So... my niece is turning 13 tomorrow. And she wants a pet.. wonderful.

So she has been looking online and decided on a betta fish and a dwarf frog, she said she saw online that they live well together. So I'm wanting to surprise her and bring them to her tonight after I get off work, but after calling pet stores it was 50-50 on whether bettas and dwarf frogs live well together.

Most said 2 1/2 to 5 gallon tanks would be okay, since dwarf frogs mostly stay on the bottom & bettas on the top. Not sure if that's true?

Would either one of them attack/hurt the other? I know bettas are aggressive.

I want at most a 5 gallon tank if possible(nothing too big at all), but I want them to both be happy as well. So if that won't work that's all I need to know.

If it would work...
What do I need? Food? Plants? Gravel? Lighting? Filter?

Thanks :) :)

(I know just to get one betta fish, as they are aggressive towards other bettas. So I'm planning on getting one betta and one dwarf frog)

It's my opinion that, no, they should not be kept together.

It's true that some people are successful at keeping them together while others are not.
When there are outcomes like this, it's entirely due to the animals personality and not their compatibility.

A Betta and a Dwarf Frog are not compatible in anyway, however if both have mild personalities, they'll leave one another alone instead of kill one another.
The only thing that these two have in common is that they must surface to breath.

Male Betta's are better kept alone - they are happy that way.
One would do wonderfully alone in a 2 or 2.5 gallon tank.
They move from bottom to top and do not stay in one particular spot all the time.
They like hanging around the bottom, but have to surface to the top of the water to breath.
They breath with an organ called a labyrinth which is comparable to our lungs.

I do not recommend keeping frogs in that little of water for various reasons.
(I'll explain in further detail if you'd like)

If you decide to go with a 5 gallon aquarium, 1 dwarf frog and a few
Bottom feeder fish like 3 cory catfish would work.

Dwarf frogs make a lot of mess with their food and do not eat it
Once it has settled to the bottom, the cory catfish would go around and clean up after it.

You want at least 3 cory catfish because they are schooling fish and like to be in a group of 3 or more.

1)You'd of course need the tank, filter, air pump.
You can buy a 5 gallon aquarium kit and it has everything included.

2)A hiding place for the frog (like a fake hollow log)

3)Frog food - frozen blood worms and brine shrimp are popular.

*Ask the pet store what they're feeding them and that's probably
What you should keep feeding.
I'm unsure if a frog will eat a meat based food pellet such as shrimp pellets.
However, if they were raised on pellet based food, they'll eat it - which would make feeding them a lot easier.

4) tropical fish food to supplement a cory cat's diet

5) water conditioner

6) I'd suggest a product called Cycle by Nutra Fin to cycle the aquarium.
The food frogs eat foul up water very quickly and you'll want to keep control over the amount of toxins in the water until your tank is fully
Cycled and can handle the waste load on it's own.

The Aquarium Cycle


Lots of stuff here - hope I didn't confuse you.
If there's anything else you'd like to know, please don't hesitate to ask.