5 gallon tank

[benny25]

I am getting a 5 gallon tank soon and i was wondering what to stock it with. I'm thinking about getting some live plants but i dont know for sure yet. Anybody have any suggestions?

 

[Torrean]

yes i have a suggestion. Get a ten gallon. It's not much more expensive and it's a lot more versatile. for stocking options, maybe some guppies or a trio of mosquito fish, with some ghost shrimp, and a couple snails. i would say danios but i'm pretty sure they need a 20 gallon to be happy. you could set up a reptile or amphibian tank too. Oh I know. A five gallon would be good for a betta.

 

[rdd1952]

A betta is about all you can put in a 5 gallon tank. Even adding a couple shrimp with him may not be safe as some bettas will even kill the shrimp. I just put an amano shrimp in with one of my bettas last week and he was dead 3 days later. I don't know for sure that the betta did it but it's possible. I have also read other places about bettas killing shrimp. A 10 gallon would give you a few more options but not a lot. You could have a small school of 6 to 8 tetras or something like that. You really need to get to a 20 or 29 gallon to open up doors for more fish. The 1" per gallon rule is still a pretty good measure for a community tank.

 

[newland]

My friend has a 5 gallon tank and keps 4 guppies and 2 platties sucessfully.

He also has one fake plant and one Live plant in there.
Everything is running fine and it looks really nice.

I would recomend a bigger tank too though as he is always compaining about the size issue.

I'm complaining about mine and thats 15 gallons.
15 gallons is a nice size tank no too big not too small for a first tank.

Also can pick them up real cheep on ebay.

 

[dwarfgourami]

The advantage of a bigger tank is that it is a more stable system and easier to look after. If you can possibly squeeze it in, I would agree with other postings and say go for the 15 gallons, or at least the 10. It will be much more able to cope when you go down with that nasty bout of flu and feel too awful to change the water. Also, you will have a much more interesting selection of fish to choose from (sorry, dont tell the betta people I said that! . )

If you really can't find room for anything bigger than your 5, then a betta seems the best option. My brother kept a gourami in a 5 gallons when we were kids, but I would not say this was a good thing to do.

 

[newland]

For the 5 Gal

What about a betta and a couple of plain fish such a platties just so the tank does not look empty.

I believe Bettas and Platties can get along.
I know most people say bettas should be kept on their own.

But i don't personnaly believe in a tank with one fish in it.

What about a few neon tetras? How many i'm not sure.

 

[rdd1952]

What about a few neon tetras? How many i'm not sure.

Neons are schooling fish and need a minimum of 3 but preferably 6 which would be overstocking a 5 gallon. With a betta, you probably can't add more than 2 more small fish and most all small fish are schooling fish.

 

[newland]

preferably 6 which would be overstocking a 5 gallon

My friend has 2 platties and 4 guppies and they all live happly.
This may be overstocked but it certainly does not look like it in his tank.

If anything it looks like there is not enough fish in there.
His tank is long and high but thin does this have anything to do with it?

as neons are very small fish i think 6 would be fine in a 5 gal tank. so long as its fully cycled first. Tetras are not bigger thank 1 inch so 6 would not go over the rule.

Also with weekly water changes this would be more than fine.
What sort of filtration are you going for/have?

 

[rdd1952]

Most tetras get to 1.5 to 2 inches so 6 would be 9 to 12 inches which is about 2" per gallon in a 5 gallon. General rule of thumb is 1" per gallon. Most tetras aren't big waste producers so if you did weekly water changes of about 25% you could probably keep 6. A properly stocked tank will always look somewhat empty but if you put too many fish you will have a major problem with ammonia and nitrites which are both toxic and deadly. Also, neons are pretty delicate and not a good fish for a new tank. They need a more established tank.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

newland, this friend of yours... how long has he been keeping these guppies & platies? until a tank hits 6 months, its not mature. its really best to not consider any fishkeeping enterprise a sucess until you've had no problems for about a year.

a 5g could have a betta and not much else. dwarf platies (if you can find them) only get about 1.5 inches long, so 4 of those could work... that's my latest acquisition, so i've been recommending them to everyone. tres cute. or you could get 3 2inch tetras. schools tend to disentegrate when no threats are present, so 3 of a tetra wouldn't be stressful provided that's the only kind of fish you have in there

i've kept a SAP in a heavily planted 5g for a year, with one companion to help eat his scraps (a guppy fry that outgrew puffer's appetite, lately a khulii loach). a dwarf puffer would do much better in a 5g and would have a lot more personality than a betta. it would also be much more likely to slaughter any tankmates, but... you might could keep a male/female pair of dp, provided the 5g isn't a hex and is well-planted with plenty of hidey-holes.

a 10g would let you have a betta and a small school of something like cory cats or a smaller tetra. or you could have a betta girl colony (4-6) provided the tank is very heavily planted. a 10g would provide much more flexibility than a 5g, but you'd still be limited on what you could put in it.

a 15g would be the best of the small tanks. you could have a couple of nice schools or one school and a bigger fish. several people on here have kept a pair of German Rams in a 15g with neons. a sensitive mix, but gorgeous. pretty much any of the dwarf cichlids could be kept and bred in a 15g with no problems.

 

[Crab Paste]

Whatever size tank you buy, you're sure to want a larger one shortly after! Then one will become two, two will become three.....and so on! It's MTS!!!