I Just Bought A Fish Tank --- Need Suggestions On Type Of Fish To Get

[THUNDER HANDS]

It's a 5-gallon tank.

Thoughts, suggestions?

[sportndandy]

1. 1 Betta male, 2 cory catfish

Wait a couple of months and you can add a half dozen neon tetras.

[CottonBear]

3. Will the tetras not be eaten by the Betta?

All of my neon tetras have been eaten by the other fish. :-(

[jmowreader]

23. No, bettas are safe with non-bettas

And if you'd quit putting neon tetras in with Oscars, they wouldn't GET eaten! :evilgrin:

Five-gallon tank? Danios.

[Rabrrrrrr]

37. Neon Tetras will be eaten by pretty much any other fish

I was sorely disappointed when I was told that in the fish store when I was ready to buy a shitload of them - I really like them, and they're so small, I was excited that I could have a HUGE school of 'em!

But the fish seller said, "No, they're so small, all the other fish think they're food. They'll be eaten. For the most part, they need to be in a tank by themselves."

BUMMER!

I love neon tetras.

I'm tempted to get now a 55 gallon or so tank, just to have my shitload of neons.

[CottonBear]

2. Zebra Danios

You need about 5 of them to make a nice little school. These little guys are extra hardy. Make sure your nitrogen cycle is properly balanced first. You might also add a little tiny catfish to clean the bottom. You can only fit a few fish in a 5 gallon tank. I forget the ratio of inches of fish to gallons. Good luck!

[jswordy]

4. DANIOS ARE KEWL! And inexpensive! I also like...

...kissing gouramis.

Be warned, beta males can only be one to a tank. Beta males are colorful but they are pugnacious fighters.

Danio schools are neat to watch, and offer an interesting backdrop for larger fish like gouramis, swordfish or angels. And they are cheap, so if the occasional one gets eaten, no biggie. I used to have about 10 of them. Kept some water plants for them to hide in.

[giant_robot]

5. Just buy a few of the cheapest fish they have for starters

So you can break the tank in and get the nitrogen cycle started. Expect to lose some fish. Most people start out with small tanks, but bigger tanks (20 gallon and up) are actually easier to manage. If you make a mistake in water chemistry in a 20 gal. tank it's a hell of a lot easier to do damage control than a mistake in a 5 gal. tank. Good luck!

[snooper2]

6. 5 neon tetras, 3 black skirt tetras, and 1 Chinese algae eater

Should be just fine with that,

rule is 1 inch of fish per Gallon, but this should work fine for you since neon tetras are so tiny...

Add PH7.0 to the tank and let it sit a week with the filter running before you add any fish..

And, DO NOT empty the water the fish come with into the tank, use your net to transfer the fish from the bags..

[jmowreader]

24. Chinese algae eaters SUCK!

They should be called Chinese fish killers, because that's what they are. Fucking things should be banned, they're such a worthless fish.

The best bottom feeder for a small tank like this one is the Otocinclus catfish--it's a shoaling fish, so you'll need a couple to make them happy.

[snooper2]

33. What are you talking about, mine are great!

They seem to be scared when other fish come around. And, they eat all of the crap on the glass and the air lines which is cool.

What did they kill?

I have 5 black skirt tetras, 3 blue gouramis, the two algae eaters, and two silver-tipped sharks. All living together happily in a 30 gallon tank.

(The sharks are kick ass and fast!)


http://www.exotictropicals.com/encyclo/fresh/catfish/sharkcat.php

[jmowreader]

42. Are you sure it's a Chinese algae eater?

This is a Chinese algae eater, a fish that thinks it's a remora:



Now this is an otocinclus, the superior fish:



Not much difference, right? In looks, there's almost none--get a magnifying glass and look very closely at the skin: CAEs are loaches and have scales; otos are catfish and have no scales; and the mouth: CAEs don't have barbels and otos do.

Otos are great. They will eat the algae off anything, and not damage plants when they do it.

[jswordy]

40. Yep, they will eat yer fish whole...they love danios!

[Lerkfish]

7. small tank. keep your numbers down.

rule of thumb: one inch of fish per gallon. That means you can have 5 inches of fish. If you get small fish, that's great. If the fish matures to one inch, that means you can have 5 fish.
but actually, most fish, even small ones, mature to at least 2 inches. So, more realistically, you can 2.5 fish.

