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[chocstrwberry]

HI, I'M NEW TO THIS PAGE AND I AM TRYING TO FIND SOME THINGS OUT ABOUT MY SONS TANK. I NEED TO KNOW IF ANYONE KNOWS HOW MANY FISH CAN BE PUT IN A 2 GALLON TANK, WITH A DWARF AFRICAN FROG. :confused:

[Dangerdoll]

hi choc!! first let me say welcome to the Boards, you're bound to have a great time here and meet some great people!!

let's see, for your question, you might want to ask that in the Freshwater Newbie Forum, you'll probably get a better response there since here is just a bunch of us crazies lounging around. ;)

I can say though that you are quite limited with your tank being that it is so small.... a snail might do, I'm not sure there's a fish for a 2 gallon that's already got a frog in it.

[Timmain42]

Welcome to the party. We're happy to have ya, but please... no shouting. We "hear" you just fine (there's no need to type in ALLCAPS, it's hard to read and is considered "shouting" on forumBoards).

If it's a really, really tiny gray frog, you *might* be able to put a betta in with it (2 gallons is a VERY small tank). If it's a white frog with black claws and red eyes... well, don't expect it to stay small for long.

[Dangerdoll]

OR if it's that little white guy, don't expect that said Betta to be there for too long either.....

[chocstrwberry]

I never replied to anyone who answered my questions, Since then I relized it is a 2 1/2 gallon. I have put a small placostamus, 2neon tetras,2 spotted cories, a spotted tetra, and some other kind of tetra with a pink line. They all get along fine together. The frog is an Africain Dwarf (maybe 1/2-3/4 inch), not the clawed Dwarf(white with claws). It's not suppose to get bigger than 2 inches, and that is streching it. I do not plan to put any more fish in the tank. But I did try a underwater crab, but they keep dieing. In fact, I was trying to find out why maybe in here today. Sorry about the "Shouting", I did not realize that was shouting. This is my first forum.

[chocstrwberry]

What is the rule of thumb of how many to put in a tank?

[Cearbhaill]

There is no rule of thunb- every fish/body type is different.

But you are already way overstocked.

Do you have and use test kits?

[chocstrwberry]

How many should you maybe have, when I only had the Placostamus, frog, and 2 tetras, the tetras were unhappy. They never would "light up", now with the others they almost always are bright. All of the tetras are only barely 1/2 an inch big, does this matter with being overstocked? Plus, the tank just looked so empty. How do pet stores have so many in there tanks without them being harmed. The fish look as if there is plenty of room. I do have test kits, I usually test at least every 4-5 days. The town where I live has horrible water I have to add this stuff the pet store gave me once a month.

[SimonWoodstock]

Your pleco will either die or outgrow that tank very quick. Most of them get around 10-12". A betta is about all I would put in that tank, especially with a frog. Not to sound mean, but those fish will eventually die in that tank.

You have came to the right place to learn about fish keeping. I have always gotten answers here, and I have asked a lot of unusual question out of curiosity.

If the tank looks empty, you could always add an easy to grow plant. They do wonders for tanks.

[Dangerdoll]

How do pet stores have so many in there tanks without them being harmed. The fish look as if there is plenty of room

There are usually high numbers (more than a hobbyist would keep) in one tank due to sales volume. The fish aren't normally kept in those tanks for a wide duration due to people cming in for that perfect fish. Our tanks aren't tanks that we allow people to come in and decide whether they want one..... we try to create the perfect environment for our fish, most petstores do not, their concern is how many they can sell (for mopst anyway).

[chocstrwberry]

I know the placostamus will outgrow the tank. when I bought the store told me that if he was in a small tank he would not grow. Since, i have found out was a lie. When he gets much bigger I am going to give him away. I can not get a bigger tank. My apartment does not allow pets,or aquariams. I can not believe they have not said something yet.

[cgrabe]

...My apartment does not allow pets,or aquariams. I can not believe they have not said something yet.
You could just build an aquarium inside an old TV. If they ask, just tell them it's a fancy new HDTV. They look real, don't they? :)

[ChicoRaton]

I know the placostamus will outgrow the tank. when I bought the store told me that if he was in a small tank he would not grow. Since, i have found out was a lie. When he gets much bigger I am going to give him away.

