ideas for a small tank...

[katydidit]

I have a 5 gallon tank and i am desperately trying to find something cool and small (basically something that would be okay in this size of a tank). The reason it is so small is that next year i cannot have a tank larger than this due to living arrangements, not even a 10!! I cant live without fish, and i wanted to know if any of you had any input, thanks!

[ChilDawg]

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11471

[tricksterpup]

This fish is the smallest livebearer to be found right now. Heterandria Formosa (least killiefish) You could probably fit a school of 12 in a tank that size.
I have added a picture of them. the male is about 1/4 of an inch and the female gets to an inch in length.
Here is some infor from the write up of them from this website.

This fish likes a planted tank, and should be kept with other peaceful fish no larger than guppies.

Dwarf Livebearers are omnivorous and should be fed a diet of flake food and small insect larvae. Brine Shrimp make an ideal snack.

These fish like their water between 68-74 degrees F. The pH should be kept at slightly alkaline or neutral, though the fish will adapt to most conditions.

Breeding is in the typical Livebearer style. The female gives birth over a period of 2 or more days. Feed the fry newly hatched Brine Shrimp. Females grow larger than males.

Another fish to try are endlers also. they are a very nice brightly colored fish that are related to guppies.
jim

[katydidit]

i have had many suggestions on the dwarf gouramis...are they fairly easy to keep and would i be able to keep a pair or just one in my 5g? im just looking around for all of my options before i fill 'er up. I just wish that pearl gouramis didnt get so dang big, they are gourgeous!!

[Rometiklan]

A pair of German Rams...beautiful fish. They would fit very nicely in a 5 gallon set up.

I would also consider just your basic Betta tank. Bettas are probably my favourite fish of all time, so having a Betta around has always been a mainstay of the hobby for me.

[SpiritualSniper]

how about an apple snail? i always found them quite interesting, and 1 would fit fine in a 5 gal; maybe 2, but don't quote me on that....
i know most people would be bored with the idea of a snail, but i'm just giving my opinion.

[katydidit]

Im actually quite fascinated by snails, but not thrilled with using a tank for just them alone. And i have definetily considered bettas...which is most likely what i will get if i cannot come up with something more stable/pretty. Do any of you have info on the german rams? i have heard blue rams are generally smaller, but i havent heard much about germans, just that the rams in general are harder to keep. Note for all of you trying to help; most of my efforts are going towards my 80g oscar tank, this is just a little side toy (but I WILL take just as good of care of it, dont get me wrong there). Anyone had any luck with rams, and what specifications they need in a tank? keep em coming guys, this is great the response i have gotten!

[Rometiklan]

Originally posted by katydidit
Do any of you have info on the german rams? i have heard blue rams are generally smaller, but i havent heard much about germans, just that the rams in general are harder to keep.

The German Ram is also known as the Blue Ram. Common names tend to vary from region to region, but the species to which we are both referring is Microgeophagus ramirezi. Do a search for "German Ram" or "Blue Ram" like I did and you'll get a few hits. Here is the first link I found off the list...you can find a quick overview of the Ram's requirements here.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=21&pCatId=1084

I'm doing some research into the Ram as I have also been thinking about setting up a Ram tank. To me, it seems that this fish has a bit of a reputation for being fairly difficult to keep. I don't know if that's deserved. Granted, it does seem rather delicate, and they are fairly expensive, but if you can provide their ideal water conditions, a varied diet, and maintain water changes, they will thrive. A few years ago, I kept Rams in very soft acidic water (local water is very soft) filtered with peat, however, some information seem to say reverse osmosis water is the key to success with this fish.

I think the Ram's beauty is unsurpassed, and they are more than worth the effort in their maintenance. Check out the pic.

[Kirin Fang]

http://www.fishindex.com/phpinfo//9/1-1//3105

[Turin Turambar]

I think a 20 litre aquarium is a bit small for a pair of Ramirezi - they like space.

I would definitely choose gouramis - Colisa lalia for example.

[TKOS]

An apple snail and a betta would be cool in a tank that size...it would give you two fun things to look at, plus the snail will keep things clean....pretty easy to take care of as well....just throw some live or fake plants in there for the betta to swim through.

[Xeider]

Apple snail and a betta or possibly try a Ramshorn snail (Biomphalaria glabrata). I think the ramshorn look really cool.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/images/products/large/p_89932.jpg

For a 5 gallon you may want to consider something else, as the snail and betta would be fine in a 2 gallon (though they probably would apreciate the 5 gallon). I have an apple snail in with my Betta, and they seem to get along fine, with the betta occasionaly pestering the snail, and more often flaring at it. Most of the time he just ignors it, and I never have to worry about cleaning the algea on the glass.