We learned this the hard way. We lost a lot of fish due to overcrowding in our first 5 gal tank. Then we learned and got a 29 gallon tank. Believe it or not, once set up, its no more trouble than a 5 gal. tank to upkeep.

also, you need to get a testing kit: what to watch out for are cycling levels. When you first set up a tank, it has to cycle the bacteria. There are good bacteria that help to keep chemical levels safe by consuming waste products...but it takes time to establish that colony of bacteria...you can buy "cycle" and keep adding bacteria until they take hold and thrive. UNTIL YOU DO, your fish are vulnerable to sudden fish death and various maladies.

I suggest doing some research on the web. There's more info but my fingers would tire typing it all in.

Good Luck! its fun!

[CatWoman]

8. PIRANHA!!!!!!!!

[radwriter0555]

9. Angel fish, while pretty are cannibals. They'll eat anything that's pretty

it seems.

Definitely talk to your LOCAL Fish professional about which fishies are good together.

Petco SUCKS.

[TyeDye75]

10. If your new to fish keeping try some freshwater fish

Orandas, shubunkins, small Koi and a few good ole fashioned goldfish....

Plus you dont have to worry about any of them eating each other like you do with tropical.

[phusion]

11. I've always enjoyed African dwarf frogs...

They are fun to keep and usually friendly with the fish. They like dried and fresh blood worms also (and your fish will love the fresh ones, too).

As far as fish go, make sure you don't get a real agressive fish (like a tiger barb) and a passive fish (like betas or guppys)...That combo doesn't bode well.

In the ten gallon that I just sold, I had a school of 5 tiger barbs. They did well with other barbs and other fish like tetras...

Have fun!

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[THUNDER HANDS]

13. ok, I just got back from the pet store

and I purchased four small, um...zebra somethings.

They have black horizontal stripes on them, but they are kinda pinkish on top and bottom. Three are about an inch or so long, and the fourth is a bit smaller.

The pet store guy told me to add a bottom feeder sometime later, like in a month.

They seem happy once they got over the initial shock of being in a new environment. They're swimming around together. They seem to like going around the filter stick but so far none have ventured through the shelters i got for them.

I think I could fit maybe two more in there, maybe a bottom feeder and a frog or something.

[Arugula Latte]

14. I've heard a rule of thumb is: one inch of fish per gallon.

But maybe 1/2 of goldfish per gallon -- they're dirtier.

[Heddi]

16. My rule is 1 goldfish per 5 gallons

they're little shitters and will foul the water so quickly..ugh.

[Feron]

41. 10 gallons per 1 fancy goldfish is the recommended rule

15 gallons per common or "feeder" goldfish. Remember that they are carp and grow rapidly. My "feeder" goldfish is only a year old and already is beginning to outgrow the 29-gallon tank he is in. If you keep a goldfish in a small enviroment then it will stunt its growth and cause health problems.

Koi are pond fish and should not be in anything less than 200 gallons.

Also, it is not a good idea to mix tropical fish with goldfish due to their differing requirements and cleanliness issues.

[Heddi]

20. Don't add any more fish! Please

I've kept fishtanks for ooooh....10 years or so....

The thing about fishtanks is that they look deceptively empty. So you want to add more fish...but really don't. Five gallons is small. You're going to have to clean that at least once a week (I clean anything less than 20 gallons 2x a week).

If you get a bottom feeder (which I wouldn't reccomend, but that's just me)--PLEASE choose carefully. Pleco's (plecostostimus---I know I just butchered the spelling) are very popular bottom feedrs, but they grow VERY large and need to be in MINIMUM 29g tank---they'll either outgrow your tank and you'll have to take them back, or you'll stunt their growth (and therefore their life span).

The benefit many people see to having bottom feeders is
1) they'll eat poop
2) they'll clean the algae

Well, #1 is false. No fish will eat the poop of another fish
#2 is sort of true, but algae is alot less damaging to your tank than the amonia and other waste-byproducts that the algae eater will produce. In all the bottom feeders I've had, they've been voracious poopers and foul the tank much quicker than any of the other fish I've had.

