Ideas for a 5 gallon tank

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OrangeCones

Elite Fish
#1
Feb 27, 2009
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#1
My nephew is going to visit for a week around Christmas, and I am thinking of setting up a 5 gallon aquarium in the guest room for him to watch.

What fish would anyone recommend for him (he is 4 1/2 yrs old)? I will use the 5 gallon as a temporary quarantine tank so whatever fish(es) that start out in there will go to my 40 gallon tank after he leaves. Whatever I put in the 5 gallon would ultimately live with small rasbora and tetras.
 

O

OrangeCones

Elite Fish
#3
Feb 27, 2009
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#3
If you mean GloFish Fluorescent Fish (trademarked by Yorktown Technologies and exclusively produced by Segrest Farms, Inc and 5-D Tropical, Inc. for sale on behalf of Yorktown), I would not buy those. A friend of mine started with 5 or 6 of them in a small planted tank and ended up with over 30 one summer. She could not legal give/sell/or trade them to anyone. They ended up as oscar food.
 

Omnominator

Omnominator

Large Fish
#4
Sep 19, 2012
101
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0
Clearwater, Fl
#4
As of now, I just have a platy and a Molly in my 5 gallon. Do you not want live bearers because of repopulation rate? If you wouldn't mind live bearers then you could get 2 guppies and a platy. That is a nice combination that I had before. If not then I will keep trying but my fish knowledge is not as vast as others.
 

KcMopar

KcMopar

Superstar Fish
#5
May 11, 2011
1,854
1
0
Louisiana
www.americanhotrodsolutions.com
#5
OrangeCones said:
If you mean GloFish Fluorescent Fish (trademarked by Yorktown Technologies and exclusively produced by Segrest Farms, Inc and 5-D Tropical, Inc. for sale on behalf of Yorktown), I would not buy those. A friend of mine started with 5 or 6 of them in a small planted tank and ended up with over 30 one summer. She could not legal give/sell/or trade them to anyone. They ended up as oscar food.
Click to expand...
Yummy!!! My Oscars love the June bugs the kids catch for them.
Have you considered danio's???? I think that's what they are called. They are fairly cheap and nice looking fish as well as very active. However you know I am stepping into and area I dont know much about LOL. I have cycled a few tanks with these fish and they were always entertaining and very hardy to match.
 

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OrangeCones

Elite Fish
#6
Feb 27, 2009
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#6
I may opt for danios, or perhaps another (different that what I already have) small tetra or rasbora species. I don't want anything too closely related to what I already have as I sell offspring and don't want unintentional hybrids to worry about.

My coworker had a good idea: go down to the newer big aquarium store in town on Saturday morning and see what catches the eyes of the kids that will likely be in there. "Out of the mouths (in this case eyes) of babes..." kinda thing!

I'm not worried about cycling the tank, as I'll use Flourite from the existing tank and will stuff it full of crypts, vals and some dreaded guppy grass (been trying to get rid of that plant for ages!). Thought I had erradicated it but it came back! Almost as bad as duckweed!
 

GooGirl

GooGirl

Large Fish
#7
Nov 20, 2012
222
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Walla Walla Washington
#7
I bought 4 mollies and 2 danios about a year ago. The danios are the only ones left. Three of the mollies had babies and died, then the fourth got sick and died. Danios are fast, more hardy than mollies, and they are not livebearers.
 

F

Fishman1995

Superstar Fish
#8
May 11, 2010
1,341
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0
North Carolina
#8
A Dwarf Puffer may be a good idea OC. They are fun little buggers and maybe something new for you to experience?

Some Shrimps might also be a good idea, they are always fun.

Some small Shell-dwellers such as Multi's would be fun too! You could also sell those offspring as well.

Just a couple ideas :D
 

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OrangeCones

Elite Fish
#9
Feb 27, 2009
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#9
Thanks for the suggestions, Robert.

I have three dwarf freshwater puffers currently in my 40 gallon tank. I've had these three just a few months, but have had them for many years. The last one I had lived over 6 years with me. They are small fish but big personalities! All I've read about them say they can't be kept except in their own (species) tank, or perhaps mixed with otos. From my experience, as long as they are well fed, and the water conditions are kept right, they live peacefully with anything that doesn't bully them. I do have to target feed them if snails are not available, but my 'snail breeding trap' works great to keep them with snails to munch on. An occasional offering of bloodworms or blackworms (if they are hungry) must be given to them directly with an eyedropper as just about any fish will swim faster and beat them to the food.