I'd start looking for a home for him right now. If you want happy fish, I'd only have one small fish in a 2.5g. A betta would be a cool addition, and would be really happy in a 2.5g with an ADF(African dwarf frog)

good luck!

[StreetCypher]

You could just build an aquarium inside an old TV. If they ask, just tell them it's a fancy new HDTV. They look real, don't they?

LOL, thats a good idea.

[Cearbhaill]

Somehow this thread reminds me of GOLDFISHPOOP ?

[chunksofpoooo]

the tetras were unhappy. They never would "light up", now with the others they almost always are bright.

I thought tetras "light up" due to actual light (thats why they're dull in the morning before the light goes back on)??


At any rate, if your looking to "fill up" your tank try some bamboo shrimp. I got a few for my 20gal and also got a large piece of red lava rock. The contrast looks awsome, they just hang out on the rock. They're crazy things too; their 1st pair of thoracic "legs" and their maxilipeds have been transformed. If you can imagine a lobster claw, only the two claw pieces have been replaced with two "fans" that open up to collect floating particles and to scrape up alge. The claws look like opened barnicles.

you could probably fit a hefty piece of lava in a 2gal, and a few shrimp. The red lava goes well with bright green plants, and the bamboo colored (literally, its crazy) shrimp look cool on it too. the frog should have no problem

http://www.abrisousroche.com/Images/EauDouce/35.jpg
http://www.akwa.aip.pl/krew.jpg

and heres a great pic of the fans
http://www.vitawater.ru/other/pict/atyopsis/img01.jpg
http://www.webzinemaker.com/botia-club/photo/pho1_8658.jpg

id seriously consider getting rid of most of the fish you have in there now, not to sound mean, but its just not healthy for the fish. The lava rock and shrimp, if you go that route, will deff. help with "filling" the tank.

[chocstrwberry]

Well, the 2.5 gallon tank just was to hard to take care of, I had to do 1/2 water changes all the time. So, We got a 5.5 gallon, a couple of days ago. So we put all of our fish into the new tank they seem so much happier. But now they still will not move apart. They still follow the frog every where. He doesn't seem to mind. But if you have tetras how many could you have in a 5.5 gallon tank. We had the 2.5 gallon and a 1 gallon and combined the fish from the 2 tanks into the new tank.( hoping the maintance man doesn't say anything) This is what we have..

1 bull shark (1 in)
2 ADF frogs (1/2 in & 1/4 in)
2 freshwater crabs (1/2 in)
4 neon tetras (1/2 in)
1 spotted tetra (1/2 in)
3 spotted cory (1/2 in)
1 placostamus (1 1/2 in)
1 spotted something (1/4 in)
3 zebra looking fish (Long and skiny about 1/2 in)

They all look as if they have plenty of room and we bought a new large filter, I have been doing water checks every 2-3 days and they are always just right.
There seems to be no agression, they all seem to be fine. The crabs keep eating the plant seeds though, and we only have spongebob figures in the tank and a small bridge, so they have lots of room.

[Cearbhaill]

Please- a bull shark?
How stupid do you think we are?

Edit: My tongue has bite marks!!

[chocstrwberry]

maybe I am mistaken on what the freshwater shark was called, but that is what the boy a superpets called it. I am new at this, isn't this the "newbie forum" no need to be mean and hatefull. Just a simple, you might be mistaken on the name would have done nicely.

[TKOS]

Let me just say this, I have a 5 gallon tank with 1 betta fish in it and lots of plants. I used to have 5 tetras in a 5 gallon and that ended up being overstocked.

It has been said many times already taht your tank is crazy overstocked. those fish produce waste and it is slowly killing them. If you don't wish to hear that then I suggest stop adding to this post. those fish need a huge tank to be happy. A 5 gallon tank can hold a coupe of fish max. That is all there is to it. Either you agree with that or you don't but stop looking for validation on what will be a death trap of a fish tank.

