Fish for my 5 gallon

[Roxy0416]

Hello everyone!

I currently only own a 5 gallon tank. (I will eventually be getting a bigger one once i move into a bigger place, hopefully by the end of the year). I am curious as to what fish I should get.

I read a single betta would be great. Possibly with a small shrimp. But i also read that they aren't very exciting pets. They are pretty, but not a lot of fun to watch.

I had also read that the dwarf pufferfish would be a great possibility. There was one website in particular though that said they are only good pets if you are a aquarium expert, in which i am not yet. But they sound like a lot more fun, seeing how they have fun personalities and interact with you better. And they could also be matched with a small shrimp or some sort of algae eater..?

Any suggestions or past experience would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Tropical boy]

Hi there, firstly have you cycled your tank and are all your water levels stable e.g. ammonia 0 - 25ppm, nitrate 0 and nitrite 0. I can only recommend a betta for this tank and to be honest this is not the right size tank for anything else. I can also say that you need at least 5gallons per dwarf puffer but not in any way can it go in this tank they need to be able to swim and have things to keep them from getting bored, causing them to swim up and down the glass. Also some are brackish ( some salt needed). By the way a bigger tank would be easier for a beginner to keep water levels stable and you could have a variety of peaceful fish eg guppies, danios and certain tetras or a few semi aggressive fish some tiger barbs or even a species tank, a tank full of dwarf puffers for example as long as they have the right amount of space. With the tank you have I can only recommend a betta though, sorry and I hope this has shed a little light on the hobby. Let me know ifyou have any more questions.

 

[fort384]

I have to disagree with pretty much all of tropical_boy's post.

It is important that you cycle the tank first (preferably with fishless cycling). However, you want your ammonia and nitrite readings to be zero, and possibly show some nitrate readings. If you have more questions about that please ask... but anything over 0.25ppm ammonia is bad. Cycled tanks have 0 ppm ammonia. If it is at 25ppm ammonia, a fish would live about 30 seconds...

Also, there are many species of fish you can get for a 5 gal tank. Ember tetras, neon tetras, cardinal tetras, zebra danios, celestial pearl minnows, white cloud minnows, endlers live bearers, etc etc. Most of the small varieties of tetras and danios would be fine in a 5 gal cycled tank.

Additionally, you can add a lot of invertebrates: red cherry shrimp, blackberry shrimp, ghost shrimp, amano shrimp, crystal red shrimp, snails, etc.

All of these animals have specific care requirements, and you should research them before you add them... some are more sensitive than others. You aren't going to be able to put a bunch of fish in a 5 gal, but for example right now in my 5 gal tank, I have 5 neon tetras, 2 zebra danios, and about 20 red cherry shrimp (and more snails than I can count). I do a 30-50% weekly water change, and never have ammonia, illness, nitrites, and very low nitrates (it is heavily planted). The water is crystal clear, the fish are active and healthy, and the plants pearl every day.

Small tanks are actually much harder to maintain than large tanks... water quality can go south fast because there is less of it. But I also think small tanks can be very entertaining and can really be a lot of fun.

Best of luck.

 

[Roxy0416]

Well I thank you both for the advice!! I only have a 5 gallon because when I won those fish at the fair, I was kind of in a hurry to get them a decent home, and at the time a 5 gallon was the best I could do. I have never cycled before, but I know it is important! I have been doing tons of research. I only want the best for my fish friends I know if I would've planned on winning the goldfish at the fair and had prepared for them, they probably would have lasted longer. They died so suddenly though, idk what happened. But i had a very enjoyable 3 months with them!

But i've researched both the bettas and the dwarf pufferfish.. and i'm still looking into both. I know I can prolly only have 1 of whichever I go with.. cuz theyre both rather aggresive. But thats y id prolly get a shrimp to keep them company. Unless they eat it : /

I've also looked into the glofish.. but I don't think I'm going to try to house them until i have a bigger tank.. seeing how they school. They couldnt get very far in my 5 gallon.

 

[fort384]

Glofish would not be a good option. Anything that grows over about 1-1.5" would be too big (generally speaking... bettas would be an exception). Anything bigger than that would most likely eat your shrimp as well

 

[dkpate]

IMO only a betta is suitable for a 5 gallon. My bettas have a TON of personality! That's why they are my favorite fish. My 4 boys are crazy!

 

[HN1]

5G offers a lot of choices actually. It depends on your likes / dislikes and the level of effort and money that you deem "affordable".

Betta- ("splendens" found at stores- wild type bettas are a totally different story) easy to find, pretty cheap, great personalities, good wet pet, and suitable with shrimp and snails depending on the individual fish. Even fish usually. Just not any fish with long fins. We actually have a CT in a 5G tank with a few b. merah and everyone is happy.

Dwarf Puffers- great personalities, not as easy to find, prone to internal parasites, requires commitment to specialized feeding.

The largest schooling fish that I'd recommend would be neons. Even zebra danios (and their genetically modified Glofish cousins) get too large to keep an adequate group IMO. CPDs, boraras, microrasbora could be housed up to 10 per 5G. (I'd personally go higher, but only in a well established and well planted tank). There are also dwarf cories (pygmaeous, habrosus, hastatus) that stay small enough to keep a group of 4-6 in a 5G. Not typically "beginner fish" though. i.e. they are expensive and usually not sought out until people are experienced and confident.

Shrimp- Many varieties available, easy to keep and feed, low bioload. Will die if any copper (or most meds) enter the tank.

Sparkling (or chocolate) gourami- Great small fish. Easy to keep in the right water conditions. Somewhat easy to feed. Pretty eyes. Require low GH, soft water. Not typically "beginner fish".

Endlers- pretty fish, easy to keep, but any livebearers will eventually breed themselves out of a 5 IMO.

