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Hi all, I recently upgraded my aquarium from a little five gallon to a nice roomy 20 gal, now I have the empty 5 gallon tank and I am wondering what kind of small animal (i.e. reptile) could make it its home.
I was reading recently about African dwarf frogs. I don't know how big they get but people obviously keep them as pets.
I keep a single betta in my 5 gallon.
If you wanted to do ADF's I say go for it. They are hilarious to watch, especially when it's feeding time. The females get fat and males stay thinner. I think the males are the ones that sing also! You can hear it too... I kept about 6 of them in a 10 gallon with driftwood, clay pots (basically hiding places)... Had pollywogs but they all got eaten.
I think I just talked myself into getting some more, thanks!
I'd definetely want to try the ADFs. I wonder who carries them? I live in Griffin. McDonough is close by and they have Petsmart, but don't know if they carry adfs. I do have a local pet shop in town that can order certian animals. I tried investigating small cricket frogs and they are fresh out til spring. Thanks for the tip.
5 gallons is small for most fish, but you can put small fish, Endlers, dwarf raspboras, etc. You might also consider red cherry shrimp. All of these combined would be great for a 5 gallon tank along with some anubias, weeping moss, etc.
5 gallons is small for most fish, but you can put small fish, Endlers, dwarf raspboras, etc. You might also consider red cherry shrimp. All of these combined would be great for a 5 gallon tank along with some anubias, weeping moss, etc.
LOL, you're surely not suggesting putting endlers, raspboras, and shrimp all in one small 5 gallon tank? Maybe I read that wrong. The OP might be able to get away with keeping raspboras only in a five gallon tank, but only if the water was kept pristine.
Emerald Dwarf Rasbora (Danio erythromicron) Profile Compatibility/Temperament: Peaceful and shy; males are territorial and will nip each other's fins; must be in a group of at least six, but in a well-planted 15 or 20 gallon tank a larger group (15-20) may reduce this somewhat. Best suited to a species tank; may manage in a community of similar small, non-aggressive fishes that will not out-compete them for food and that share the cooler temperature and slightly basic water.
Five gallons is really small for fish, other than a betta. It would work for hermit crabs, though. Shrimp are also a good idea, if you put lots of plants in the tank. I used to have a lot of red cherry shrimp in a small tank.
Last edited by andthentherewere3; 01-27-2012 at 06:18 AM..
since you mentions reps/herps
how about a couple tree frogs? (itll need some modifying to make it escape proof of course)
a firebellied newt
small salamander
And even though the writeup says they can grow to one inch, the ones I kept in a 50 gallon tank were not that big and I had them for at least a year. Maybe they just grow slow. Mine did not seem to grow much at all. You do have to remember to feed them frequently though, they never stood a chance at eating with my tetras, so I had to make sure they ate their fair share. Now that I think about it, they were too much maintenance!
The bigger the aquarium, the easier maintaining it will be.
But since you have a small tank, it will look really nice with the right size/amount of fish.
Here are some ideas:
Betas - male bettas do perfectly well in tanks as small as 5 gallons in size.
However they don't like cold. They must be kept at around 79-82 F all day long. ( No, lamp is not enough). You also need an air filtration. Betas die fast in poor quality water. So, you need to invest in some kind of air-powered sponge filter to remove ammonia.
If not, then you would have to keep your beta in a heated room and change the water pretty much daily.
Other option:
create freshwater nano reef tank for invertebrates. Like small algae-eating shrimps. Oh, yeah, they are fun!!
(Cherry shrimps, bumblebee shrimps, and crystal red shrimps are really cool to look at)
You can mix different varieties, colors and sizes - they all seem to get along nicely.
Shrimps are very adaptable to a range of temperatures and water chemistry conditions, but they do demand good water quality, so filtration is essential.
Place moss on the bottom of you tank to give them place to hide for the first few days when they are most vulnerable. Java fern and Java moss are great for small tanks with medium light.
You can add some small corrals:
Purple Frogspawn
Green Star Polyps
Zoanthids
Ricordea Florida
Other invertebrates:
Maxi Mini Carpet Anemones
Micro Brittle Stars
Dwarf Cerith Snails
Virgin Nerite Snails
Blood Shrimp
and what about seahorses?? Aren't they cute??
Post some pictures! I would love to see how you are doing with your small tank project
Hi all, I recently upgraded my aquarium from a little five gallon to a nice roomy 20 gal, now I have the empty 5 gallon tank and I am wondering what kind of small animal (i.e. reptile) could make it its home.
the op specifically said animal, ie reptile, im pretty sure there not realy all that interested in keeping fish...
a nanno in a 5 gal is TOUGH, i woudlnt do salt in anything less than 20 for a first timer...the saller the tank the harder to keep salinity right.
Yes, I think the OP was looking for something other than fish.
It's often okay to mix shrimp varieties together, but I once moved two previously happy ghost shrimp from one tank to my red cherry shrimp tank and never saw the ghost shrimp again. One thing to be very careful about if mixing shrimp though, is that they will interbreed:
Oops, there was some really bad advice in some of those links, elnina.
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Crabs?
The OP might be able to get away with keeping raspboras only in a five gallon tank, but only if the water was kept pristine.