And actually this is not a newbie forum but a general chit chat forum.

[chocstrwberry]

Sorry it was posted on the wrong forum, and before I had a 2.5 gallon with like 10 fish. I just got this one Last Wednesday and added the fish from both my tanks into the new one.

[dwayne]

I'm confused... what size is your current tank, and what are the fish in that tank?

tongue bitten...

[chocstrwberry]

My current tank size is 5.5 gallons. I have
1 bata shark? (1 in)(some kind of freshwater shark, silver with black fins)
2 ADF frogs (1/2 in & 1/4 in)
2 freshwater crabs (1/2 in)
4 neon tetras (1/2 in)
1 spotted tetra (1/2 in)
3 spotted cory (1/2 in)
1 placostamus (1 1/2 in)
1 spotted something (1/4 in),kindof looks like a cory, maybe an oscar?
3 zebra looking fish (Long and skiny about 1/2 in)

[heat]

I replied on the thread for the fw crabs... but here goes since it's not yet been moved to the FW forumn.

First, in all honesty, you need to take back about half of the fish you have in the tank.

Tha bala needs a larger home than you can provide, you did state you aren't supposed to have pets of any kind including aquariums so you won't be able to upgrade to a larger home for it.

Same goes with the pleco.

Same goes with the spotted fish, if it is an oscar.

The danios (zebra looking fish) need more room because they really seem to do better for me in a larger group, which in a 5.5 you can't do.

You may find the crabs and the cories have problems with eachother when the crabs grow a bit.

If it was mine, I'd keep the tetras, cories, and try to keep the frogs and find the rest new homes with people with larger tanks or take them back to the store that sold them to you. Even that many would be more than pushing it when the fish are grown.


Researching the fish before you buy them will go a long way for you, and know the name of what you buy.

Good luck and welcome to the hobby!

[chunksofpoooo]

one hell of a welcome

regardless, they are all correct, you have waaay to many fish in your tank. I have a 20 gal and i only have 10neons, a few chinese alge eaters, some shrimp and hopefully an african butterfly....if that doesnt work out im probably just gonna get like 4 dwarf puffers. At any rate, as you can see, the amount of fish you can hold in your tank isnt too great. Its a bit misleading i suppose, seeing how many fish are held in fishtanks at the petstore, but as it was mentioned, the only reason they hold that many is because the fish are sold so quickly.

I dont even think i could keep the bala in my 20 even if i didnt have any fish. Get rid of pretty much all of what you have, and your tank is too small to have any schooling fish, so i dont think you should keep the tetras (you should have a group of at least 6 to keep them happy). The dainos wont be happy either. As a matter of fact, im rather confused as to how, exactly, you can even fit that many fish in your tank. Do they even have any room to swim?

Honestly, a 5gal is just to small to keep a wide variety of fish. So heres my two cents; go with some aquascaping. Get some nice plants, maybe some sword, anacharis, duckweed or Phylanthus Fluitans. Get a nice centerpiece, my vote always goes for lava rock, but slate looks really nice too. If you get red lava rock, black gravel looks cool. If you go with slate, green or wite looks nice. make sure to get a small filter of some type. As for animals you could probably keep the crabs or ADF, for fish you might want to try a beta.

or

I dont know much about puffers, but im getting really interested. So, to anyone out there who knows, correct me if im wrong. dwarf puffers need about 2-3 gal a fish. You could try to keep a single puffer in there, but you wouldnt be able to keep anything else, as they are rather agressive. Im not sure if they need other puffers to be happy, im presuming that they dont.

good luck

[Rava]

Do you have a picture of your new tank? I'd love to see. :) I'm having a hard time picturing all the fish in that size tank, as that's the size I have, as well. :)

[chocstrwberry]

I'll try to get a picture, because all of the fish are so tiny you can hardly tell there are more than 5 or 6. I did not buy them all my mother bought the striped fish and the shark for my son on his birthday. We had them seperated into a 2.5 gal and a 1 gal but recently bought the 5.5 gal. I do not have a scanner or a web camara. But I'll try to get a picture, I even use the computer while at school.