Hey all... need help for first Fish Tank!

A

Arnie

Not a pro... yet!
Feb 28, 2005
7
0
0
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New Delhi
Hi Everyone, this is Arnie from Delhi, India. I've been interested in freshwater fishes from a long time back, but due to many reasons, haven't been able to get one uptil now. Anyways, now I'm seriously planning to get one, but for limited space, can't go in for a big tank. I'm getting a tank with specifications 12"Lx9"Bx9"H. This would contain about 5litres of water... please don't ask me to convert that to gallons, I'm not very comfortable with it! Anyways, I thought I would start out with guppies, but the size restrictions do not permit me to breed guppies. So, the main question I wanna ask is, for the tank of these specifications, which species of fishes would be the best? I was thinking of Zebrafish, but just wanted to check up with some experienced guys! Hope you can help me out, thanks a lot people... catch ya later...
Arnie...
 
12x9x9 works out to 15.93 L and 4.21 US g.
http://animal-world.com/encyclo/information/calculate.htm

Zebrafish a.k.a. zebra danios (brachydanio rerio) would not be a great choice for for a couple reasons. They are schooling fish and in order to have an enough of them, that tank would be overstocked. Even with a smaller number, they zip around too quickly and such a small tank would not be adequate for their swimming habits.

There are a lot of posts on stocking a 5 gallon; perhaps search for ideas. Just offhand, all I can think of is a betta.
 
I have a 5 gallon tank (similar in size to yours). I keep a single betta and some freshwater snails in it. I also heavily plant the tank.

If you have your mind set on guppies then a few males in a 5 gallon with some plants would look nice. If you don't add females then breeding won't be an issue.

I woudl suggest reading the info in the stickies in the newbie forum, espeically the one on cycling a tank.
 
kveeti said:
12x9x9 works out to 15.93 L and 4.21 US g.
http://animal-world.com/encyclo/information/calculate.htm

Zebrafish a.k.a. zebra danios (brachydanio rerio) would not be a great choice for for a couple reasons. They are schooling fish and in order to have an enough of them, that tank would be overstocked. Even with a smaller number, they zip around too quickly and such a small tank would not be adequate for their swimming habits.

There are a lot of posts on stocking a 5 gallon; perhaps search for ideas. Just offhand, all I can think of is a betta.
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot kveeti. I want to keep my options open, and while I will ask my LFS about a betta, can you please suggest some other fishes as well? Thanks a lot...
Arnie.
 
Hey. Aren't bettas carnivorous fishes?? If that's not one of the options, how about keeping Plecos instead? Please help me decide fellows!
 
Yikes, no plecos. Even the smallest ones get to be 10 cm long and that is too much for a 5 gallon tank.

A betta will eat tropical fish food, and most stores will sell food just meant for bettas. In the wild they do eat flies etc... but will easily eat fish flakes.

In order to keep a small tank like that stable it is important to keep the amount of fish as low as possible. That is why a single betta or maybe a single "dwarf" gourami is a good idea. Scooling fish like danios and tetras are bad choices as to make them happy you need a large group and that size tank won't work well for that.
 
Hi Arnie, welcome to AC :)
You could try something like pygmy rasboras, they stay very small (less than 2.5cm/1") so keeping a small group might be okay even in a 4-5g tank. A small group of 3-4 pygmy corys might be okay, but probably not ideal since they prefer to live in groups of 6-10 or more. If you're not overly fond of bettas, how about a honey gourami? They're very peaceful and stay quite small.
I agree with planting the tank - in small tanks ammonia can build up very quickly. Plants will help by consuming any ammonia over and above what the filter can handle, as well as making the tank a very comfortable home for small fish.
 
Yeah but unless there is a little genetic manipulation going on here I think all male guppies are safe ;) They can try and try but the best they will achieve is an unhappy tank partner.
 
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