Help me set up my smallest tank

[Mystroe_TheMyst]

ok 5gal long (17.5")

Plants..fish...orniments....go crazy..lets see what you guys can think up. oh but if possible somthing that doesn't require heating. Its either a well filterd tank. Or one with a heater (most likely well filtered) is 400L/H to much water flow? internal filter.

So far I've only worked out the filtering, some cheap one at the LFS $9.50AUS for 400L/Hr seems good..It is already set up with some boring @ss platy's (plain coloured ones) It should look interesting when I do it up because I've got a neon light for it..also a normal one but the neon makes it look so cool!

[TKOS]

White cloud minnows. They can take temps from the high 50's F to the low 70's F and even higher for short periods of time. Great fish for non heated smaller tanks. In a tank that size with plants I wiould get 5 of these guys. They are super cheap in Canada, come from China, and are really hardy. Just feed them various flake foods and they will grow to 1.5 - 2 inches in size and when they get big have a bronze coloured body with red lips, and red fins with white fin tips. Very nice and peaceful fish.

[Mystroe_TheMyst]

ok sweet so far its white clouds with various weed like wisteria and java fern..

anything else i can add or put in?

[PumaWard]

I'd put a pair of german blue rams with some duckweed or other floating plants on top with something like hornwart or elodea... maybe even java moss.. I'd also add a little cave made out of rocks or something.

[aquariumfishguy]

Many fish (and plants) need normal "clear" lighting and won't respond well to colored bulbs.

Also, you say that platies are already in the tank. Platies should have a minimum tank of 10 gallons as they like to swim around and can grow big.

[TKOS]

The good thing about hornwort and watersprite is that they grow well either planted or floating. Nice versitile plants. With a 5 gallon tank you are really going to have to look at 1 species of fish if you want a small school. Not a lot of room for swimming plsu ammonia dn nitrites will build up fast. Platys can do well in a smaller tank as in my experience they are fairly docile and not big swimmers, but on the other hand they can fill a small aquarium up with babies pretty darn fast.

All male fancy guppies is also a way to go for colour and variation. They are small and you could put 5 or so in there with plants.

[delmore]

If you want a fish with "personality" consider a betta or paradise fish for the 5.5g. I have a paradise fish in a 5.5gallon planted tank on the corner of my desk at work, and he spends most of the day "begging" for food. I prefer paradise fish to bettas. Also, paradise fish don't need a heater.

Just make sure that you do lots of water changes, cycle the tank of course, and add floating plants such as those already mentioned, or Wisteria (spelling?)

[GobyGuy5]

you could make:

- A Dwarf Puffer Species Tank
- A Dwarf Frog Species Tank
- A Fiddler Crab Species Tank

Some stocking suggestions for a community tank:

Dwarf Cories!
Neon Tetras (they're SO tiny...)
Ottocinclus
A Dwarf Chiclid or two as the center pieces...

Hope that helps...;)

[Mystroe_TheMyst]

Ok first of all, these platys are riverstream and have adapted to crap conditions such as high nitrate and muddy water. What tank they are in is heaven compared to the type of wasteland they originally came from. They do get pregnant quite quickly but they are not so quick to drop. Blue rams? does that require heating? I thought it did. But paradise fish? anyone have any objections? if not that is looking good at the moment. Or that school of neons sounded cool (saw some gold strand neons in the shop looked awesome together).

Hopefully I will get a job at the store, went in for an interview on Wed (2days ago) and went for a 2nd one today. Would be loving a job at the LFS.

Yeah Wisteria i've got some of that in my 18gal. All very exciting. Keep the ideas flowing!

[PumaWard]

A paradise fish is actually a very good choice. They have everything, beauty, personality, and durability. Not to mention most are smart, some are smart enough that you can teach them to jump through hoops. I think that this is the best idea yet :).

[delmore]

The common variety of paradise fish has similar coloring to some of the dwarf gourami's that I've seen - bands of blue and red, but with the long flowing fins. The fish is an agile swimmer, unlike a betta, and is not shy like like my pearl gouramis.

Here's my 5.5 gallon planted tank, with "spot" the fish:

http://www.wu7.net/users/photos/paradisefish02.jpg

here's another. He's "begging" for food:

http://www.wu7.net/users/photos/paradisefish01.jpg

[ChilDawg]

Oh, gosh, a 5g tank? Go to the Cichlids forum and search for "Shellie Links". That's got a lot of info on the beautiful shell-dwellers of Lake Tanganyika!

I wouldn't recommend many other dwarf cichlids for such a tank...I think a pair of Rams are best for a well-maintained 10g (but more water means more ability to make small errors!)

[Mystroe_TheMyst]

well I now work at my LFS so I will be learning at great deal more about cichlids. About that heater when the frist pay roles in I will grab me a small cheap filter and a 55W heater (smallest/cheapest we sell). I will be on the look out for some of those shellies but I don't think we sell any. That 5.5gal planted tank looks great!

Can't wait till I make my final desicion about what setup i'm am going to use!

thanks guys

[Mystroe_TheMyst]

internal canister filter? 400l/h would that go alright in my 5gal? or would it be better if I just kept my small world sponge filter that runs of an airator?

[ChilDawg]

400L/hr. works out to more than 100 gallons/hour. For a 5g tank, that is wayyy too much turnover, unless you're keeping something large and messy (which you can't in a 5g tank!) I'd recommend the sponge filter over the internal canister.

[Mystroe_TheMyst]

Well I've finally put a paradise fish into it, today. I've got that 400/H also inside. I've made it so I blows against the glass (width). Small and blue with other small river stream platy's (caught in a stream) So I might wip out the ol' Digi cam....when will its colour increase?