If you want bottom feeders that aren't too messy and are kind of cool, get 2 or 3 cory catfish (corydorias). I've kept albinos in the past, and they're a whitish-pinky. The panda cories are cute too. These don't grow very large at all, they're not sooper-poopers, and they'll eat whatever flakes float to the bottom.

Please don't overfill your tank, though. I'd honestly say that the 4 fish you have now is plenty. THe more fish you add, the more often you're going to have to clean the tank. The more fish you add, the more polluted the water will be (not with debris, but with nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, etc). Also in smaller tanks, if you get a pH spike, or an ammonia spike, it's much harder to adjust your water to the correct levels than it is in a larger sized tank.

I'd suggest that you keep the 4 fish in there for the time being, and if you want more fish, just get a bigger tank. 10 or 20g tanks don't really take up that much more room, and you can add TONS more fish in there, clean it less often, and have alot more variety than you can with the 5 gallon.

Good luck

[woo me with science]

22. strongly agree here....

congrats on your tank! but do resist the urge to get any more fish. a five gallon is okay for about one betta and that's it. it is a very small tank for four active danios.

do you know about cycling a fish tank? when you start a new tank, it has to go through a cycle during which it grows the bacteria necessary to keep ammonia and nitrite (caused by fish poo) from poisoning the fish. the cycle takes time to go through, and during the time it's happening, your fish are stressed and at high risk of getting sick and/or dying. as a result, it's necessary to test the water daily and do very frequent partial water changes to reduce levels of ammonia and nitrite until the cycle takes hold. knowing about the cycle is the key to a successful tank, so if you haven't read about it and bought test kits for ammonia and nitrite, you will want to do that.

one caveat....tiny tanks are very hard to keep cycled, and some people just do a full water change about once a week to keep the fish healthy, instead of trying to cycle such a small tank. five gallons is just about on the lower edge of what can be cycled and kept stable. if you choose the frequent full water change route, though, you MUST be religious about the changes for the life of the tank, because ammonia builds up very fast in an uncycled tank.

Heddi is right that large tanks are MUCH easier to maintain than small tanks, because the water parameters are more stable. i highly recommend a nice big tank. you absolutely don't have room for any additional fish....you are overstocked as it is. but bigger tanks aren't THAT expensive...

again, congrats, and enjoy your little guys!

[CottonBear]

25. Ditto about the plecostostimus.

We had one and it got HUGE. Mr. P had to go live with our friend Claire's turtle, Matilda. He was really happy just living with the turtle. He kept her algae free by sucking on her head and her shell! They were perfect together!

My husband has caused numerous ecological disasters in our fish tanks. Too traumatic to go into now. Involved electrocution and chlorination. :cry:

We've had all sorts of fish and turtles.

Now, we've got a 20 GAL tank w/ 5 danios and an algae eater of some sort. They've survived for over a year!

[mr_hat]

15. Get those gold ones... Oh what are they called?

[Rabrrrrrr]

35. Ooh ooh - I know what you mean - you're talking about those gold fish?

The ones golden in color, right? Damn, I can picture 'em, but the name just won't come to me.

Branard Grotons? Brandon Togors? Dranob Storgos? Something like that, I think.

[elehhhhna]

17. I buy in threes and name them

Going, Going, and Gone.

[CottonBear]

26. LOL and crying too...

we've done in numerous fish. I had my hubby release the turtles, Little Half and Big Half, back to the pond at the park before something bad happened to them.

[elehhhhna]

31. Our kids think the toilet delivers "sick" fish directly to the bayou

in the park behind our house, so they can "get well with their friends and family".

[woo me with science]

34. LOL

my brother told his daughter it was the direct pipeline to heaven, but then she asked why we send all the poop there.

[Ladyhawk]

18. Great White Shark.

They're really cool. :)

[Stop_the_War]

19. mermaids

:P

[Stop_the_War]

21. Sushi

[THUNDER HANDS]

27. I should have checked this thread before I got home from work

I got more fish. I picked up five Neon's - really tiny though. I don't expect all of them to survive, so I don't worry about overcrowding.

It was either Neons or Mollys, and since Neon's are smaller I figured I'd go with them.

