5 gallon

[Dx12]

Starting up a 5 gallon and this is my first nano tank, what fish should I get for the tank. There will be floating frogbit but that’s the only live plant I’ll have, any help would be nice thanks.

 

[FreshNano]

I would recommend a Betta - he (assuming you would get one male) would do very well in there, you could even do a mystery snail, some shrimp... I have a community tank setup like that with some tetras as well, very fun tank!

 

[Dx12]

Probably not a snail as I’m not very fond of snails. I have a snail problem in my tank with the frogbit and I was thinking maybe a pea puffer at first so I can feel it some snails but I didn’t want a tank with only one small fish. The betta tho what’s ur community setup for it?

 

[FreshNano]

Betta, mystery, Serpae tetras, von rio tetras, golden shrimp... also some bladder snails that snuck in on plants.
I honestly LOVE my mystery snail, “Turbo” - very entertaining. Watching him ride the bubbles from the air stone up like an elevator and then glide down onto a leaf... dude is cool.
Also I don’t hate on snails like some do - they are an indicator of tank health and if you have an outbreak, it could just be due to too much food present for them to eat.
Once tank balances so will their population.
They do a great job of keeping tank clean.
I also put live black worms in regularly and have them living in the gravel. Once you get set up, I highly encourage live food, it brings out the color and true nature of the fish.
Definitely get shrimp though if no snails, those dudes are cool to watch and lightning fast!

 

[Dx12]

How do you keep serpaes with a betta? Lol wouldn’t the serpaes shred the bettas fins off?

 

[FreshNano]

So this is kind of a misfit tank and they somehow all get along - my guess is because it contains plenty of hiding places and they are well fed a variety of foods. There are only 3 Serpae’s because my guy at my LFS only had that odd number left when I was stocking and they are chill dudes. The pissy ones are the von rio’s - I didn’t even want a Von Rio, he snuck into the bag when I bought my Mystery snail and when we discovered him at the register, I didn’t have the heart to send him back. We got him another buddy, but I may wind up moving them to a bigger tank with more Von Rios because they don’t seem to like the Serpae more than anything else. But no fin nips, no consistent chasing, just some occasional jousting.

 

[Lokilow]

If you want something a bit more interesting imo get some rasboras. You could do 3-4 galaxy rasboras or about 4-5 phoenix rasboras

 

[fishwonder]

any help would be nice thanks.

Before you add any fish, you need to cycle the tank/filter for 3-8 weeks before adding any fish.

Click here on learning about tank/filter cycling.

Please don't fall for New Tank Syndrome.