As for the rams, most things I read on the rams (I ended up deciding on 2 bolivians for my 20) suggested nothing smaller then a 10 gallon for a pair. I guess you could try a single ram, but without a companion you would miss out on much of there interesting behaviour. Also the blue and gold rams are a bit more delicate, and with a small tank it will be harder to keep all parameter in line with what they would need.

[ChilDawg]

Aren't apple snails really large?

[Xeider]

Some applesnails can get large. The one I have will get to be about 2 1/2" in diameter (he is about an inch now). The largest species can get up to about 5" in diameter. Some of the smaller variety up to an 1 1/2".

See applesnail.net (http://applesnail.net/) for more info.

My applesnail will probably be permentantly moved to my 20 gallon. I may get a ramshorn for my betta, but I havn't decided yet.

[TKOS]

I have a couple small ramshorn snails in a 5 gallon with my betta. The snails do a great job cleaning and the betta does a great job looking good. A betta in a tank that really allows it to swim a lot looks great, even by itself.

[OrionGirl]

I have a 5 in my office with 3 sunset gourami (2 females, 1 male) and 5 kuhli loaches. Substrate is about 1 inch of sand with aquatic potting gravel mixed in (used to be the bottom layer--the kuhli's took care of mixing it). There's one fist sized granite rock, and a chunk of driftwood. The driftwood has 2 anubias nana's, and there is a large crypt in one corner. A moss ball rolls around--the kuhli loaches push it, I think. I change about 2 gallons out per week, feed lightly with flake and blood worms M-F, skipping weekends and holidays. Light is on a timer, about 10 hours a day, temp stays about 78.

The fish are all active, and have about doubled in size since they were introduced. The male gouramie builds a bubble nest occassionally, but hasn't been able to convince a female to spawn yet, but he remains optimistic.

[Xeider]

Not to sound like I am being judgmental, but the amount of fish you have in the 5 seems really high to me.

The gourami are 2.5" fully grown, and the kuhli loaches are 3" at full growth. So you have a tottal of 22.5" of fish in a 5 gallon tank. Is it because of the plants and the 40% water changes weekly that you can manage this without overloading the tank? Thats awsome that you can do that. Makes me want to set up a third tank in my office (a co-worker has a 5 and 2 gallon tank he doens't want anymore).

[ChilDawg]

Not sure that I'd question her on it...this is yet another one of those cases where the inch to the gallon rule does not apply, and this time it is to her advantage. Kuhlis do not add much waste to the mix, and the plants and filtration and water changes do their part, too.

[OrionGirl]

Yeah, it's packed. Of course, this is why everyone asks if there are even fish in there...

Part of the success is the light feeding. The plants help, but honestly the tank has never shown any nitrogen problems--no spikes at all. I've had it up for about a year now, and all the plants have doubled in size. I have gone for 2 weeks without a water change with no problems--truthfully, I do the water changes that frequently in order to get the water for our office plants. I also have an AC 150 on there, with just a sponge. The sponge gets rinsed at each water change.

The kuhli's are very social, and have a nice nest under the wood. They are about 3 inches in length, and big around as a pencil.
The gouramies range from 1.5 inches to a shade over 2 inches, with great color and behavior.

I certainly don't recommend this setup to everyone. It works very well for me, and is very easy to care for. This tank is much stabler than my 2.5 (one juvie kuhli, who hitch hiked in on the drftwood, male betta and a ramshorn snail, one large anubias). That tank must have a water change every third day or the cyano slime takes over.

[Tetratastic]

I don't know if you have your heart set on only fish, if not, you might try african dwarf frogs, they are super easy to take care of, and since they breath surface air (IMO) require less tank space per animal than a fish would.

I have two frogs and one oto in a 2.5 hex in my bedroom that are just delightful.

[Slappy*McFish]

A couple of Bumblebee Gobies (http://aquaworld.netfirms.com/Other/Hypogymnogobius_xanthozona.htm) would be cool in a small, 5 gal brackish tank. They prefer live food like brineshrimp and livebearer fry. I'm sure they would take frozen food as well, though they don't usually go after flake foods.

