Fish / plants for a 5g with biowheel?

[ozziegt]

So I am currently cycling a new 5 gallon tank with biowheel (basically an Eclipse setup), full spectrum flourescent, and a 25w heater.

This is a tank for work so I won't be there on the weekends, but I have read that fish are OK if they go a couple days without food. I might buy an automatic feeder before I go on my first long vacation.

So what fish can I get? I want some bright and colorful fish, and active fish...I would also like a decent school ( 5-8 ). I was looking at neon tetras but I went to the pet store and black tetras or rasboras look cool too...so those are the kind of fish I am interested in...but post any suggestions as long as they are colorful...and it would be helpful to explain the "personalities" of your suggestions too!

What kind of fish would you all suggest and how many? I'm guessing I should probably only stick with one type. I've also recently been introduced to shrimp...I was thinking maybe 3-4 cherry shrimp but they seem expensive...do they generally cost more than other shrimp?

Finally, I am also thinking about maybe some plants. Will this lower or raise the maintenence requirements? If it is properly balanced will I still need to do water changes? Do I need to worry about plants reducing the fish swimming area?

I know it's a lot of questions...but I appreciate any help you all can offer!

 

[mandi]

I would recommend a single male betta (or female if you prefer). They're colorful and have great personalities. And they do very well in office environments (have no problem going over the weekend without feeding). He could also live with an apple snail or possibly shrimp or an african dwarf frog (not sure how long frogs can go without feeding though, so I'm not 100% sure on that)

I know it probably doesn't sound as fun as a whole school of fish, but I think the tetras or rasboras would be a little cramped. If you go by the 1" of fish per gallon rule (which, given, isn't set in stone, but a good general guideline), I guess you could do 5 neons (1" each), but I'd avoid rasboras (2" each). My personal opinion is that most schooling fish like some horizontal room to schoal back and foreth around the tank, so a 10-20 gallon is much more comfortable for them. Admittedly though, I've never kept Neons myself so perhaps someone else could advise you better than I can.

Live plants are great. They make for a few more "obstacles" for you to gravel vacuum around and you may have to trim them occasionally (get rid of dead leaves, etc.), but other than that, I've never found them to be much of a bother.

Live plants or not, you will still have to do regular water changes (once the tank is cycled, it helps, but fish still produce waste, and there can be leftover food that sinks to the bottom, etc so it has to be cleaned up). I would guess once every 1-2 weeks (depending on your stocking level) would be good. Keep this in mind, as you'll need to keep a bucket & gravel vac at work -- and I've discovered some management-types aren't keen on people hauling buckets of water near computers & electronic equipment in the office LOL.