Fish gift

[newbie_alicia]

Hello everyone I was thinking about setting up a 5 or 10 gal tank for my nephew but I am not sure what kind of fish to stock it with. His only wish was for there to be some small orange fish and a bigger red fish (I originally thought of just getting a betta in a 5 gal). However since he asked for some smaller fish I figured I would reconsider. Anyhow I need some options for fish to stock with so I know what size of tank to set up Any ideas would be greatly appreciated thanks

 

[One_Trick_Pony]

maybe a few guppies?

 

[newbie_alicia]

Well i was thinking about having guppies for the smaller fish but what is compatible w/ guppies and that is slightly bigger and red. Anything?

 

[Bloo]

Keep in mind that you are only talking about a 5 or 10 gallon. I don't think it would be fair to keep much larger fish in there. Something like 5 male fancy guppies in a 5 gallon or 10 in a 10 gallon would be quite nice I think. Stick to male only though as the tanks aren't large enough to support fry and also not large enough to add a predator to eat the fry.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

dwarf platies!! they only get to be absolute max 1.5 inches long and are a perfect bright orange. get 4 or 5 and put a bright red-orange dwarf gourami or a true honey gourami.

 

[Bloo]

What is a "dwarf platy" ? Never heard of them......

 

[GSD]

mabe try afewmale guppies and 2 platies!

 

[red-devil0602]

who will be looking after the fish

 

[newbie_alicia]

So should I get a platy and two guppies in a 5 gal or a platy and three guppies in a ten? Do platies do okay by themselves or would i have to buy two of them? My sister would be caring for them

 

[Bloo]

I personally would not risk putting a male platty in a tank with guppies - I had one horrendous nipper (yes he had 3 females in a 55 gallon tank) and would dread to think how one of those would do in a relatively small tank with guppies
I think one "shoal" of fish in a small tank would look a lot nicer than say 2 neons, 2 gouramis and 2 platies etc.

 

[One_Trick_Pony]

i agree with bloozoo, go for guppies, and get say 4 of each read and organe in a 10 gl, or even go red/oragrne and blue, and theres yelloW

hmm idea!!!

 

[pica_nuttalli]

dwarf platies are a special kind of platy that, well, stays cute and tiny for forever. i have 5 of them that i bought at PetCo for a buck each. (i tried snapping some pictures of them next to the guppies, but the camera went completely dead on me.)

regular platies would get far too big to have more than 3 of them with anything else in a 10g.

definitely no more than a single gourami in such a small tank! and it'd really need to be one of the smaller types (dwarf or honey).

--EDIT--
here's a horribly grainy close-up showing a dwarf platy next to a adult female guppy.

 

[Bloo]

Ah ok - well I might be wrong but I've never come across them here in the UK and can't find anything at all in google on them. Perhaps those were unique ?

 

[OohFeeshy]

Actually, I wouldn't really go with guppies. Brightly coloured they may be, but unless you've bred them and made sure to vary the genes, I doubt they'll live massively long. I'd go for platies, dwarf or normal, which are readily available in most colours.

 

[Bloo]

well that's ok then - because in a couple of years, no doubt he'll want a change of scenery and move on to other fish when he has a bigger tank !