5 gallon ideas

[Streetwise]

I enjoy small tanks. I have plants and snails in a 1.25, shrimp in several 2.5 tanks, a betta in a 3.5, plants and snails in additional 3.5 tanks, and a 7.5 with ember tetras plus shrimp. These are all boring organic soil tanks with minimal gravel caps and tons of plants.

[Taco Playz]

Yes I love them too

[Fish Folk]

I was watching this tonight... ca. 7 gal tank. Beautiful ideas. Gardneri Killifish look stunning, but everything is glorious with plant selection. Weekly water changes. _DAILY_ fertilization. DIY CO2. 
 

 

[rickbooher]

I would use amano shrimp and or cherry shrimp and celestial pearl dainos they have great color and will swimming all over the tanks

Edited June 9, 2021 by rickbooher
Spelling error

[AudreyB]

I have 3 male endlers, 1 nerite snail and cherry shrimp in my 5 gallon. 

[Turtle]

Amber tetra

[GameCzar]

I think White Clouds are a great idea if you are going heaterless!

[David Ellsworth]

I have some Heterandria formosa, the least killifish in a 5.5 gal and they are doing pretty well. They are neat little live bearers.

[Mahi27]

I don't have a lot of space for large tanks at my residence so I am familiar with some of what goes into stocking a 5gal. As others have mentioned, it is a bit of a catch-22 because most teeny fish show better behavior in large groups, which kind of defeats the purpose because then you need a bigger tank anyway. Fwiw, I'll share what I have and what I make of the stability of each tank:

5.3gal cube #1: This tank started with 6 white cloud mountain minnows and caridina shrimp. Like OP, I prefer no-heater tanks and am OK with the limitations of that. The tank did well in terms of bioload and maintenance, but I felt like the minnows were cramped in there, and the shrimp just never came out. One day I looked over from my desk and saw a minnow madly chase a juvenile shrimp until it scurried under the driftwood. I moved the minnows to my outdoor mini pond same day. They are doing great in there and have started reproducing successfully; meanwhile, now the shrimp are out all the time and generally appear much less stressed than they were.

5.3gal cube #2: This one is a bit overstocked but it's doing OK for now. Wild-type betta, 5 exclamation point rasboras, a snail, and 6 rosy loaches. Oh and some shrimp that never ever come out. The rasboras are a perfect example of what I was talking about earlier: they'd do better in a group of twice as many or more, but then the tank would be really cramped. Amazingly, the betta leaves all his tankmates alone -- he is more interested in trying to kill me, I think. (Flares whenever he sees my finger.)

5.5gal long: Three Asian stone catfish, 30+ zebra caridina babaulti shrimp breeding colony that has absolutely taken off in recent months, and a mystery snail. In many ways this is my most easygoing tank. It's got an algae problem, but the livestock have been really happy and healthy, so that's great.

2.5gal cube: Mixed orange and orange rili neocaridina shrimp. They're doing OK. It's really hard to keep this small a volume of water stable, and I definitely had some ammonia problems in the beginning. Almost lost the whole colony before it even started because of that. 

So...my general opinion on stocking a 5-gallon tank is that you can go ahead & try whatever sounds reasonable to you, but please do be prepared with a backup plan in case it's not working out in the livestock's favor. 

[Roara]

On 5/24/2021 at 11:02 AM, RyanU said:

Iknow Pigmy Cory's would work for bottom feeders. 

I have 3 and they seem to really enjoy racing around the middle of the tank together throughout the day; could compete for space with other middle dwellers. They do take their breaks/rest/eat on the bottom though.

[Aha teacher]

On 5/24/2021 at 12:22 PM, Taco Playz said:

I'm now going for a school of white clouds and a school of panda cories. Maybe even a few neocardinia shrimp

I’m afraid you’re over stocking! This is a five gallon tank, right? Any occupants need to be the home schooled variety; perhaps a beta, a snail and some live plants. Best of luck!

[GameCzar]

13 hours ago, Mahi27 said:

I don't have a lot of space for large tanks at my residence so I am familiar with some of what goes into stocking a 5gal. As others have mentioned, it is a bit of a catch-22 because most teeny fish show better behavior in large groups, which kind of defeats the purpose because then you need a bigger tank anyway. Fwiw, I'll share what I have and what I make of the stability of each tank:

5.3gal cube #1: This tank started with 6 white cloud mountain minnows and caridina shrimp. Like OP, I prefer no-heater tanks and am OK with the limitations of that. The tank did well in terms of bioload and maintenance, but I felt like the minnows were cramped in there, and the shrimp just never came out. One day I looked over from my desk and saw a minnow madly chase a juvenile shrimp until it scurried under the driftwood. I moved the minnows to my outdoor mini pond same day. They are doing great in there and have started reproducing successfully; meanwhile, now the shrimp are out all the time and generally appear much less stressed than they were.

5.3gal cube #2: This one is a bit overstocked but it's doing OK for now. Wild-type betta, 5 exclamation point rasboras, a snail, and 6 rosy loaches. Oh and some shrimp that never ever come out. The rasboras are a perfect example of what I was talking about earlier: they'd do better in a group of twice as many or more, but then the tank would be really cramped. Amazingly, the betta leaves all his tankmates alone -- he is more interested in trying to kill me, I think. (Flares whenever he sees my finger.)

5.5gal long: Three Asian stone catfish, 30+ zebra caridina babaulti shrimp breeding colony that has absolutely taken off in recent months, and a mystery snail. In many ways this is my most easygoing tank. It's got an algae problem, but the livestock have been really happy and healthy, so that's great.

2.5gal cube: Mixed orange and orange rili neocaridina shrimp. They're doing OK. It's really hard to keep this small a volume of water stable, and I definitely had some ammonia problems in the beginning. Almost lost the whole colony before it even started because of that. 

So...my general opinion on stocking a 5-gallon tank is that you can go ahead & try whatever sounds reasonable to you, but please do be prepared with a backup plan in case it's not working out in the livestock's favor. 

Wow, Asian Stone Cats look super cool, how big do they get?

[Griznatch]

As everyone has already posted - In a 5 gallon your water volume is so low you need fish with a small bio load. Anything bigger than pygmy corys or a few otos, will leave little room for error on water parameters if they start to go south. especially with only bi-weekly water changes. CPDs are small and can tolerate lower temps as can white clouds. Plants that consume a lot of nitrates will help.

 

Edited June 9, 2021 by Griznatch

[Midwest Nanoaholic]

My favorite 5 gallon tank is Cherry Shrimp and 3 Ottocinculus with a small sponge filter and no heater.

[Midwest Nanoaholic]

My favorite 5 gallon tank is Cherry Shrimp and 3 Ottocinculus with a small sponge filter and no heater. I also agree that Panda Corydoras like to be in a group of at least 3 and would be to much for a 5 gallon tank.