Who would you put in a 5.5 gal tank?

[PlatyLady]

I have an empty 5.5 [acronym:0c68f78331="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:0c68f78331] tank up and running - but with no inhabitants!

I am just starting to think of what I might want to put in, but am limited by the size of tank. I'm completely open to new ideas.

I do want: something colourful, preferably more than one inhabitant.

I don't want: more livebearers, or another betta. (I love my platies and guppies and bettas, but I want to try something new) I'd also like to stay away from neons. I think...

Your suggestions are welcome!

[Fruitbat]

PlatyLady...

A great fish for a setup like that would be the White Cloud Mountain Fish, Tanichthys albonubes. They are small so you could have a little school of them, they're fairly easy egg-layers to breed, and when they're in good condition they are absolutely beautiful little gems.

You also might consider a single pair of dwarf cichlids, Apistogramma sp.. I know that I'm going to catch some flak for that suggestion but I've had many successes with such cichlids in 5 gallon tanks. Make sure there are hiding places and watch for them to breed. In many cases the female will turn into a raging tyrant when she's guarding eggs...even to the point of killing the male. Be prepared to take him out of the tank if things get rough!

A small shoal of zebra danios, Brachydanio rerio would also do very nicely in a 5 gallon as long as you leave them some swimming room and don't plant TOO heavily!

There are all sorts of possibilities for a well-maintained 5 gallon tank. These are just a few of my favorite small tank residents.

[medge00]

threadfin rainbows. I know that the suggested size aquarium for them is 10 gallons, but they're really tiny, and I don't feel they produce excessive waste. do you plan on planting the tank?

[PlatyLady]

Thanks for the ideas. No, I don't plan on planting the tank. I haven't tried that yet, but I'm sure someday I will.

Another thing to consider is that the pH is about 7.4-7.6.

I like the idea of putting in dwarf cichlids! As for the white clouds, danios or rainbows - how many could I put in?

[Fruitbat]

Dwarf cichlids are great fun to watch...talk about personality! (not ALWAYS good personality but personality nevertheless). You could get away with a nice school of about 6 White Clouds or 6 Zebra Danios in a 5.5 gallon tank as long as you have good aeration/filtration. Yeah...I know...violates the 1gallon/1 inch of fish 'rule' but I've never agreed with that anyway! There are so many variables that affect the number of fish in a tank that it is senseless to make a 'rule'.

The nice thing about the White Clouds is that, besides being beautifully colored and very docile, they also do well in an unheated tank at room temperature and we all know that the cooler the water the higher the level of dissolved oxygen. A school of 6 White Clouds will think of a 5.5gallon tank as Nirvana! You'll want to give them some sort of plants...even plastic plants are acceptable...but the green sure sets their colors off nicely!

Danios and White Clouds are about as indestructible as tropical fish get and both of them will put on a great breeding display for you. You might have to check with your [acronym:c8512bbff2="Local Fish Store"]lfs[/acronym:c8512bbff2] to find out if they'll take all of your excess fry!

If it was my tank....I'd go with either the White Clouds or a pair of dwarf cichlids. Oh...toss a couple of Corydoras cats in there as cleanup crew!

[ferret]

A couple of ghost shrimp and neons You can easily do 6 neons in that as well.

[Sinuhe]

[acronym:50905ddf55="In my opinion"]IMO[/acronym:50905ddf55], 5,5 gallons is not enough room for Danios. Even tho they are small in size, they are fast swimmers, always on the move, and even an 18 gallon tank I have with Danios at the moment seems a bit tight for them. I see recommendations of a tank length of about 30 inches for Danios in books.

I'd pick some slower swimming, less lively species

[cowfish7]

I would go with WCMinnows - they do well at room temp. I kept 3 of them in a 2gallon, so I would use more than 6 in your tank.

cowfish7

[tkos]

I am a huge fan of white clouds. But they do need some swimming room and are cold water fish. They will do fine at low 70'sF so no need for a heater in that tank. They can even make it down to the low 50'sF for a short period of time. I only keep 5 in a 10 gallon though as they do get bigger than neons. I would only keep maybe 4 in a 5.5 gallon, especially if the heat gets high in that tank. A 5.5 gallon is really a absolute minimum for those guys and they do really like current and plants.

WCM Minnows are not tropical as I stated, are hardy but will not think of a 5 gallon as nirvana as they are river fish in the wild cold mountains of China and love swimming space. Keep the numbers lower and the tank temp low as well.


No way can cichlids do well in a 5.5 gallon for very long. Unless you can say to have kept them alive in asuch a tank for many years.

And don't add corys as well as this is just going to through the bioload crazy. Add soem shrimp or snails as a cleanup crew.

[tkos]

Actually if you can find them and can keep super clean water, a couple of chocolate gouramis would do fine in that tank. They are slow swimmers, don't like much current and like a few plants. Very pretty fish. No other gourami will really work well there.

Or you could just go with a bottom feeder tank since the tank is so shallow anyway. Just cory catfish, or just khulie loaches would be fine as well. Think outside the box.