Stocking suggestions 5.5 FW

[FishFanaticSyd]

What are the best fish for my tank? It's a cycled freshwater 5.5 US gallon, with one betta in it. Would a dwarf cory or two, maybe zebra danios, white cloud mountain minnows or endler's be Ok? Obviously not danios, white clouds, and endler's in the same tank...

 

[FishFanaticSyd]

Am considering inverts too, so not anything that eats shrimp or snails...

 

[howardg]

I would do it up nice for the betta alone. Or. How about 2 - 3 fancy male guppies as tank mates perhaps some rocks and a few Java ferns

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[FishFanaticSyd]

I had a female guppy in there with him but moved her to reside with my other betta. Could I do Endler's Livebearers? I do like guppies, though... I am just worried my betta might attack them because of the bright fins.

 

[howardg]

Betta

Why not check the fosters and smith compatability chart on line. Drsforsterandsmithk.com. Small tank don't overstock

 

[GBR]

You could a snail and some rcs

 

[FishFanaticSyd]

Will try the chart, thanks. Am thinking of going with ghost shrimp instead of RCS at first, for one, I have never seen RCS at Petsmart, Petco, or my local fish store, Azalea Aquariums. (totally awesome store btw), and second, because I heard some bettas love a shrimp entree...

 

[Eagle Eyes]

The problem with micro tanks for people new to fish tanks is that it is harder to manage the water and could wake up to all dead fish in the morning i would get atleast a 20 gallon as it is actually easier to care for then a 5 gallon aquarium and the best part is you can put More fish in it.

 

[ktomminello]

Depends on the betta whether or not you will be able to keep shrimp. You could probably do a couple nerite snails. Here are a couple suggestions that have worked for some of my clients (I used the adventurous aquarist guide 101 best as a reference point)

Asian inspired planted
Driftwood
Java moss
Java fern
1 pair small badis species
A few cheap grade ornamental shrimp
5 chili or other microborara species
Once algae builds a nerite snail can be introduced. This set up requires a little more knowledge of tank maintenance and behavior of fish than your novice aquarist possesses, but is fine for the devoted hobbyist

South American inspired
Leaf litter
Driftwood
Jungle/corkscrew gal
Dwarf anubis
Mosses
Duckweed
5 jellybean tetra
3 dwarf cory
1 ornamental nerite snail
This set up requires maintenance of leaf litter and understanding of micro maintaining water parameters. Snail WILL require calcium supplements when maintained in this set up.

I do honestly suggest maintaining community tanks of no less than 15g to everybody excluding the few biotope aficionado that have experience. It is insane how much more stable a tank becomes between 5g and 15g. I can't emphasize this enough. If you're truly interested in nano aquaria your best bet is to not focus on fish- focus on making an underwater garden as in order to maintain any fauna you need the biological filtration of a heavily planted mature tank.

 

[FishFanaticSyd]

I know about the whole tank size thing, I have a 20 gallon with a 1 year old male krib in it (had him since he was 1/2-3/4 inches) and a 28 gallon sw. Don't really have room for a bigger tank, I live with my parents. I think I will go with the Asian setup. I do like the badis fish but have never owned them, or seen them at a fish store for that matter. (an LFS, not petsmart or petco) They do have ghost shrimp at my local petsmart, but I have never seemed to be able to feed them as the fish always get to the food, and they don't seem to want to swim upward. I like the shrimp though! What are microborara?

 

[ktomminello]

Boraras species that stay less than an inch- chili and celestial pearl danio come to mind

 

[chykityta]

I just purchased a 5.5g to upgrade my Betta from a 1.5 filtered and I got Salt & Pepper Pygmy Corydoras. Plan on adding nothing else (fish-wise).


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[ktomminello]

I just purchased a 5.5g to upgrade my Betta from a 1.5 filtered and I got Salt & Pepper Pygmy Corydoras. Plan on adding nothing else (fish-wise).


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Congrats on the upgrade!! Your betta will be very happy, just make sure he can't get his mouth around the cories or it could get ugly.

 

[chykityta]

Thank you... I am just sharing my idea with FishFanaticSyc. The Pygmy Corys are in quarantine at the moment.


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[FishFanaticSyd]

What do salt and pepper cories look like? Never seen any pygmy cories before but the albino ones... my betta has been in with a guppy and both were fine, so I think fighting between the two species is unlikely. (cories and my betta, I mean.)

 

[chykityta]

Well, I thing that Pygmy is another word for dwarf. So imagine 0.5 inch Corydoras around your tank. Please do a quick internet search on then and you will be surprised at how similar they are to the regular sized Corydoras species.


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[howardg]

Salt and pepper cory

Google salt and pepper Cory. See Fishlore article and video.

 

[cgthebeast]

Google salt and pepper Cory. See Fishlore article and video.

Those get to big for this tank

 

[chykityta]

And you are right. There are Pygmy and non-Pygmy Corydoras. The regular sized Corydoras will overpopulated and outgrow a 5.5 gallon tank Ensure that the Pygmy variation is used in a 5.5 gallon.


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[howardg]

5.5 betta

Might be better with a 10 gal. Betta would be happy with some resting places. You could have 2 or three little cories scampering around. Should be fine