Betta in water feature

I understand where you're coming from, though there is no way I'm doing stick only. The biggest appeal to me is creating a living breathing ecosystem. I've been doing my research and I've done planted aquariums big and small (aquatic if that wasnt obvious) and still have a reef w drilled sump and fuge.

I'm not set on the betta idea, just throwing it around. As it stands he's in a bowl and it'd be nice to give him a little more room. If i decide to do a water feature I'm going to do a deep false bottom, drill the bottom, and set up a bulkhead with a valved tube so i can easily perform water changes. Plus with it having a deeper false bottom with raised eggcrate i can allow for more total water volume which should make it easier to keep clean. Again though, thanks for the advice. I'm not set on the betta idea but I'm fairly certain ill set up a water feature. I've been reading the top ten beginner mistakes and i know to set it up with easy pump access. The drilled draingives me a way to fix mistakes and I'm considering getting another hole drilled at the very top of my false bottom with a tube running to a res so i have a fail safe against flooding my tank. I'm trying to be smart about my first viv and learn from mother mistake.

Wow. I talk to much. Sorry for the book.

I second the thought that the water feature may not provide more space than the bowl, with the added bit of being much harder to clean. There are a lot of misconceptions about bettas that are very popular...the idea betta enclosure is at least 5 gallons, and heated to the low-mid 80's. Mind you that bettas can reach the 3" mark, not including the tail, when kept properly.

Tetras, etc. are also unsuitable for water volumes of much less than 10 gallons, and they are generally active schooling fish that should be kept in numbers with room to move around.

The only fish out there that I can think of that actively prefers small, stagnant bodies of water is the mangrove killifish, Kryptolebias marmoratus. Very cool little fish. Rather difficult to find for sale, though.

All in all, it comes down to the size of the tank you're using, the space you're willing to allocate for the fish, and the type of heating/filtration you're making available to the fish.

It can somewhat easyly be done.
If you use a pump, be sure that it doesn't make much if at all any current, betta REALLY don't like moving water.
I don't think a betta would ever attack a frog... it is somewhat of a myth that they are agressive. In fact, they will atk anything that looks like a male betta, and guess what? golden fish really looks like male betta to them, hence the popular belief that betta are agressive. If put with MANY other types of fish that don't look like them, they won't ever do anything mean.
I personally don't like betta much for pallu tho, because betta require stagnant water and pallu with stagnant water are not very nice...
guppies, chinese neons, danios and specially killifishes are probably a much better choice of fish for pallus

btw, i've kept a betta in around 200-300ml of water for well over a year!
another betta is being picky and will ONLY have FF for food

First off, thank you Catman for the vote of confidence and everyone for your words of wisdom. The Bettas are now each in gallon bowls. (Don't stab me in the neck just yet. In nature they oft dwell in tiny puddles. That's not to say I wouldn't rather them in a bigger set up, I just don't have any for them atm, hence the inquiry. The older one, Henry, came from a cup, went into a 2.5g planted aquarium, went to a twenty extra tall, then to a 75g planted. And yeah, betta are very docile in regards to anything that doesn't look like another male betta. Hey actually only got moved to a bowl because I had a couple of fish that tore up his fins. (You'd never be able t tell now.) But bettas do much better in warmer water and just because they naturally live in stagnant water sometimes, doesn't mean they wont do better in cleaner water. Plus, he'd get more attention and better quality food in the tank.

As for a 45 or 55... I can't go with something that big for the tank. I'm looking at a 29 or 37. Something 30in long as I have a stand and dual t5ho already for it. Even if its only a gallon in his swimming area, itll be two to three times that in total water volume in the false bottom as I plan for it to be inaccessible to fish and frog, it will be water permeable so as to not always need much external filtration. I like the idea of the little box being as self sustaining as possible.

As for it being a lot more work, I don't see how it's all that much if done right. Some passive carbon off the bat to assist the newly establishing bacterial bed, unclogging pump from time to time, flipping a valve to drain off some water if I over mist or to drain and replace half the water. I'm sure I'll probably run into some pitfalls along the way, but I think the benefits outweigh the additional effort. It gives me an addition piece of the chain of life, additional beauty in the tank, consistent added humidity from the moving water, if I were to end up in some sort of emergency situation and couldn't get home to mist the frog have a place to soak, and if I were to be so lucky, I might just be able to get away with raising tads in tank instead of having to screw around with incubators and petri dishes.

But who knows, maybe I'm just a pie eyed newb about to get a crash coarse in Murphy's Law. Either way, it'll be a lot of fun.