Pacu- Should be special order only. I just wanted to see if anyone read this far.


That's all I can think of, I'm sure I missed a bunch. Small tanks fail only because people fail to plan them. All JMO. Forgive my ramblings.

 

[Roxy0416]

Money isn't a terrible issue here. I am more than willing to spend some money on my fish! (I was just pinched for cash when thrown the goldfish) I was just curious what I could do with my 5 gallon tho. I dont want it to go to waste. If nothing else I could just keep it as a sick treatment tank later. But id really like to start a new tank prolly. I'll just have to keep looking around. I know there's one store in town that DO have pufferfish, but i dont remember what kind, so I'll have to check that out. But if nothing else I'll check out the bettas!! Cuz they are rather pretty ) Thanx for all the suggestions tho! I'll have to check out the stores around town for some of those i've never heard of!

 

[jenatron]

Microrasboras. Look 'em up. There are quite a few suitable species, IMO. If you don't find a lot, some of them have been changed to the Microdevario genus.

 

[mandy2936]

I have to disagree with pretty much all of tropical_boy's post.

It is important that you cycle the tank first (preferably with fishless cycling). However, you want your ammonia and nitrite readings to be zero, and possibly show some nitrate readings. If you have more questions about that please ask... but anything over 0.25ppm ammonia is bad. Cycled tanks have 0 ppm ammonia. If it is at 25ppm ammonia, a fish would live about 30 seconds...

+1

Also, there are many species of fish you can get for a 5 gal tank. Ember tetras, neon tetras, cardinal tetras, zebra danios, celestial pearl minnows, white cloud minnows, endlers live bearers, etc etc. Most of the small varieties of tetras and danios would be fine in a 5 gal cycled tank.

I have to disagree here. Neons Tetras are not a good choice for such a small tank because they are very active fish. Same goes for the Cardinals, both need at least a 10 gallon. Zebra Danios, or any other Danio really, should really be in a 20g! These fish are super super active and hyper, a five gallon is certainly no place for them, IMO.

IMHO Bettas are not that boring. Of course, that depends on the person. When provided with a healthy tank, they can be quite active and can recognize their owner. I actually was able to teach my Betta to swim and jump through a hair tie! But nevermind that, I won't push them on you if you'd prefer a different fish.
African Dwarf Frogs work great in that size tank, you could have about 3 in a 5 gallon. They're cute little buggers
As mentioned before, I would stay away from schooling fish because they really won't be happy in a small tank. They need room to swim!
Other suggestions include small varieties of Killifish, snails, shrimp, and male Guppies. You could have 3 male Guppies in a five gallon.

Hope this helps!

 

[Eric Shin]

Glofish would not be a good option. Anything that grows over about 1-1.5" would be too big (generally speaking... bettas would be an exception). Anything bigger than that would most likely eat your shrimp as well

Cocky and incorrect bad combo.

 

[LemurLad]

Scarlet Badis, Clown Killies, Bumblebee Gobies(If you're up for Brackish),Croaking/Sparkling Gouramis, and Dwarf Puffers. Five favorite fish for 5gal fanks. :F

 

[fort384]

Cocky and incorrect bad combo.

How so? And what is cocky about it? Instead of a drive by, why don't you offer some advice?

 

[HN1]

Easy now... Please stay on topic.

Killifish are a great option! Make sure to verify max sizes though. Some will eat everything eventually. Some other good options too. Lots of possibilities... What do YOU (OP) like?

 

[Tropical boy]

Fort 384 is actually wrong in my opinion you can't put tetras in a 5 gallon tank they are schooling fish which like to have room to swim. Cannot disagree more with all of his posts actually. Fish would last a lot longer than 30 seconds at ammonia <0.25 ppm and in defence I was saying that you need to keep the ammonia below this and get it down to zero.

 

[Eric Shin]

Roxy, check out AQAdvisor.com. It's pretty helpful in giving you an idea about your setup

How so? And what is cocky about it? Instead of a drive by, why don't you offer some advice?

Check your req' facts on Danios. Pretty sure they need more than a five gallon setup.

 

[jenatron]

Is it like a full moon tonight on AA?
I agree danios don't belong in a 5gal, but we need to be respectful of others..

 

[fort384]

Hi there, firstly have you cycled your tank and are all your water levels stable e.g. ammonia 0 - 25ppm, nitrate 0 and nitrite 0.

anything over 0.25ppm ammonia is bad. Cycled tanks have 0 ppm ammonia. If it is at 25ppm ammonia, a fish would live about 30 seconds...

hmm.... it sounds like we are in agreement on the ammonia Tropical, but I was going off your original post, quoted above.


_____

Understand there are different opinions on stocking. I have neons and danios in a 5 gal tank and they are healthy. We can agree to disagree on this point.

 

[Roxy0416]

Well I appreciate everyones input!!

I don't think im going to try any schooling fish till I get that bigger tank anyways. I think the main 2 I am trying to decide between are the bettas and the dwarf pufferfish. Is the dwarf pufferfish really hard to take care of though? I've read both ways. And I've heard the betta is much easier. But then I heard the pufferfish is more fun to watch and everything.. but not necessarily. Hmmm such decisions.

And then another question i guess.. When i go to the pet store, I have always looked at the bettas because they are rather pretty to look at, but how do I know what a healthy betta looks like? Because they're always just sitting still in those tiny containers! Which seems sad : /

Also, the only fish I've ever had the chance to take care of so far are goldfish. So are either of these two or both similar to a goldfish? As far as care goes.. they both kind of are right?

 

[melosu58]

Ok everyone let`s stay civil. The OP needs help so let`s give it to her. Remember that everyone has the right to post their opinion. Just post yours and move on. Leave it up to the OP to chose the route she goes.