Um....so yeah... What would my options be for a 5 gallon tank? I know a betta would be an obvious one and I really love em but I kinda have four right now...so I don't want another one right now xD. Or it'd be cool though if the betta could live with some other type of fish in there. Though I doubt that 5 gallons is enough. So..like I said earlier (lol) what are my options?

Male Guppy, Betta, Dwarf Gourami (not sure on this one), Honey Gourami, Sparkling gouramis....

You could probs keep a few guppies together, but I wouldn't know on Betta companions, I haven't managed to convince mine to live peacefully with an apple snail twice its side let alone fish.

I would say your best bet would be either three male guppies or one betta of either sex or if you have a rectangular tank, divide your tank with a tank divider and then get two bettas.

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

Actually, if you wnated to try something different you could go with brackish and keep bumblebee gobies...

Another option would be a paradise fish, tonnes of personality and they colour up beautifully, sort of like mini oscars lOL

Actually I don't have the tank yet though I'm planning to buy one as soon as my babysitting money starts piling up lol. I'm planning to buy a 5 gallon kit. I've got a couple of 10 gals and 20 gals but I really need to save space in my room so I don't have any space for bigger tanks. Anyways, thanks for the suggestions people. And um....I don't think I'm ready to go brackish just yet. lol And about the male guppies, I heard that you need two females for every male guppy? Is this true? Lol. Sorry I'm kind of a newbie when it comes to tropical fishes. (Except bettas lol)

I've got a little tank about that size with a few neon tetras, they're cute and zip around in a little school quite happily in there with their cherry shrimp friends.

5 gallons is quite small. But you could try some dwarf shell dwelling cichlids but only one pair in the tank, something a little different. Its usually recommended to have 2 pairs on a ten but it works out kind of but if anyone knows different please corect me. Also I would recomend researching them as well through google there are a few types.

Or an other idea could be a pair of dwarf puffers?

The only problems with these are that they would be only fish in the tank if you would be happy with that?

Or you could maybe research into smaller tetras? Or maybe a small school of about 3-4 Micro rasbora? Again you need to research them if you type in tropical fish profiles into google you get loads of sites that are good aqua hobby has a good listing of fish

Don't worry about it. I've researched many fishes but just wanted to know if they would work in a 5 gallon lol. I'm satisfied with a few fishes. But now I want to know the possiblities for a 10 gallon xD And i'm wondering whether or not I should make a new thread about it lol.

watch out for male guppies they have the same colors as betas and the beta would want to fight them

2 african dwarf frogs

The problem is that if you put Male and Female guppies together they will breed quickly and could outgrow you tank with cute fry. But if you put male and male together they should get along together you just have to watch that they do not fight. Oh and I heard from someone that every male you should have 3 females.

If you want to try inverts, how about shrimp? I have a 5 gallon planted tank with a colony of cherry shrimp. They are really easy to keep.

yes you need 3 females to one male

but as for fry, thats easy, leave them alone and they eat them!

the fry will not outgrow a 5 gal as the adults will eat the fry within 24 hours/36hours
if they dont..then sue me!

I been breeding and selling gups for a year now, trust me, the parents will eat them. Unless you have a very very planted tank for fry to hide in, but in a 5 gal I suspect its not heavily planted.

Now back to your set u
ok 5 gal
if you want color and interest Id go 2 male guppies and 3 females

this is VERY consertive..........most would say one male to 3 females
but if you are good on testing water and doing your waterchanges this is do able.
also if you keep a good eye on them then if you see the females stressed...you can re avaluate

as I breed guppies, its easy for me to say go for it so forgive me..........i often defy the rules and experiment
so far I am experimenting with temperature
and higher temps is getting more males!!!


anyway....thats off topic......see how you go and just post here if you need advice or reasurence

Have you thought about 7 gallons? I have a MiniBow 7 that I ADORE! It's the cutest little tank and it might open you up to a couple more fishies and still save space (perfect desktop tank... although we have it on the kitchen counter right now). Anyway, I think guppies would be great as well personally, either way

I know you said you weren't interested in going brackish, but just fyi.

2 female balloon mollies
or 1 male
or 1 male and 1 female and let them eat their fries fry

or possibly 1 black or dalmation or sunset or silver or etc. molly

There are also a number of freshwater dwarf shrimp species you could try, that come in a wide range of colors including tiger, blue, and green, as well as the more commonly seen red and ghost. Petshrimp.com has info on many of them.


That's funny, high temps in my balloon molly tank has given me almost all females!

thats interesting.
I have no experience with balloon mollies but thats good to know.

id like to expand into other live bearers in the future.

with my gups 80F gives me 16 males and 4 females to every 20 fry.

So far, out of 37 fry at 80+ degrees, I've got 1 confirmed male (a dalmation lyre-tail, very handsome boy :3), 7 confirmed females, and 29 that so far all look to be female, although a few of them are still tiny enough that they could change.

I love fry! X3 Mine tend to semi-school around the tank, and it's so adorable! I need to take a video.

And getting back to the main topic, what about snails? The larger species like Apples/Mysteries or Columbian Ramshorns, Turbos for saltwater, or many others. They're not as energetic and vibrant as fish, but they can be quite amusing with their own personalities, and some of the varieties are very pretty! I used to hand-feed my Apple Snails frozen brine shrimp and beefheart.

I wouldn't let that happen. Or would I?

I have an empty 5 gallon right now and Im planning to add 2 platies, I heard that they do well in pairs in smaller tanks. Neon tetras might be a good choice too. Im saving up for a 20 gallon right now (dont know how i'll ever get enough money without a way to earn any, maybe i'll have to consider babysitting, I want to put 2 angel fish in it, yeah I know thats kind of off topic but whatever.) I still really think that platies, neon tetras, or guppies are great choices. I also have another 5 gallon with one tiger barb cause when he was in my 10 gallon he killed all the other tiger barbs so he has to be by himself.

I know I have allready commented this with a sugestion. But an idea I have read on here that I would love would be a shrimp tank . Really heavily planted with bright red cherry shrimp and ghost shrimps. *wants new tank*....*is not aloud new tank ¬.¬*

a couple of dwarf puffers as the one other person said, those are the cutest things!

I'd add neon tetras.

yeah as most peoplw are saying you should try neon tetras you can keep about 4-6 neon tetras in that size the only thing is you have to buy a heater for them as tetras like warm water and soft acidic water.

so yeah maybe give that a try and tell us what happens

Wow people are still answering this thread? Lol thanks for all your ideas but I ended up inheriting from a 10 gal complete with fish, (*sigh* another overcrowded tank now) filter, hood, and rocks. Anyways, the 10 gallon is WAAAAAAAAAAAY overstocked but I'd rather have me taking care of it than my stupid cousin's parents. His parents never listen to me just because I'm 14 and they said that my cousin was bored of it now so I could have it.......Anyways, the tank is packed with 10 zebra danios, 6 neon tetras, 6 black neon tetras, and two gold dust mollies. I'm still trying to figure out myself how they kept them alive without even changing the water regularly and not using water conditioner most of the time....oh well.....thanks for your replies lol.

This might be simple but how about 4 neons and one cherry shrimp?