[tricksterpup]

Another fish i would recommend is the Paradise fish, Macropodus opercularis . I have one here at work in a 2.5 gallon tank. He is fiesty and is the fav of everyone who comes here.
In my six gallon here at work, i have 6 Zebra Danios and 1 skunk botia Botia morleti . Doing plenty of water changes and plants and everyone is doing fine. :D

[katydidit]

wow, less than 10 hours and i have 10 new posts...im thrilled! I have considered the blue ram quite a bit, but considering they would thrive more in a larger tank, i will leave it to someone who can provide it more room (aka, maybe when i stock my empty 29 later this year...). I really want a live planted tank with fish that would work with that. What about dwarf puffers? anyone have luck with them? i have heard that they are the only species of puffer that doesnt require a brackish environment...but i dont know much else about them. those bumblebee gobies were cool, but i know nothing about keeping a brackish tank, zip actually! Thanks guys, and im still watching for new ideas too, the more i get, the easier it will be for me to decide so THANKS!

[OrionGirl]

Dwarves are not the only FW puffer, but they are quite popular. While their small size would make them ideal, I now advise against keeping them in a small system because it is really hard to provide enough adequate nutrition for them. Live snails are the best food for them, and in small tanks, they will hunt and eat every last snail. I had mine in a 5 for a while, and then moved them to the 40--huge improvement. Even in the 40, I end up supplementing them with snails (grown in another small tank).

A single dwarf gouramie and some dwarf cory cats would do well in there, or a trio licorice gouramie.

[katydidit]

how many snails can a tiny puffer eat though? Like i have a little gallon aquarium i could raise the snails in and put in like 10 a week...how many do you think 3 could eat in a weeks time?

[OrionGirl]

Those tiny puffers will go through snails at an unbelievable rate. When I had mine in the 5 gallon tank, I would put in 40-50 medium sized pond snails each Friday, and they ran through them before Wednesday of the next week. I didn't raise these, I scoured the LFS tanks for them.

Once they get older, they'll start taking prepared foods, so the snails are primarily to keep their beaks in good condition. However--I will never put the dwarves in a small tank again. I thought I was doing really good with mine, until I moved them to the larger tank, and within about 2 weeks they had all grown significantly and had better color.

[Molino]

You could go with some white cloud moutain minnows. They may not be as interesting as a puffer, but they are hardy and easy to take care of.

http://members.shaw.ca/molino/minnows.jpg

[katydidit]

I just decided this morning that i no longer liked the ugliness and crappy filtration of my 5g tank, so i went and bought a 7g minibow with a mini penguin filter (at 100 gph!). I dont really think that gives me any different options, but maybe it will allow me to squeeze in one or two more fish??

[thom336]

Sorry to jump in, but can I just go back to the bit about rams please? I have always thought 5gal too small for rams, but has anyone kept them successfully in a 5gal? If so I will certainly consider them myself, as I have a 5gal (with guppies in at the moment just to keep it going) which I was going to keep Endlers in…but I’ll be damned if I can find any! And if so, is it a particular type of ram? They have some lovely ones at my LFS but they are just labelled as ‘rams’, I have no idea what variety they are.

Again Im very sorry to jump in, I don’t do it as a rule….but thanks if anyone can help.
Thom.

[1 fish 2 fish]

I would agree with most of the fish listed, especially the white Cloud minnows, gourami, and Bettas. When one thinks of Bettas they think of a fish that doesn't do anything, just floats with big fins drapped over it, but when given room they are active and have a lot of personality. I would also suggest zebra danios or other danios, another active schooling fish.

[nolemite]

Ember Tetras. Endelers. Dwarf Gouramis. So on and so forth.

Rams might fit in a 7g, but who'd want to keep them like that? Why not throw in a few discus while we're at it if they fit.

[Rometiklan]

Originally posted by thom336
Sorry to jump in, but can I just go back to the bit about rams please? I have always thought 5gal too small for rams, but has anyone kept them successfully in a 5gal? If so I will certainly consider them myself

I have successfully kept Rams in a 7 gallon tank with other fish in a community. But in a 5 gallon, I would dedicate it exclusively to the pair of Rams. The problem with keeping Rams in a smaller tank is that you need to be fairly meticulous about water maintenance, as water conditions in a smaller tank tend to deteriorate faster. If you have a good filter, like the AC mini, and adhere to a good maintenance schedule, your Rams will do just fine in a 5 gallon tank. However, I do not recommend this set-up for novices, as Rams are probably not the best choice for beginners anyways.

[OrionGirl]

Katydidit: no, the extra 2 gallons really doesn't increase the amount of fish you can get in there, nor does the filtration. Territory will be the prime issue, rather than water quality. The 7 will be a stabler tank, but only just barely.