If I wanted to leave this small tank up and running, Multis would be a good idea. But all will go into my planted tank and there is no sand for them there. Once we move (summer of next year) to a house we're building, then I can do more tanks. But for now, in a rental house, I'm kinda limited on what I can do.
 

O

OrangeCones

Elite Fish
#10
Feb 27, 2009
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#10
Thank you for the suggestions, GooGirl.

My experiences with mollies differs from yours. I've found them to be very hardy and long-lived fish. But even for a short stay in my 5 gallon tank, even one is too many for such a small tank. It would be very hard to keep the water clean enough. Plus, they would not work out with my small rasbora and tetra 40 gallon tank. A few danios I may do. I will see what is available on Saturday.
 

S

snus29

Medium Fish
#11
Dec 10, 2012
50
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#11
i have a 5 gallon tank with 2 black ocellaris clownfish in it and a papuan puffer fish. they are the coolest fish i have evr had. the papuan puffer fish is a very colorful and vibrant fish while the ocellaris clownfish are very cool. (regular clownfish are cheaper but the black ocellaris clownfish are very cool and unique if you ask me).
 

achase

achase

Large Fish
#12
Feb 1, 2010
765
0
0
British Columbia, Canada
#12
snus29 said:
i have a 5 gallon tank with 2 black ocellaris clownfish in it and a papuan puffer fish. they are the coolest fish i have evr had. the papuan puffer fish is a very colorful and vibrant fish while the ocellaris clownfish are very cool. (regular clownfish are cheaper but the black ocellaris clownfish are very cool and unique if you ask me).
Click to expand...
You are going to need a larger tank eventually for all those fish. I believe I already posted as much on another thread.

I don't want to hijack OC's thread so...
I vote for a dwarf puffer! I love my puffers and I think a 4 1/2 year old would really like them as well. :)
What about a honey gourmai or something relatively peaceful like that.
 

O

OrangeCones

Elite Fish
#13
Feb 27, 2009
4,395
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#13
Hey achase! Long time, no hear from! I'm going today to see what is available locally.

I have 3 DPs in my 40 gallon (2 gals, 1 guy) that get along well. The girls stick together to hunt snails and the male keeps to the right-side of the tank. The girls come/go freely on 'his' side, but he watches them when they cruise on through, before going back to hunting.

I want to get a shoaling species that stays small. I liked the Hyphessobrycon pulchripinnis (Lemon Tetras) the last time I looked. As this will just be in the 5 gallon tank for a two week QT period, I want to make sure they would not harm my other two small species of fish.
 

achase

achase

Large Fish
#14
Feb 1, 2010
765
0
0
British Columbia, Canada
#14
Hey! Between graduating and starting my second degree I haven't had much time to visit the forum. :(
This forum is addictive so I think I will try to visit more often in the New Year.

I think Lemon Tetras would be a fantastic choice!

The two DP's I have now are buddies, expect when blood worms are floating by. ;)
Out of all the DP's I have had these two are the oddest. They have no hunting instinct at all. Sometimes when one of the DPs mistakes a baby shrimp for a bloodworm I can almost hear the DP apologizing. Lol.
I'm glad to hear that your DP's are doing well. I can just imagine your male DP watching the girls.
 

M

masterbaiter

New Fish
#16
Dec 24, 2012
6
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0
#16
I would suggest a Norcturnal Polymission Fish. They thrive in smaller tanks for the first 6 months and they are very active. Keep them at room temperature. They eat algae tablets and blood worms, as they are semi-aggressive. When they get bigger, they can be a danger to small fingers, so keep your nephew from putting his hand in the tank. Trust me...they don't call me 9 finger MasterBaiter for nothing. Ok...Good luck!
 

missnikki

missnikki

Medium Fish
#18
Feb 13, 2011
55
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#18
I had Danios in a 55 gallon and they ultimately ended up picking on the other fish so bad that I took them out and donated them to my aquarium store to keep my other fish happy. I couldn't imagine Danios in a 5 gallon. LoL.
 

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