5 gallon stocking?

[cecile1]

I would go for either a nice show quality betta ( depends on the personality- getting along with others), and some small/pygmy corys on the bottom, ottos maybe for some movement. I too also like anubis and driftwood!

There are some good journals that are 5 gals, you will need to make one!

Avoid those hermit crabs, fish and shrimp are better!

I will add in my two cents that puffers need a species only tank, they can be aggressive and nasty little buggers to other species. Also, there is some debate, but they are brackish fish, so just some musings.

[HybridHerp]

I know some of the puffers are brackish, but the dwarfs are as well? Bh I forget the species I was thinking of in particular, but I am mainly fixating on endlers, pearl danios, a show Betta, and dwarf Cory's, just have to get down to the specifics first and then buy and set up the tank lol

[Kehy]

Dwarf puffers are fresh water, I believe. I've seen some other types of baby puffers sold as dwarfs, but those would grow to become brackish.

[Calmia22]

Dwarf puffers are true freshwater fish, do not give them salt, and never ask a petsmart employee about that, or they will say a dwarf puffer needs brackish water. I have two dwarf puffers, a bunch of cherry shrimp and 1 pygmy cory (he was the soul survivor from another tank) in my Fluval 7.9 gallon aquarium which is lightly planted and everyone gets along fine.

The puffers are male and female, and they treat the pygmy cory as if it's one of them. The shrimp they just tend to ignore.


And not all puffers are aggressive. I have had dwarf puffers in community tanks for years without issue.

[DBlauj]

Scarlet Badis would be nice. I'm actually trying to find some for my 6g.

[Pooky125]

What about a relative to the betta? A sparkling gourami or two with a few micro rasboras would be a nice setup. Safe for shrimp too.

[xenxes]

Gouramis aren't very safe.

Fish <1" are generally safe. Rasboras, boraras sp.

[HybridHerp]

I would try a sparkling or other small gourami species if I could find one.
I think the mainly factor in what fish I will end up with will be what fish I can either find locally or on Aquabid
I just got back from vacation and I have to FINALLY order some dry ferts for my main tank, so that is still my main focus. However, I can take as long as I want with this 5 gallon project, considering the fact that I don't start school until the end of august and even though I am dorming I am not living super super super far away.

Right now, I am more or less in-between focusing on either a half-moon plakat betta, a dwarf puffer, sparkling gourami, a group of pearl danios, or a group of some sort of fancy endler.
Pending on what I choose my main focus to be, I will supplement the rest of the tank with some dwarf cories (If I ever get my hands on them), cherry shrimp, and maybe a few ramshorn snails. The inverts I already have, along with some nice pool filter sand, so all I need are fish, the tank itself, equipment for the tank, and whatever trimmings or extra plants I decide to place in this thing. I might even try diy CO2 if I feel the urge, since I want to do that for my 10 that is already at my house anyways. Maybe this little mini tank can also be my first foray into led lighting or something other than florescent lighting (so far I had sonly ever used t8 and t5ho)

I'll do a journal on this eventually lol

[HybridHerp]

So, I just bought a little 5 gallon tank today. Its kind of funny how it feels in terms of size though. I feel like its bigger than 5 gallons since it seems to be only slightly scaled down from a 10 gallon tank. I'll work on lighting and filtration later, I definitely want some sort of HOB since I can't really do a mobile canister, not sure if I want to add a sponge as well or if I should just do 2 small HOBs and call it a day. What I do know though, is that I may as well finally get my hands dirty with dirting a tank, since I already have some top soil and pool filter sand to cap it all with. I've got a friend that can sell me some driftwood so I'll see if he has anything small that can make a nice centerpiece. Having the tank in hand however, I can definitely say that I, for sure, want a small group of C. pygmaeus or something of that size. I guess I should aim for 5 or something right? After that, I'll add either a small group of equally tiny fish, or a single betta, and some cherry shrimp and ramshorns thrown in just because. Though, I'll be adding plants before I add fish, and try my hand at a fish less cycle for the first time ever (although I did do a cycle once with just physa snails and ramshorn snails...but that's still using living things isn't it? lol)

[HybridHerp]

random idea
if I didn't want to do the dwarf cories, do you think I could do some bumble bee gobies in their place? they seem to get the same size and I get the feeling that they might get along better with a dwarf puffer or even a betta, or just be small and colorful looking in general
thoughts on bumble bee gobies in a 5 with tank mates?