New Aquarium owner

FishForums.net Pet of the Month
šŸ¶ POTM Poll is Open! šŸ¦Ž Click here to Vote! šŸ°

Fern

New Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2021
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Location
Beaufort, SC
Hello, so I bought a 5 gallon tank (sort of out of impulse, sort of not) and iā€™m planning on getting some guppies. Is there any advice you guys could give me before placing any fish in my aquarium? Thereā€™s already water (treated) in it, filters running and I got a heater.
 

Attachments

  • FC06A5BB-29E1-474D-9DAB-EE078DC05880.jpeg
    FC06A5BB-29E1-474D-9DAB-EE078DC05880.jpeg
    306.3 KB · Views: 51
Hello, so I bought a 5 gallon tank (sort of out of impulse, sort of not) and iā€™m planning on getting some guppies. Is there any advice you guys could give me before placing any fish in my aquarium? Thereā€™s already water (treated) in it, filters running and I got a heater.
I would also like to have some ghost shrimp or something in there for some variety idk if theyā€™d be any benefit but please any advice is welcome
 
Don't overstock! Guppies should be kept 1 male to 3 females and 5 gals is not enough room. Some say a single beta would be okay, but others say betas should be in 10 gals minimum. Do a little research about a solitary fish that won't eat your shrimp.
 
1cm of fish per one litre of water is a reasonable benchmark. Guppies and potentially Bettaā€˜s given the right conditions at the surface (such as cover) are going to occupy the top third of your tank. A fish like Neon tetra would occupy the mid level but I would recommend a small fish like the clown pleco; it will keep on top of algae.
 
Last edited:
Hello, so I bought a 5 gallon tank (sort of out of impulse, sort of not) and iā€™m planning on getting some guppies. Is there any advice you guys could give me before placing any fish in my aquarium? Thereā€™s already water (treated) in it, filters running and I got a heater.
Lovely tank! A 5 gallon is likely too small for guppies. A betta could do wonderfully in that tank though! Some ghost shrimp would be fun ? a couple of nerite snails could do well in there too. If you did decide to do guppies anyway, I would do all males so there are no babies, and I would not do any more than 3 for that tank size.
 
Last edited:
I concur on what other have said above.

A Betta will do well in a 5g tank, but if you have room, get a 10g for him. You may be able to keep ghost shrimp with your Betta, depending on his temperament.
 
Welcome to the forum. A five-gallon tank is not good for much, so be careful and don't overstock. You should really look into nano fish species, there are several out there. I don't believe in a male Betta in anything less than a ten-gallon, but many do use a five-gallon for a betta. If you want to see a Betta come to life and enjoy his new home he needs to have room.

You might consider a female betta, they are usually smaller than males. You can also get a couple of sparkling gouramis. Do your research first on how to take care of your new pets, before you buy them.
 
Is there any advice you guys could give me before placing any fish in my aquarium? Thereā€™s already water (treated) in it, filters running and I got a heater.
You need to cycle the tank.

This is the process of growing the bacteria which remove toxic fish waste. I simple terms, fish excrete ammonia which is poisonous to them. In a cycled tank there are bacteria which eat ammonia and turn it into nitrite. This is also poisonous, but in a cycled tank more bacteria eat nitrite and turn it into nitrate. This is only poisonous at high levels and we remove it by doing water changes.
In a brand new tank there are virtually none of these bacteria so we need to grow a lot more, and we call this cycling.

You can put fish into a brand new tank but this means testing the water for ammonia and nitrite every day and doing a water change whenever there is a reading above zero.
Or you can grow the bacteria before getting fish - this is called fishless cycling and we do it by adding ammonia from a bottle to simulate fish waste.
There are bacterial starters on sale but these speed up the cycle, they don't do it instantly whatever the store might tell you.

Live plants can also help as they take up ammonia and turn it into protein rather than nitrite. But looking at the photo of your tank you may not want to change the decor.




Can I suggest you read this - you'll probably need to read it a few times to get your head round it.

Then make a decision whether to do this, or whether you'd prefer to do a fish-in cycle with its daily water testing and water changes.
 
1cm of fish per one litre of water is a reasonable benchmark. Guppies and potentially Bettaā€˜s given the right conditions at the surface (such as cover) are going to occupy the top third of your tank. A fish like Neon tetra would occupy the mid level but I would recommend a small fish like the clown pleco; it will keep on top of algae.
NO plecos belong in a 5G tank, period.

Welcome to the forum, be sure to cycle your tank, using the link provided by Essjay above...
 
Welcome.
Make sure you cycle your tank.
Ill take a guess at SC being South Carolina? 5G would suit a small group of your local Mosquito Fish ( Heterandria Formosa) though no doubt your looking for something more exotic. Though what could be more exotic than being the worlds smallest known livebearer, seventh smallest fish in the world and a superfoetation practicer I simply donā€™t know.
 

Most reactions

trending

Staff online

Members online

Back
Top