5 gallon fish tank

[Anonymous]

Got a 5 gallon fish tank for my son. What fish do you recommend and and how many? Also, we just set it up tonight, how long should we wait before introducing fish? My son is super excited and anxious to get some fish in there but I told him we would have to wait a few days. Think he could get two fish on Sunday (it's Friday evening now)?

[Anonymous]

Sunday might be okay. Get some hardier fish as tester fish. Then maybe some more permanent fish in a week or two if the starter fish die. Maybe 1-3 comets, rainbows or guppies.

[Anonymous]

If your son is a little older (8+) make sure you get him a PH tester kit, and let him track the water's progress. Remember the rule of thumb- no more than one inch of fish per gallon, and less is better.

Since you're not fishless cycling, Sunday would be more than enough time for the chlorine in your tap water to evaporate. For five gallons I'd start out with two half-inch fish- NO GOLDFISH!- to cycle the water. A couple White Clouds would be good, especially if you don't have a heater. While your at the pet store pick up a little bottle of dechlorinator for water changes.

If your kid is younger, I'd just have him pick out a betta and be done with it. You won't have quantity, but they're fun to look at and hard to kill. It's pretty easy to kill fish in a five gallon tank, so this is a good thing.

Finally, make sure your son doesn't overfeed his fish, and keep the tank out of direct sunlight. Both are one way tickets to Algaeworld.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the tips. I will pick up the ph tester kit. He wants two small fish and a sucker fish. Can we put a sucker fish in that size tank?

Also, how often should I be changing the water. I havent bought any supplies. Im thinking net, bucket, gravel vacum thingy, ph tester, water conditioner and some extra filters. Am I missing anything else? I already have fish food and a thermometer.

[Anonymous]

By sucker fish, do you mean catfish? A catfish would be fine. It will help clean the bottom of the tank. Do you have an aerator, fake plants (real plants can grow like weeds and encourage algae) and a tank light? Plants give the fish somewhere to go for security.

[Anonymous]

We have a rock that has some holes in it, 3 fake plants, a light, and a small filter. We do not have a heater.

[Anonymous]

He wants one of those fish that suck on the side of the tank, is that the catfish?

[Anonymous]

If you go into petsmart asking for a sucker fish, they are going to sell you a pleco. They won't tell you that by next year that puppy will get up to 8 inches long. A five gallon tank just can't handle that.

Make sure you ask about final size of any fish you purchase. I'd suggest seeing if they have any flower shrimp in stock. They are good filter feeders and fun to watch. Do not buy a snail. Even if you just buy one, it WILL reproduce like mad and take over your tank.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you go into petsmart asking for a sucker fish, they are going to sell you a pleco. They won't tell you that by next year that puppy will get up to 8 inches long. A five gallon tank just can't handle that.

Make sure you ask about final size of any fish you purchase. I'd suggest seeing if they have any flower shrimp in stock. They are good filter feeders and fun to watch. Do not buy a snail. Even if you just buy one, it WILL reproduce like mad and take over your tank.

Agree, do not get a Pleco--they also suck on the other fish. An otocinclus or dwarf albino catfish (a pair of these catfish are fun) are fine.

[Anonymous]

Snails-- the BANE of an aquarium.

[Anonymous]

Surprised to hear about the pleco getting big. Usually fish adapt to the size of their environment. So a fish that can get pretty big if it were living in a large tank or out in the wild would grow in proportion to the tank size and be considerable smaller in a smaller tank.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you go into petsmart asking for a sucker fish, they are going to sell you a pleco. They won't tell you that by next year that puppy will get up to 8 inches long. A five gallon tank just can't handle that.

Make sure you ask about final size of any fish you purchase. I'd suggest seeing if they have any flower shrimp in stock. They are good filter feeders and fun to watch. Do not buy a snail. Even if you just buy one, it WILL reproduce like mad and take over your tank.

Will OP have a problem with the shrimp catching and eating the fish? We had some crayfish (I know, not shrimp) that would do this. One day there would be five fish and later that day, four fish with the dead fish carcass picked clean. The crayfish were fed but still killed the fish.

[Anonymous]

Well we are off to the pet store in a couple hours to pick up the rest of the supplies and get two fish. I'm going to try to steer him towards guppies. Hopefully our water is ready and the fish dont die.

[Anonymous]

Ask the pet store aquarium person if guppies are a good choice. Not sure but think they may reproduce a lot. GL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you go into petsmart asking for a sucker fish, they are going to sell you a pleco. They won't tell you that by next year that puppy will get up to 8 inches long. A five gallon tank just can't handle that.

Make sure you ask about final size of any fish you purchase. I'd suggest seeing if they have any flower shrimp in stock. They are good filter feeders and fun to watch. Do not buy a snail. Even if you just buy one, it WILL reproduce like mad and take over your tank.

Will OP have a problem with the shrimp catching and eating the fish? We had some crayfish (I know, not shrimp) that would do this. One day there would be five fish and later that day, four fish with the dead fish carcass picked clean. The crayfish were fed but still killed the fish.

There's more danger of the other fish eating the shrimp than vice versa. Flower shrimp are cool because they have fans on the end of their front legs. They'll sit on top of your tank decor fanning all the crud in the current towards their mouth. They're far more entertaining than, say, ghost shrimp.