is this too many fish for my 6 gallon planted tank

[brayden malone]

hi, i was wondering if you guys could tell me if the fish I want are too much for a 6-gallon tank with plants. I was hoping for some bolloon mollys maybe 4 or 5 and 1 honey gourami—also either shrimp or corys. I am good with matience and love to do it. i have lots of floating plants and some stems. medium planted tank I would say.

also just as a side note would corys dig around/ up my sand and plants?

[AllFishNoBrakes]

The short answer is yes, that’s way too many fish for a 6 gallon. 
 

Consider only the honey gourami and some shrimp. 

Edited March 17 by AllFishNoBrakes

[JE47]

@AllFishNoBrakes is right that is way to many fish. Shrimp would work great in that size and you could do a small nano fish or something. I would check aquadvisor its a site that can help you get a good idea of what would work or not work in your sized tank.

[Tlindsey]

On 3/16/2024 at 10:55 PM, brayden malone said:

hi, i was wondering if you guys could tell me if the fish I want are too much for a 6-gallon tank with plants. I was hoping for some bolloon mollys maybe 4 or 5 and 1 honey gourami—also either shrimp or corys. I am good with matience and love to do it. i have lots of floating plants and some stems. medium planted tank I would say.

also just as a side note would corys dig around/ up my sand and plants?

Welcome to the forum. Yes Corydora do browse around with their barbels aka whiskers but shouldn't be a problem for deeply rooted plants. 

[brayden malone]

i have 3 little lame endlers right now just got. what would be a good total amount once the tank gets fully cycled

 

[Tony s]

In a 6 gallon, there really isn’t a lot of swimming space. You really need micro fish for that tank. Even endlers are pushing the limits of the tank. I know, PetSmart and Petco both sell very cute, tiny tanks. (Walmart too) that aren’t really big enough for anything. Even 1 betta is pushing the limits. It’s a terrible choice by them to even sell these tanks. Sorry 

the most I would put in them is one betta or honey gourami and one mystery snail. If you’re new to fish tanks. You’ll also want to put in some api quick start. That will help keep your fish alive. You’ll also want some test strips to check for ammonia in the tank. Fish naturally create ammonia in their waste. It’s very poisonous. You need to test for ammonia daily after adding the quick start. When you see ammonia, you’ll need to change at least half the water in the tank with fresh water. And when you add fresh water you’ll need to add something that takes out the chlorine the city puts in to keep bacteria out of the water. Something called prime works best for that.

sorry if this is a bit of information overload. But the big pet stores kind of prey on new fish keepers.

since you have the endlers already. It’s not really going to hurt to keep them in the 6g tank . But it really is too small. But you need test strips to help keep them healthy.

and don’t get discouraged, this happens to people more often than you think. 
 

and absolutely keep asking questions. We would love to help 

and if you’re not new to tanks, you can forget everything I just said.
But yeah, even panda Cory’s are too big. Chili rasboras would work. Maybe 8. But mollys get big, up to 2 inches. So way too big for 6g. 
 

even aqadvisor.com doesn’t have any thing but bettas and shrimp and snails

Edited March 17 by Tony s

[Schuyler]

In 6 gallons I would stick with one species of fish and then maybe some shrimp or snails.

I've had luck keeping pairs of killifish in them. That said I've also messed up or gotten lazy about water changes and had them get sick.

I would avoid getting a pair of live bearers. That tank will get over populated fast

[Matt B]

I have a 6.8 gal. With a lot of plants. I think that's why I've been able to keep Cherry Shrimp, Ramshorns, 3 male Guppies and a Hillstream loach in such a small tank. I use 2 nano sponge filters and a 25 watt heater. 

[FrozenFins]

Hi @brayden malone,

There is no set amount of fish you can have per gallon. Every aquarium is different and can handle various amounts of bio load.

