Shorty

Hi there, my sister keep goldfish in a little tank (they are really small fancy ones) and she has decided to upgrade her goldfish to a bigger tank, thus leaving here with a 19litre (I think thats about 4gallons) tank.

She wants some tropical fish - now I can help her set up the tank, and cycle it etc etc, and I have already bored her to death with water changes, nitrates/nitrites and amonia (lol).

The thing I cannot do - (the smallest tank I have ever had is the hexagon one I have now - a 18 gallon - don't forget my new 210 litre ) Is help her stock the tank - I have no idea what she could have in a diddy tank, she wants neons, but would like some others too - will the little tetras shoal togther - I.e if she had say 2 neon, 2 head and tail lights, and 2 rummy nose?

I really don't know how to help her with it, I have insisted she does a fishless cycle - mainly because of the size of the tank - it would stress out the fish sooo quickly if it got toxic!

Any help would be great - she is kinda looking to me for advice so I have to come and get some first lol

Thanks in advance.

Butterfly

Shorty according to the calculator thats about 5 gallons. Now some questions: what shape is the tank? did she move everything out of the tank when she moves the goldfish?
Carol

Gunnie

That tank would be very limited on what could be put in it. I'm glad she is upgrading and giving her goldies some much needed room. A betta might be a good choice for that tank.

Shorty

It is a rectangular tank, and yes it is starting from scratch - I made her wash everything again as I understand goldfish - lovely as they are - to be really messy

We are starting the tank as if it was brand new I printed out the thread here for her on fishless cycling and she will follow it to the letter

I think her tank is ideal for a betta too, he would have loads of room and could have a jolly life in there being pampered...... but she doesn't like them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (we may be sisters, but obviosuly I got the good taste as I love them!)

She wants neons, and other tetras - but obviously there is only a little bit of room in there so ideally we would be looking for different ones that will make up a shoal together, so no one gets lonley.

I am not too concerened if one or two of her fish have to be re-homed at some point as I have a 210 litre cycling at the moment and I am fairly sure I could house one or two should it come to that.

I am soo sorry she doesn't like bettas - I have no idea who raised her! lol.

atmmachine816

Well tetras need 6 to be happy and like to swim so they are out since they won't have the proper room to swim, and trust me when fish are in the wrong conditions you can see the problems. I had 3 harlequins in my 2.5 and moved them into my big tank and got 3 more and the new ones grow better, have nicer colors, and fill out more, obvious difference. You might be able to get away with a few guppies, or maybe a few african dwarf frogs, or different shrimp, maybe a blue crawfish, not sure how big the get. Besides that I don't know, kinda small. Maybe you could get her a 10 gallon starter tank for her b-day or christmas or something or your parents could.

Austin

Shorty

I have tried telling her this, she is 29 and wont listen to her baby (26 year old) sister. I am thinking of getting her a bigger tank though because without it she could seriously hurt the fishes and I wont stand for that. I am hoping to convince her that a dwarf frog is cute, and that perhaps she might like to have guppys, I am sure she could have 2 female ones in there without much trouble. I am going to get her to read these forums properly though as she is one of those people that needs to be TOLD, I am concerned for the fish you see. I might just go out and buy her 2 guppys and say here you go, put these in the tank then she doesn't get much choice though

I guess I am going to have to beat it into her lol, j/k.

I will get her really to have a look through this thread and the forums and then hopefully she can make a better informed decision about her little tank - I still think a Betta would be ideal, but thats just my opinion.

0morrokh

Hate to say this, but in 5 gallons the only fish you can have are Bettas. It is just to small to keep any other fish. Guppies need more room than 5 gallons. She could have Ghost Shrimp in there, those are pretty cool.
I'm glad she's upgrading for the Goldies...they need about 20 gallons for the first one and 10 more gallons for each additional Goldie.

fish_r_friend

ok just a thought get her a bigger tank for her birth day or some thing like that that she can keep neons, head and tail light, and rummy nose tetra

Butterfly

What is it about bettas she doesn't like? There are some really pretty female bettas out there too.
Carol

Shorty

I asked her the exact same thing, and suggested the females in case it was the fins she wasn't sure about - but it turns out that she thinks they don't have pretty enough faces! - Well we can't account for everyones tastes!

I am planning on having a Betta soon in my 68 litre - about 13 gallons I think, as when I transfer my community into the 210 litre (55 Gal) i will have my little tank going spare heehee, the perfect opportunity for me!
I love the Betta's, but I will post closure to the time of moving as I want to make sure I have enough knowledge to care for it before I rush out and buy one as I would never forgive myself if I did it wrong after discovering all of this knowledge at my fingers tips.