I have a 5 gallon Eclipse tank with nobody in it. I was thinking of a betta for it, but I sure do like snails, frogs, and crustaceans too. What can go in the tank? How many of each? Who gets along together?

The tank is completely cycled, I recently had a goldfish in there but the GF has gone on to a bigger better tank. What should I do to prepare it for other inhabitants? I have good water with high ph - 8.2, so I think a snail would be happy with the water.

If I go with a snail, can I have a couple of fish with it? Would a betta live well with a snail?

Thoughts and suggestions welcome...I'd like to hear from anyone who has any ideas!

Bueller?...Bueller?...Bueller?

I love the big, fat apple snails and have owned 2 in my time - Big Bertha and Esmerelda. They only live for a couple of years and ours have died now, but they are beautiful to watch as they glide across the tank. I don't think a betta is the best companion as I think they need softer water probably not much higher than 7.4 - but you could check over in the betta section for more info on that.
Snails make a huge amount of poop and need 2.5 gals each and a decent filter.

i would think a betta would be fine with a snail....one thing you might want to watch for is the betta going after the snails tentacles, but it should be fine just by retreating into it's shell.

Cool, two apple snails for meeee! I might see about having a mollie or another community fish in there if the store advises against a betta.

Yes - with the betta it would only be a question of whether the PH of 8.2 would be too much. You'll love the snails. Oh and don't forget that they are much more lively if you can get the temp to at least 76 - below that, they tend to sleep rather a lot. You need to give them plenty of dark greens, partly cooked so that they are soft. They will not eat live or crunchy greenery.

Thank you so much. I'm looking forward to my trip to the LFS to pick out some snails.