A Good Catfish For 5 Gallon Tank
- Thread starter Trabetta
- Start date
Most will get too large and it really depends what you want to keep with them.
if you had a very lightly stocked tank (say just a trio of guppies or a single betta) you could possibly get away with 6 pygmy/dwarf corys. Another option is 4-6 otocinclus. These are very small, shoaling catfish that need to be kept in groups.
I'll be honest - I don't know of any catfish that would be OK on their own that would be small enough. Even the smaller plecos tend to need 15 gallons + and all the bagrids and synos need bigger tanks.
Perhaps a hara jerondi? Stay small but very shy and need sand as they like to bury themselves.
if you had a very lightly stocked tank (say just a trio of guppies or a single betta) you could possibly get away with 6 pygmy/dwarf corys. Another option is 4-6 otocinclus. These are very small, shoaling catfish that need to be kept in groups.
I'll be honest - I don't know of any catfish that would be OK on their own that would be small enough. Even the smaller plecos tend to need 15 gallons + and all the bagrids and synos need bigger tanks.
Perhaps a hara jerondi? Stay small but very shy and need sand as they like to bury themselves.
Jenste
Resurrecting the Passion of Fishkeeping
to be honest, i don't think any would be suitable for your tank....corydoras need schools, so they are out, and plecos and catfish just wouldn't be happy in such a small tank.
just curious, but why the interest in a catfish for your tank? what do you already have in there?
just curious, but why the interest in a catfish for your tank? what do you already have in there?
I hav ebut I heard they are hard to feedhave you considered maybe getting an african dwarf frog or two? they make great additions to tanks and will give you some great movement along the bottom
No, it wouldn't at the moment. However, they are not suitable for other reasons.
1) You need more than 3 white clouds to make a shoal. These fish shoal in their hundreds in the wild - 3 simply is not enough. 6 is still a small number but it allows them to exhibit more natural community behavior.
2) White clouds need a bigger tank. Pets shops LOVE to sell white clouds to small tanks because they are "small fish" and a lot of people assume small fish = small tank. Actually, that isn't the case sometimes as shoaling fish like tetras, rasboras and white clouds need a good amount of space to develop a sense of security, get stimulation and exercise. These little fish also get to about 1.5 inches as adults which is a lot bigger than they are found in shops. I would honestly suggest a minimum of 10 gallons and ideally more like 15 for these pretty, active, space loving fish.
3) Otos need groups of 4-6 as well, for the same reasons as white clouds. It's just not kind to make shoaling fish live in small groups. 6 is already a massive compromise for the fish.
If you had 6 minnows and 4-6 otos, you would be over stocked, especially when they get to be adults. You'll just end up with a bunch of stressed, under-stimulated, under-exercised fish that will probably not live as long as they should.
It really irks me that places like P@H sell these gorgeous little fish for such small tanks. Not a rant at you, sorry. Just gets to me when people are misinformed by pet shops.
Jenste
Resurrecting the Passion of Fishkeeping
depends on if you are willing for the learning period - - the first week or two will be the hardest, but then it will be quite easy for you....esp with only a few fish in the tank. i recommend frozen blood worms. just defrost a cube in a cup, then pour it into the same spot each time. for the 3 fish and two frogs, one cube should be fine.
feed the fish their flake first, so their bellies aren't as empty...then a bit later put the defrosted blood worms in. the fish will nibble, and the frogs will gobble up the rest!
you can always feel free to PM me if you do go the frog route....i love helping out people when they add these little guys . . . they are really an amazing addition to a tank....you will quickly call in love with them
feed the fish their flake first, so their bellies aren't as empty...then a bit later put the defrosted blood worms in. the fish will nibble, and the frogs will gobble up the rest!
you can always feel free to PM me if you do go the frog route....i love helping out people when they add these little guys . . . they are really an amazing addition to a tank....you will quickly call in love with them
I hav ebut I heard they are hard to feedhave you considered maybe getting an african dwarf frog or two? they make great additions to tanks and will give you some great movement along the bottom
Yes, they can be. They won't take flake or pellets in most cases and anyway, these foods are not designed to be a suitable amphibian diet. They need a mix of a complete food designed for them and also live/frozen bloodworms, blackworms, brineshrimp, etc.
They also have very bad eyesight to at least in the first few weeks, need to be hand-fed (I use tweezers). After a while they may learn where to go for food so it's a good idea to always encourage them to go to the same place for food at the same time each day.
Great little critters, though, and suitable for a 5 gallon.
My white clouds seem fine to me, I have 2 females and a male, and the male was trying to figure out what female he likes best and he choose one resently, but im a little consered abouth the other female because she hids a lot in the live plants now. And im woundering what would happen if I got 2 more WCMM for the tank, would it better even out the social condition of all the fish.
depends on if you are willing for the learning period - - the first week or two will be the hardest, but then it will be quite easy for you....esp with only a few fish in the tank. i recommend frozen blood worms. just defrost a cube in a cup, then pour it into the same spot each time. for the 3 fish and two frogs, one cube should be fine.
feed the fish their flake first, so their bellies aren't as empty...then a bit later put the defrosted blood worms in. the fish will nibble, and the frogs will gobble up the rest!
you can always feel free to PM me if you do go the frog route....i love helping out people when they add these little guys . . . they are really an amazing addition to a tank....you will quickly call in love with them
1 cube? Wow, I use 3 cubes for 35 fish + all my frogs and newts, and I still have some left over. I feed my frogs 3 worms each day, and the small tetras (same size as white clouds) only need a couple of worms before they become visibly bloated.
I would always feed a worm at a time for small animals - over feeding is pretty risky.
Define "fine" with a fish.
Seriously, you can't tell. "Fine" usually means "it's not bleeding and it is swimming normally". Fishkeepers have spent years and years working out the best way to keep certain species and we can learn a lot from looking at the fish in the wild. I doubt you're going to come up with some revelations by watching 3 juvenile white clouds in a small tank for a few weeks. Keeping shoaling fish in small groups will cause little to no damage in the short term but we should not under-estimate their need for companionship, both to keep them stimulated and to provide safety in numbers. They don't know they are in a tank and they don't know they are safe from predators, which makes them stressed. And stress can kill. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not for 2 years, but stress is very damaging in the long term.
Plus you've just admitted that one of your fish isn't fine. It's hiding away from the others which isn't natural. Could be sick, could be stressed, could be bullied by the pair.
I've given you my advice - upgrade your tank and give them a proper shoal so they can feel safe and secure. Then you'll have come more options for catfish.
If you absolutely will not consider an upgrade to a 10 gallon (which could be very cheap and would not take up much room), then you could get another 3 minnows in your small tank. The fish will feel safer while small and may be OK as adults, but you won't know that it's not working until one dies pre-maturely.
If you want other fish on top of 6 minnows, stick to something small and with a low bio-load like shrimp. Please don't put a female betta in there - she will very probably get nipped as none of the fish will have anywhere to really hide and the white clouds need all the space they can get as they grow.
If you want a lot of fish, get a 10G.
BethK
Rattie tat tat
Betta need space, they are territorial and it could end up with a few fins lost or a fish dead. 5gals (18ltrs) is ok for 1 male betta but to add in other fish that could be a possible inch when fully grow, isn't really fair on that betta. As for female bettas, please don't add any, as above, it will become a blood bath.
You will cause too much stress on your fish, by over stocking it.
shoaling fish should be in groups of 5 -6, adding in a predatory or bred aggressive fish into that environment, is not fair.
I'd personally get the dwarf frog or upgrade.
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