Four of them are schooling, but one seems to want to do his own thing. Must be a loner fish.

They all seem to be coexisting well.

Oh, and in regards to the cleaners, I was wondering if a snail would do the trick.

Oh, and how often after the fish are first placed in the tank should I start to cycle the water?

Thanks! :D

[katamaran]

28. Tank should begin cycling within 1-2 weeks...

Since I'm guessing you didn't use a bacterial starter pouch (which immediately begins the nitrogen cycle), it will take 1-2 weeks before the ammonia/nitrate/nitrite cycle naturally begins. Don't be surprised if you lose some if not all of those Zebra Danios by then. They're great for cycling a tank because they're pretty hardy, but any fish is vulnerable to new tank syndrome. The neons will be even more vulnerable. And neons seem to magically disappear.

If you are looking for a good little catfish, cories are great, as some people have already suggested. The emerald green cories (green/grey) get larger than some of the others (my matriarch of my cory school is 3 inches!), so I would recommend Panda Cories or Skunk Cories.

I would not recommend Chinese or Siamese Algae eaters if you can help it. They can become agressive, and I have actually had them attack and kill neons before. A friendler, more efficient and cuter algae eater is an Otocinclus. They're tan with long black stripes. I have some in all four of my tanks.

Snails can be a pain in the arse. They can get rather large, and they can breed without a mate. And my snail, Gary, liked to go for walks outside his tank (despite the fact that he was an AQUATIC snail). They will not clean algae at all and they POOP NON-STOP. Messiest damn animal I've ever had.

You should definitely look into live plants for your tank. The best for a small tank would be Cryptocorynes (Crypts) since they stay relatively small and breed well without any help. Live plants will help your tank a lot. They help naturally filter the water and just look nice.

Hope some of this helps. I have been around and around with my tanks for a few years until I finally got everything down pat with a minimum of maintenance or effort.

[THUNDER HANDS]

29. thanks

I planted two lily bulbs and put a starter pouch in yesterday when I set up the tank.

Everything looks good so far, the neons have calmed down a litte and my tank looks sweet.

:hi:

[woo me with science]

32. hi again

Is there any way you can take back the neons? you really were overstocked with just the danios, and neons are very delicate fish and not recommended for cycling anyway. They will likely die, so you would do much better to get your money back (or store credit) and save their little lives. Or could you get a bigger tank and use this one for a hospital or quarantine tank?

Your fish begin the cycle as soon as you put them in the water and they start peeing and pooping. Here is a link on the nitrogen cycle on a great aquarium site. They also have forums where you can ask questions and talk to other aquarists:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=21

http://www.aquariumadvice.com

When you are cycling with fish, it is very important to have test kits to measure levels of ammonia and nitrite. You can get them at any pet store; the ones with tubes are more accurate than the paper strip kind and usually cheaper too. The trick is to allow enough ammonia to stay in the water so that it can go through the cycle, but not enough ammonia (or nitrite) to kill your fish. In short, cycling means that bacteria will change your ammonia into nitrite, which is still toxic to your fish, and then other bacteria change the nitrite into nitrAte, which is much less dangerous to your fish. As you go through the cycle you will first see a spike in ammonia levels. Then gradually you will see ammonia levels decline and nitrite levels rise. Finally, both ammonia and nitrite will go to zero and the cycle is complete. Once the cycle is complete, your fish are a lot safer, and you just need to do partial water changes every couple of weeks to keep the water clean. Generally when cycling with fish, you should try to keep ammonia levels at or below .5 (ppm) and nitrite levels at or below .25 by doing small water changes every time levels rise to the danger zone. If they get anywhere above 1.0 for ammonia or .50 for nitrite, your fish will be seriously stressed.

Don't vacuum fish poop from the gravel during cycling, because it helps move the cycle along. Vaccuming should be part of your regular maintenance later on, after the cycle is complete. During the cycle, just change 10 to 25 percent of the water if the levels of ammonia or nitrite are high, in order to bring them back into the safe range. You might have to do very frequent water changes near the beginning of the cycle, because ammonia levels can build up fast.

