Stocking suggestions for a 5 gallon.

I'm setting up a 5 gallon hex aquarium with a bio-wheel filter built into the hood. I had a few stocking options and I wondered if they would work.

-2 neon dwarf rainbowfish and either 2-3 shrimp or a otto.
-2 honey or dwarf gouramis and a otto
-Would it be possible to keep 6 neon tetras or 6 panda cories.


If any of you have any ideas please tell me.

 

Oddly enough, I just set up my 5 gallon. I have a betta, oto, and 4 pygmy cories. That, however, is a bit overstocked, but I plan on making it a heavily planted tank so I can get away with it. And as hypocritical as it is, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else.

I also wouldn't recommend 2 gouramis. They can be a bit territorial and may fight in that small of a tank (especially since it's a hex and doesn't have a large footprint).

I would also avoid the rainbow fish because they can get around 2 1/2 - 3" and should be kept in groups. A 5 gallon isn't big enough for 3+ 2 1/2" fish.

Shrimp & otos are good as are neons and pygmy cories (pandas are borderline too big considering they should be kept in grups)

Maybe you could go with 5 neons and an oto. Or a dwarf gourami and 2 otos or 3 pygmy cories. Or 5 neons and a few ghost shrimp. Or a dwarf gourami, a single oto and a few ghost shrimp. Or you could substitute a betta for the dwarf gourami.

-Chelle

 

I'm putting plants in my 5 gallon also. Right now I have a Anacharis and for lighting I have a 10 watt fl pc. I am going to add 3-5 more Anacharis and one Anubias barteri. Te-chelle what plants do plan on having and what lighting do you have.




Also thanks for the suggestions I think I'll go with 5 neons and some shrimp. Could I substitute the neons with another small kind of tetra that is the same size or smaller.

 

Right now I have a 15 watt standard fluorescent bulb that fits in an incandescent socket (the kind you can get at Walmart). I have no idea what the color temperature/kelvin rating is but I doubt it's appropriate for plants so I'll probably look into getting something better. I'm going to aim for 15 watts, 20 at the absolute most (when you start getting 4+ watts/gallon you really should have CO2 which I don't want to deal with).

For plants I'm going to have a moss wall using java moss (it's already started, but doesn't look too good right now), red wendtii, aponogentons, and maybe some anubias nana. The java moss and anubias are both low light plants. The wendtii and aponogentons are supposed to be more medium range plants, but they seem to be doing really well in my 10 gallon which currently has 20 watts but will be upgraded to 30 watts if a certain store (which shall remain nameless for the time being) ever gets my order right.

The problem with substituting for the neons is they are really the smallest tetra commonly available (I can't think of any that are smaller). If you just went with 3 or 4, you could probably substitute in glowlights or black neons, but I think that's about it.

-Chelle

 

I have a quick question about my Anacharis in my 5 gallon if you don't mind. Well I put the plant in my tank and dropped a fizz tablet in the tank and later I was talking to a guy at my lfs about my plant and he told me that Anacharis don't need tablets because they get their nutrients from the water and if I remove the tablet it will cause an algae outbreak, is this true? What then should I use for nutrients for my plant?

I love bettas. What kind and color is your betta? =P~

 

I'm actually not too familiar with anacharis. I bought some once, but it died (not sure why) so I've given up on it. In general, I much prefer rooted plants than bunch plants. And personally, I don't add anything extra for my plants. I just let them feed off the waste and nitrAte the fish produce. It seems to be working fairly well so far.

I have 2 bettas. This one is in the 5 gallon:


And this one is in a 3 gallon:


-Chelle

 

Those are some nice and colorful Bettas. I would love to see a full shot of your 3 and 5 gallon tanks. I wish I could post some pics of my 5 gallon freshwater tank and 55 gallon saltwater tank, but don't have a digital camera. By the way would the root tablets cause any problems

 

nice pics chelle, i like the first betta more....around here i pretty much see mostly blue bettas like the other pic of yours, even though that one looks better than the ones i usually find.

 

I don't think the tablets will hurt anything, but I've never used them so I can't say for sure.

Here's the 3 gallon. It's not filtered (gets 90% water changes every 1 1/2 weeks) and is lit & heated by a desk lamp. Not the greatest system but it works fairly well and Fluffy is happy.


And here's the 5 (keep in mind it's a work in progress and isn't anywhere near being done yet)


And here's my 10 gallon planted.


-Chelle

 

Nice tanks.

 

love your tanks tchelle

 

Thank you.

-Chelle

 

One more quetion if you don't mind.

How many white clouds and shrimp could I have in my 5 gallon? Some where a website says that your can keep 4 full grown white clouds and three ghost shrimp in a 1.5 gallon fishbowl.

Also I love the placement of your plants and wood in your ten gallon. How long has your 10 gallon been set up?

 

Whoever said you can keep 4 white clouds and shrimp in a 1 1/2 gallon bowl doesn't know what they're talking about.

A 5 gallon really isn't a good tank for white clouds. They're schooling and are really active swimmers. A 5 gallon wouldn't give them much room.

The 10 gallon has been set up for a little over 2 years, but it's be redecorated a few times. It's be planted and in it's current arrangement (with the wood & terracotta pots) since around December.

-Chelle

 

Chelle how many tanks altogether do u have set up with fish in them?

 

5 actual tanks (5, 10, 20, 55, 75), 2 uncycled "tanks" (one's a vase and one's a jar - 1/4, 3), and a pond (750 gallons).

EDIT: The 1/4 gallon vase doesn't have fish in it. It just has a black mystery snail.

-Chelle

 

Sounds nice. Do u have any salt water tanks? Any special reason your keeping just mystery snails?

 

Nope, no saltwater. I was considering it for a while, but to me it's not worth the major expense. My african cichlids are just as colorful, less expensive, and easier to take care of.

I actually got a few snails for my pond last spring. They layed eggs all along the edge of the pond and I decided to take one of the egg clusters and hatch it so I could raise some snails. I ended up with around 200 baby snails and fed a bunch to my oscar, put some back in the pond, and sold some. So now I have 3 that I actually consider "pets" (ie they have names) and another 10 or so that are in my 20 gallon and 75 gallon but they will eventually go back in the pond so I can get more baby snails (they don't want to breed in my tanks for some reason).

-Chelle

 

Saltwater is way more expensive then freshwater or brakishwater. I think its rewarding though. With the white sand and live rock,anenomes, and corals. You can't have as many fish in my 55 gallon saltwater tank as you can if I made it into a freshwater tank. I think it's really awesome. :y_the_best:

 

One day I hope to get a saltwater going. You can get such beautifullly coloured saltwater fish. For now though I love our heated freshwater.