What fish should I get for my tank

sweethoneyjlp86

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Jan 24, 2006
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I have a 5 gallon tank with one mystery snail and two cory catfish. My betta just died of swim bladder (to make the story short, I went away on vacation, gave him a 7 day tablet, he ate the whole thing and was suffering). I want to get another fish for the tank, but what should I get?

The tank has a heater and filtration system. I am thinking of maybe another betta, or a coupld of female bettas. Any other thoughts?

And please don't tell me to get a bigger tank because I live in a dorm room and I only have a little space.
 
unfortunately the only answer i would be comfortable giving is to get rid of the corys and get another male betta.. and never fewer than 3 female bettas, which would need more tank than you have.
 
Unless you are going to go with Nano Fish, 5 gallons is a bit small. I would recommend a Betta. Bettas look fine in smaller tanks than that, but from what I've seen, they will spread out and swim more when you give them more room.
 
I agree with SS... you've got to lose the cories. cories need to be in relatively large groups of 4-5 individuals at least, not pairs, and the two most common species of cory (bronze and peppered;im assuming you have one of those two species) get about 2 1/2 inches in length as adults, so a proper school in a 5G is not possible. I highly reccomend returning them to your LFS, and in their stead getting another betta, or perhaps a dwarf gourami or a trio of male guppies.
 
As far as the cory catfish goes, I have had them for over a year and they are just fine. Very healthy. Thank you for the answers, anyone else?
 
Other alternatives for a 5g are dwarf species of gouramis such as dwarf gouramis, honey gouramis and sparkling gouramis. I wouldn't recommend licorice and chocolates in there. The water conditions will not be stable enough for them to thrive.
 
As far as the cory catfish goes, I have had them for over a year and they are just fine. Very healthy. Thank you for the answers, anyone else?
mmmm.... its not really about physical health, its about mental health. cories kept in groups that small are not as active or productive as cories living in larger groups. on top of that, those two cories plus another fish would overload the tanks fish capacity. this will not kill the fish, but it will stress them and shorten their lifespan. it may not seem like theres anything wrong ATM, but long-term you could run into issues with overpollution and overcrowding, resulting in stressed fish. if you really love the cories you can keep them as they are without adding other fish, but it would be wiser for the cories. do you test your water params regularly?
 
mmmm.... its not really about physical health, its about mental health. cories kept in groups that small are not as active or productive as cories living in larger groups. on top of that, those two cories plus another fish would overload the tanks fish capacity. this will not kill the fish, but it will stress them and shorten their lifespan. it may not seem like theres anything wrong ATM, but long-term you could run into issues with overpollution and overcrowding, resulting in stressed fish. if you really love the cories you can keep them as they are without adding other fish, but it would be wiser for the cories. do you test your water params regularly?


Yes I check the water parameters regulary. They are all fine. I don't mean to sound mean, but you don't know what my cory catfish do. They are very active and I can test it because my fiance has a ten gallon with 4 cory catfish and mine are more active then his. I have done this for 3 years now and on another post of mine, people told me that it would be fine. But I appreciate your concern
 
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