Cycling may take 4 to 6 weeks with fish. There are also ways to do fishless cycling, but you are past that possibility. In general, the "cycling" chemicals that fish stores will try to sell you are worthless. There is one product that has been shown to create an instant cycle. It is called Bio-Spira, and you can just put it in your tank and be cycled immediately. However, it's very hard to find and also very expensive.

What kind of filter do you have? Do not change the filter media while the cycle is happening; you want the bacteria to be able to build up inside it. Even after your tank is cycled, you don't have to change the media like they tell you. Just rinse it out in tank water (NOT tap water, which will kill the bacteria) and reuse it.

I am assuming you are adding water conditioner to any water you add to the tank....something to remove chlorine and chloramines. If not, you will definitely need this, because regular tap water can poison your fish. Don't add any other chemicals, though. Fish stores will try to sell you all kinds of junk to adjust pH and water hardness, etc. All your fish need is clean water, and the chemicals will only stress them by drastically changing water conditions.

Also, you have chosen tropical fish, which generally appreciate temps of about 78 degrees. They will be much less susceptible to stress and disease if you can find a mini-heater. Be extremely careful with such a small tank....get a heater made especially for tiny tanks and monitor the temperature closely for the first day or three to make sure it is working properly. It is really easy to boil fish accidentally. Make sure any water you add to the tank matches the temp. already in there.

That's all I can think of right now. Do check out that aquarium site. They really helped us when we were starting out.

Good luck....and do consider the bigger tank!

[High Sierra Buck]

39. Snail or SNAILS ? first one then a gazillion

I remember watching this guy put ONE snail in his tank, before he knew it, he had a gazillion snails and could not get rid of them. Finally had to do a complete change out, recycle, the whole cha cha

[davsand]

30. Worst tank I EVER had to deal with was that little five gallon one.

I let my daughter talk me into that tiny little tank--I'd not had any up and running for a few years--and that was the BIGGEST pain in my ass out of all the tanks I've owned. The least little thing will set one of those things out of balance and you are just fucked once that happens.

I was majorly embarrassed at how many fish we killed with that thing. It got so bad I had to start buying fish at PetSmart where nobody knew me. That brought another whole set of problems into my world in the form of some awful kind of fin rot.

I actually was looking at a nice 40 gallon set up last weekend--but resisted the urge. It is only a matter of time before I break down and buy a tank--I can feel it coming. In the meantime, I have a nice little desert terrarium...


Laura

[Rabrrrrrr]

36. Hey - how's the tank doing now? I'm a new tank owner, too!!

Though I jumped for the big one, since everybody at DU and at the stores and elsewhere told me that the bigger the tank, the easier to maintain. So I went straight to the 125, and have a 10 gallon to use as a quarantine/hospital tank.

Zebra Danios - good pick. Cool fish! I'd like to get some in mine someday - I started with Black Tetras as my starter/cycling fish.

I LOVE MY TANK!!!!

I have it in the living room, by the TV, and I fond myself most times looking at the tank and ignoring the screen.

I have 9 black tetras, 6 head-and-tailight tetras, 4 moonlight gouramis, some corys, a pleco, 3 red-tailed sharks (I had four, but they ate one the first day), 2 albino sharks, and 2 fish that are red with longish kind of tails (I think were called red swordfish).

[High Sierra Buck]

38. Better Get Yourself a Water Test Kit; Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates

Even with a larger tank a test kit is a requirement, but with a small tank like that, whoosh, your water could go haywire in no time and you would be facing a lot of floaters, not sleepers, floaters, belly up.

I myself prefer the test tube water kits....

[khashka]

43. I assume fresh rather than salt?

Silver dollar fish. Look like they are made out of hammered silver. And they feed on insects so they will leap above the waterline to catch the insects. Pretty damn spectacular.

Killies are a good bet. Easy to take care of. The males are gorgeous. They breed like rabbits... but you can sell the babies back to the fish store.

Not fish, but.... newts are are great value for money. Just pile up a few rocks above the waterline so they have some dry land. Pretty, unusual and very easy to take care of.

Now if it's a salt water aquarium... that's a whole different kettle of fish.....

Khash.

[7th_Sephiroth]

44. Red Eared Turtles

they grow to fit thier enviroment, but buy some medicated sulfer tablets, Salmonella