effective so far and are amusing to watch(you can follow what they eat through their body)