Stocking for 5 Gallon

[Samuel]

Just after some ideas for my 20 Litre/ 5 Gallon tank. Currently houses 6 red cherry shrimp, 2 rasbora maculata and 3 male endlers.

Ideas? Thanks

[JJenna]

Welcome to the group! Nice looking tank! I have some suggestions for you, but bear in mind with that small of a tank the number of fish you can add will be limited, depending on the type of filter you have or you may have to do more frequent water changes. Most 'nano' fish will grow to be 1-1.5 inches.  What type of filter do you have? Most of the 'nano' fish are schooling fish and should be bought in groups of 6. 

• Ember tetras grow to about .08 inches (word of caution, if they are wild caught, you should quarantine them for a period of time because they may come with fin rot or ich) Look to see if they are locally bred. These fish are schooling. 
• Pygmy Corydoras grow to about 1" and are so darn cute. These fish are schooling. 
• Kuhli Loaches grow to about 4 inches. Because of they are a skinny eel like fish, they have a pretty low bio load. Not a schooling fish. 

[Samuel]

Good ideas, thanks. Don't think I can fit the embers, I would want 5 at least, I might feel a bit bad squeezing 5 in haha

It has a small internal filter, does a good job and houses plenty of media for the tank size.

[Lennie]

I would personally only advice to increase the school size of rasboras as two is  not really ideal for a schooling fish but 5g is small. Pygmy corys are really active, kuhli loaches want lots of hiding locations and good amount of bottom area to sift around especially during night time and embers get thick, and these all enjoy really big groups. I keep my 16 pygmy corys in 33g tank and you should see how active they are and how much they enjoy being a big group. 

Imo, 5g is too small for any schooling fish and it is only okay for shrimp. Maybe for a single betta, if there was no shrimp and other fish. As otherwise they end their life in a cup of water sadly.

Anyway, if you really wanna add something there, make ur rasboras happy and increase their school size to min 6.

But please be noted that, considering the amount of gap on top and decorations, filter, substrate, etc. the tank has much lower amount of water than 20L.

So frankly I would just keep either 3 endlers or move endlers to a new tank and increase the schooling size of rasboras, or just make it shrimp tank only. And I def would not add any new species. You probably have endlers rasboras shrimp and snail in probably around 15L water or so already.

 

[knee]

I'd remove the endlers and you can do add 1 or 2 sparkling gouramis or scarlet badis. I'd choose the scarlet badis since you have shrimp and they're less likely to kill an adult or anything bigger than a baby shrimp. Badis would only eat frozen or live food so keep that in mind. Also would add 4-5 more of the dwarf rasbora.

I wouldn't put any active swimmers in there like endlers or pygmy cory and no other schooling fish besides the one in boraras genus.

[Cinnebuns]

Hey!  That looks like a fun tank!

A tank that size is extremely limited on fish option. Even some smaller fish like tetras require more space because they are very active and need the horizontal swim space on dart back and forth. Bioload and size of fish are not the only factors in stocking. One must also consider how active the fish is as well as how large of a school they require. 

Your current stocking seem pretty good. The only thing I would add to it is to increase the rasbora school. They do better in a larger school of 5 or more. I would add maybe 3 rasbora and call it a completed tank in terms of fish. 

Other than fish though you do have another option. Nerite snails are small, have a tiny bioload, and would fit in nicely in this tank. I would recommend 1-2 of them. Most of them feed exclusively on algae so only get 2 if the tank produces enough algae to support them. Occasionally they will eat algae wafers, blanched veggies, or even bottom feeder foods like shrimp pellets, but often you get them and they won't touch anything but algae. It's hard to know until you get them what yours will take. 

There is tons of different types of nerite snails. At my last count I had a list of 23 and I'm sure there are others I've never heard of. There is so many different colors and patterns to choose from!  One thing to be aware of is that they are wild caught and not bred. Because of this, not all of them adjust well to captive life and don't make it. It's a common snail for people have have bad luck with them surviving because of this. However, if you do get one that adjusts well they can live for several years.

Nerites are by far the best algae eating snail in the hobby and so are a great addition to any tank. As an added bonus, they cannot reproduce in freshwater so they will not overrun a tank!  Females will lay eggs but the eggs will not hatch. Some people do find these eggs annoying but I have never had a problem with them and I have dozens of nerites. Some fish will eat the eggs. Other eggs will disappear and break down over time. 

[SaveTheRainbowfish]

If you are looking for something interesting with personality, I'd go with a single pea puffer. They love bloodworms, and they develop a relationship with the owner. They can be found at around $5-$7 a piece.

Hope this helps!

[Colu]

I would just do a shrimp or snail tank or a Betta in a tank that size

[Scapexghost]

Female endlers

[SaveTheRainbowfish]

A betta is also great.

Also consider a pair of shell-dweller cichlids if you have hard water.

On 2/12/2023 at 2:23 PM, SaveTheRainbowfish said:

A betta is also great.

Also consider a pair of shell-dweller cichlids if you have hard water.

(Shell dwellers need lots of shells, though, and weaker plants may be uprooted.)