I'm new, and need help stocking my 5 gallon

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Diminished29

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Sep 23, 2006
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Just got this this tank 4 days ago. My girlfriend and I decided this would be a hobby that we could both enjoy.

Here are the fish we have stocked currently:

1 Female Betta
1 Blue Gourami
2 Mixed Fruit Tetra (the painted kind, just found out about it and we're not too pleased, however we're just hoping they do alright.)

1 VERY small frog, he's only an inch long if that right now, but is supposed to grow close to 2".

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We just need some stocking suggestions. I being a typical guy would love to see a school of tiger barbs or cherry barbs, however with their being a Beta in there I know it wouldn't work.

So here are some of the combos we're thinking about:

Combo 1:

1 Betta
1 Blue Gourami
6 Tetra (suggestions for which would suit best are welcome)
2 Small bottom feeders (suggestions?)
1 Small Frog

Combo 2:

1 Betta
1 Blue Gourami
4 Celebes Rainbow
2 Small bottom feeders (suggestions?)
1 Small Frog

5galtank1.jpg
 
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sorry, but a 5g is too small for all those fish. your best bet would be one of the following combinations

either the betta OR the gourami, depending on the species of gourami it may get too large for a 5g period. if its a dwarf species, it will be alright, but they really do prefer much larger tanks, even though they are a small fish. if it was me, i would stick with the betta

besides being dyed, the mixed fruit tetras are skirt tetras, which will get too large for a 5g, since they need to be in a school of 6 or more. you may be able to get away with 4-6 neon tetras though.

and the african dwarf frog should be alright.

all this depends on if you have a filter or not. some people will say bettas don't need filters, but i believe they do, and the other fish mentioned DEFINATELY do. the filter is the only place in the tank with enough surface area and where all the water in the tank is sent through several times per hour, so good bacteria can form a large enough colony to process all the waste from your fish. those fish also need a heater. walmart carries a very small heater that is only 7.5 watts made for 2-5 gallon tanks.
 
We have both a heater (nice one $34) and a filter which came with the 5 gallon mini-bow which we purchased at Petco.

This is a bit upsetting I suppose, as nice is the betta is I was REALLY hoping to get a small school of tetra or celebes rainbow to go with my beloved blue gourami.
 
In a while if you wanted to upgrade to a ten gallon (Most kits only cost about 30 dollars) You could have more choices.
 
The "blue gourami", from what I can see is not one of the drawf types RC mentioned, it is the three spot gourami (Trichogaster trichopterus). The three spot gourami is a relively huge fish, growing to an adult size of up to 6 inches (15 cm) in length. This fish also is a quite powerfull swimmer and I would not trust the thin glass of a 5g to be able to hold one.

If you want to properly house this fish and keep it healthy and happy, you will need atleast a 20g tank (in the long format, not the tall) and even then, that would be a bit small for this species and tankmates would have to be limited. If you really care about your fish, than you will goi through with this, if not, than your fish will be stunted and will live a misearable and shortened life.
 
As already mentioned that tank is already way over stocked :(

Go buy a small 10-20Gallon tank, they are pennies.
 
your tank is way over stocked,and you said that you go it 4 day ago which means you probably didnt cycle it,thats probably why all your fish are at the surface.you should get rid of everything exept for the betta and frog.by the way what are you feeding the frog?
 
I totally agree. A 5g tank is a bad starter size anyway, especially with it being maxed out or overstocked. It is well worth the investment to get a larger tank. Are you restricted by space? If not you'd do well to get a 20g or larger. And please cycle it!
 
5 Gallon tanks

In general, I consider small 5 gallon tanks to be specialty tanks. It's hard for me to think of them as a general purpose hobbyist tank for the beginner. This is one of those hobbies where bigger IS better when you are new.
 
Hi there. I hope you aren't discouraged by the replies here, because keeping fish can be a very fun hobby. However, if you can afford to do it, I would definitely agree with the advice of getting at least a 10 gallon, or better yet a 20 gallon or 29 gallon.

It might seem like a small tank would be easier, but in the long run a bigger tank is actually easier because with a bigger volume of water you don't have to worry as much about the water quality changing rapidly and possibly killing all of your fish suddenly (because in a bigger amount of water, the waste from the fish and uneaten food is diluted more). Plus fish are usually more fun to watch when they have more room to move around and you can have a nice sized group of them.

If I were you, I would leave only the frog and betta in the five gallon (I actually do have a five gallon with that combo in it myself).
That alone would be enough for the five gallon.

The blue gourami would be better off in a 20 gallon, so if you were just going to go with a 10 gallon then you'd probably be better off trying to return the gourami to the store.
However, with a 10 gallon, you could put the two fruit tetras in there. Don't add any more fish until some time has passed and the tank has cycled. Do a search about cycling and you can find out more about cycling a tank. Many people prefer to cycle a tank without fish but since you already have these fish it seems that cycling with fish is the only way. You might be able to speed up the cycling process by adding some hardy, fast-growing aquatic plants like anacharis or hornwort that will take up some of the ammonia from fish waste.
Then, once it has cycled, you can add four more black skirt or white skirt tetra. The skirt tetras are the same species as the fruit tetra, it's just that the black and white skirts aren't dyed. The rule of thumb with schooling fish is that you should usually get about six of the same kind to make them happy, so that's why I suggest adding four more undyed skirt tetras.

If you had some plants, 2 or 3 cherry barbs would probably be okay in a 10 gallon, but not tiger barbs. The tiger barbs are very active and need the room for a school of at least six (the cherry barbs prefer being in a group too but it is more criticial with the tiger barbs because they will get aggressive with other fish if they don't have enough other tiger barbs to play with), so I'd save the tigers for a 20 or 29 gallon.

If you want a bottom feeder, look into the ghost shrimp or the Pepper cory, bronze cory, or albino cory catfish (sometimes other corydoras species can be found like the panda cory but they are not as hardy as the Bronze or Pepper corydoras are - and the albino cory is usually either the bronze or pepper species).
Just remember that bottom feeders add to the load of waste in the tank, and don't eat other fish's waste, so you still have to be careful not to overload the tank with them.
Good luck to you. :)
 
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