Help me stock a 5.5?

[Morgie]

Yep, I'm getting ready to move back to my dorm at college and I want to figure out what fish/inverts I want to take with me!
Sadly, my king betta died several weeks ago do to a very bad case of popeye. Because of that I'm leaning away from bettas, they kind of make me sad now. I had my betta for a long time :/
The tank is a bit run down now, my plants didn't fair too well with the popeye treatment so I need to get it re-planted. I want it to be very heavily planted and naturalistic looking. I definitely am considering switching out the decor.

So. What fish do you think would fair best in a heavily planted 5.5 ??(excluding bettas)

I am considering sparkling gouramis or pygmy cories at the moment.
I'm also thinking about an invert tank, but I don't have much experience with them other than my apple snails (I breed them)
I haven't kept shrimp in a long time and would need some tips/suggestions about which types to keep/how to keep them.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

I would suggest for that small of a tank some sort of annual killifish or perhaps a shrimp and inverts tank. Maybe a dwarf puffer species tank too.

 

[alLexX]

I would suggest for that small of a tank some sort of annual killifish or perhaps a shrimp and inverts tank. Maybe a dwarf puffer species tank too.

i agree shrimp would be great. you would only be able to put one dwarf puffer in a tank that size

 

[Morgie]

I'm a little wary of the creating a dwarf puffer tank since they need live food and I'll be in a different city where I would have to buy food from a chain store and wouldn't have my fabulous LFS to rely on. However I do have a lot of snails it could eat hehe.
I hadn't thought about killifish since I don't typically go for annuals, but it could be very nice to have a few killis with some shrimp!

 

[alLexX]

you could also do an endler and shrimp tank

 

[Galligak]

+1 to the endlers and shrimp tank! I love endlers and shrimp and that's what I'm doing in my 7.8 gallon tank. Oh and make it planted

 

[Morgie]

I've only got some moneywort and wisteria growing in it now, I'm going to plant it a lot more before I get some fish/inverts :>
I'm going to have to look into endlers as well. I haven't seen them stocked in a while. (which is strange)

 

[Galligak]

I have seen them in my LFS that sells them for like $10 a piece which is insane, and in petsmart but their hybrids because they were the product of a guppy and endler... But I'll probably get those because their like 1.25, so there are the hybrids you look into as well.

 

[Morgie]

hybrids often grow a lot larger, so I'd definitely have to get some definite endlers since I'm working with small quarters. (if I go that way)
I'm still thinking a lot about those sparkling gouramis or pygmy cories :>
researching shrimp at the moment.

 

[alLexX]

I have seen them in my LFS that sells them for like $10 a piece which is insane, and in petsmart but their hybrids because they were the product of a guppy and endler... But I'll probably get those because their like 1.25, so there are the hybrids you look into as well.

lol,i think i have endlers,and my LFS sels them as feeder guppys

 

[bruinsbro1997]

I think sparkling gouramis and pygmy cories need bigger tanks...someone can confirm that or is that wrong?

 

[Galligak]

Pygmy cories may be okay if the bottom is bigish. And I'm not sure about the gouramis but I've heard/read that they'd do okay!

 

[Morgie]

my tank has a large footprint for it's size. I raised some baby peppered cories in it once, and they're doing fine in their larger tank with their parents now. :>
I think a small school of pygmies would be fine. And a group of like 2-3 sparkling gouramis should be okay as well. I've never kept them before though, so I'm definitely not an expert on their tank requirements haha

 

[Galligak]

Okay then I'd defiantly put in the cories! I love my peppered cories. If you put in the sparkling gouramis I think you'd be full.

 

[Morgie]

Yeah I was either going to go with a school of cories or a small group of gouramis, not both together. :>
I'm still not sure though, there are a lot of options even for a small tank! (small tanks are just so much more complicated to stock ugh)

 

[Galligak]

That's true! I sorta love putting together small aquariums because they look so amazing with the tiny fish swimming around being all happy and such!

 

[bruinsbro1997]

I think if you did a trio of three sparkling gouramis you should be good to go

 

[Morgie]

I think I'm probably going to go with a trio of sparkling gouramis, but I may choose a small school of cories over them when I compare stocks at my LFS.
I'll continue to use this thread to post pictures of my tank renovation/planting progress and pictures of the completed tank!
:>

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Can't wait to see it

 

[Galligak]

Yay pictures!!!