5 Gallon

[smackie]

hey,
i wanna get a 5 gallon small tank

to breed or keep a school of neon tetras
about how many tetras would fit in a five gallon tank?

 

[Seidge]

hmm my guess is that your gunna get a lot of people on here saying that you couldnt really put any very active fish in a tank that small. But i have 4 danios in a 6.5 gal and they are healthy and active. It is in no way and ideal situation.

I think you can keep a betta in a tank that small though on its own.

 

[Synirr]

Zero tetras would fit comfortably in a 5 gallon; I recommend a betta and a couple of African dwarf frogs or ghost shrimp.

 

[smmetz]

Yeah, I think neon tetras like to be in groups of 5-6 or more. That would be exceeding the limit on the 1" fish per gallon by about 50%. (neons get up to 1.5" I think)

I looked up the dimensions on a 5.5 gallon, and I see it is 16x8x10 from
http/www.all-glass.com/products/aquariums/index.html

I may get flamed for saying it, but I think 5-6 neons would be a little tight, but could be comfortable in there. I'm sure they would prefer a larger tank, but 16" long is 10x their ,max body length - which I thought is OK for all but the most active fish.

Neons are not great for cycling a new tank though, so be carefull. Perhaps you could just get 2-3 at first, and change out a gallon of water like every other day until nititite levels go up and then get back down to 0. This will take at least a couple weeks I think.

Anyway, I am still pretty new to fish keeping, but that is my opinion.

 

[Seidge]

Yeah definately not good for cycling, i put some neons in my first tank on bad advice from the LFS and they were all dead the next day

Maybe consider a fishless cycle if you definately want the neon tetras

 

[dwarfgourami]

The other thing to consider is that a small tank is going to be a much less stable system, so greater risk of problems with water stats= problems with sensitive fish like neons.

There are small fish you could fit in, pygmy cories for instance, or some of the dwarf rasboras. Or some small but hardy tetra might just work, depending on level of activity. Or a small group of male endlers.

If this is the only tank you have available you are not going to be able to both breed and keep tetras in it; that would require a grow-out tank for the fry.