For the most part in an aquarium that size I would stick to one highlite fish (honey gourami, betta, couple balloon molly) and then a couple really small tetras. For example, in my 5 gallon I have one betta and 5 ember tetras. All seems to be working fine. It is moderatley planted. With more plants, I might feel comfortable adding a couple more tetras or maybe some shrimp.

So here is my suggestion, start off small with your stocking. Maybe start off 3-4 balloon mollys. After a couple weeks, if water parameters are fine I would add some pygmy corydora. I would not add regular corydora, they need more space then a 6 gallon can offer. 

If after adding the pygmy corys all is still good I might add one more balloon molly or a nerite/ mystery snail.

I would not add more after this. Neither would I do both mollys and honey gourami in a 6 gallon tank.

Plants like frogbit, Hornwort, and other floating plants would be great for a tank like this. They grow fast, and rapidly absorb those nutrients. It would help tremoundously with keeping the nitrogen low. Remember, as your stocking this tank you want amonia and nitrites to be consisntley at 0. It would be great if you could get to the level where you only need to top off your tank from evaporation, and no waterchanges are needed because you have low nitrites and amonia. Nitrates you should try to keep lower than 20ppm, anything higher then 30 is a no go. 

With the stocking you want to do, a 10 gallon is defintley the better move. 

[Odd Duck]

I think you would have happier fish by going with either some very small tetras or micro rasboras like chilis, strawberries, or exclamation points, or something similar in a 6 gallon tank. That’s very, very small for dwarf gouramis or any type of mollies.

A single betta and single snail would be appropriate or a few smaller snails that you would have to keep under control might also be appropriate and a few shrimp would be OK but some bettas will go on killing sprees with shrimp.

You didn’t mention if your 6 G is a cube or rectangle tank. Rectangles do offer a longer swimming distance but still really aren’t suited for fish that get 2-3” long if they’re very active. Smaller fish will let you gradually add more as your biofiltration and experience level builds. Tiny micro rasboras could eventually be built up to a group of a dozen or more with plenty of plants.

Even a single gourami would be a lot of fish for a 6 G. Unless you went with a tiny licorice or sparkling gourami since they are much smaller bodied than dwarf gouramis.  You could potentially get a pair of licorice or sparkling gouramis if the tank was planted heavily.

Just a little food for thought and maybe some other options to consider. 

[mynameisnobody]

You’re playing with fire putting any livebearers other than endlers in anything less than 10 gallons. IMO, this is for the very experienced. 

[Whitecloud09]

@brayden malone, all this that people are saying is true, it may sound discouraging but it happens, I got my first tank (5g), and I threw a betta in there and water conditioner, didn’t go well, but most people go through this, but you don’t have to, @Tony s is right about some strips to test ammonia and what not, you do have a couple of options for fish actually, but u have to be cautious about it, here is some suggestions ⬇️. 
 

A betta, (ik it can be pushing the limits, but one and nothing else could work), chilli rasboras, White cloud minnows, 6 of them, they aren’t super nano but super hardy and I think the greatest nano fish out there, a shrimp only tank, with maybe a snail. Not a lot of options but u still can have something to chose from besides just a betta.

[doktor zhivago]

Mollies get very large and are very active. A couple guppies would be the biggest live bearers I'd keep in a tank that small.

[Whitecloud09]

On 3/17/2024 at 4:09 PM, doktor zhivago said:

Mollies get very large and are very active. A couple guppies would be the biggest live bearers I'd keep in a tank that small.

Oh yeah, guppies, but personally to be safe @brayden malone, I would do a shrimp only tank with maybe 1 snail, might seem boring but I think it would be cool. 

[Galabar]

If you want lots of fish in a small tank, I would suggest something like chili rasboras.

 

[Dacotua]

I only keep shrimp in a 5.5 gallon tank. Shrimp have such a small bio-load it doesn't really matter. (I use the 5.5 gallon tank to raise red cherry shrimp for my other tanks).

You'd be surprised on how many shrimp you can raise in a 5.5 gallon tank and not have the water go bad. (Its a ton)