Advice On 5 Gallon Tank

[jambo1238]

Hi everybody, I have a few questions.

I already have a 60 litre tank but i have multiple tank syndrome and need another one, but my room is tiny and there is no room for another one. Except maybe a small 5 or 10 gallon tank.

My questions are, Is it cruel to put any fish in such a small environment? If not, What fish can be kept in this situation (e.g. Bettas) and How would i go about heating such a small tank. A heater would be a neccessity as my house is like an igloo lol.

Please help, many thanx.

 

[jaarus]

Hi everybody, I have a few questions.

I already have a 60 litre tank but i have multiple tank syndrome and need another one, but my room is tiny and there is no room for another one. Except maybe a small 5 or 10 gallon tank.

My questions are, Is it cruel to put any fish in such a small environment? If not, What fish can be kept in this situation (e.g. Bettas) and How would i go about heating such a small tank. A heater would be a neccessity as my house is like an igloo lol.

Please help, many thanx.

Bettas are absolutely fantastic fish - they recognise you when you enter the room and come and say hello etc.
They dont need a lot of space but I would suggest the 10 gal as more space is more space and 5 gal just seems too small to me for any fish.

Keep it at a few low current in there so a decent sponge filter would be fine - those flowy fins tend to pin the little fella to the side if you pop in a filter to powerful

With a 10 gallon you can usually put a heater in sideways/diagonal to keep it submerged.
You can also get like a 'disk' type heater but I have only actually seen one once.

Add a couple of plants (fake or real) with big leaves as mine liked to rest on them at night.

But the above tank for a betta will be fine and he will be happy as larry.


Oops forgot to add - make sure you have a cover!
And a light.

The cover is to keep him inside as heard horror stories about people coming home and finding their little guy dead on the carpet.
And the light is so you can see him


----I just CANNOT type today!!---

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hiya jambo

this is a bit of a controversial subject, some people say 5 is fine, some say less than 5, some say anything under 15 is cruel. to an extent you'll have to make your own mind up, based on other people's experiences and common sense.

we have a 5 and a 10 g tank, i think they're fine provided you select your fish appropriatley and maintain them well

the 5g houses 1 betta and a couple of amano shrimp, this is also where we put all the plants we don't want or we need to grow on as everything grows well in there. it's literally like a jungle of plants. This is extremley beneficial in aiding filtration which is one of the big issues with such small tanks. A very small body of water like 5 gallons is very unstable and without regular maintenance can easily develop problems.

the 10g houses 6 microrasbora that get to three quarters of an " each, it's also going to have some pgym cories when i can get hold of some. again heavily planted. this is the tank i have to be most careful of, miss a weekly water change and it's liable to develop problems.

in all honesty small tanks are sold far too often and too many newbies cram them full of fish and that's obviously not good.

but newbie mistakes aside if they are well cared for nano tanks can be lovely

 

[dwarfgourami]

A 5 gallon should be fine for a betta, and there are tiny heaters you can get- ask in the betta forum. Other options are shrimps (great characters) and there are even some fish that are so tiny that 5 gallon would seem quite a good space to them. Heterandria formosa for instance, they are really really tiny. Also ember tetras, and some microrasboras.

 

[rdd1952]

A 5 gallon tank is great for a betta. I don't think there is anything else you can put on one though. As for the heater, all you need is a small 25 watt heater. You can get one pretty cheap. If you do get a betta, you will most likely need to turn the filter down to it's minimum flow as some bettas may not like the strong current.

 

[jambo1238]

Yeah they are all excellent suggestions, thanx for the help.

This is by far the friendliest forum, i have ever been a member of.

Just one more question, Would it be essential to have a filter in a 5 gallon tank if i performed maintenance daily (i'm a clean freak). Thanx

 

[Miss Wiggle]

it really would be best to have a filter, a teeny filter for a 5/10g will be dirt cheap so really there's no point not having one.

while daily water changes could keep the tank water quality ok, it's actually not good to be doing the water changes that often, it can stress the fish out and the money you'd spend on enough dechlor would soon pay for a small filter.

 

[rdd1952]

As Miss Wiggle mentioned, the daily WC can stress the fish but the a filter also gives you some backup. How will you do daily WCs when you go away for vacation? With the filter, that isn't a problem. And daily maint. isn't enough. In an unfiltered tank, you have to do 100% WCs to make sure all the ammonia is removed.

 

[Birdie]

I too was going to point out that going on holiday might be a problem if you don't have a filter.

I've got a betta in a (just over) 6 USgallon tank. The tank came with a filter in the hood, and a heater ( in the water LOL) as a package deal for ummm, about £35 I think. And I'm pretty sure I could have got it cheaper if I'd shopped around. Lots of plants and some bogwood, and the stats stay very stable with water changes once or twice a week. The betta is v cool - responsive and friendly, always popping up to say hello/try and cadge a bite to eat