# Properly stocking a 5.5gallon tank.



## deleted_user_16 (Jan 20, 2008)

you should put in microrasbora, the look very nice and are very active fish which you can even put in a 1.5 gallon tank with a school of 5


----------



## kaldrina (Feb 5, 2008)

Are microrasbora easy to find? I've never even heard of them before.


----------



## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

google for boraras brigittae


----------



## psybock (Jan 12, 2007)

Dwarf livebearers, I have four and they are less than an inch long. Pygmy cories would be a bottom to mid dweller (they swim on the bottom mostly but throughout the middle as well). Maybe a pair of pygmy sunfish would be ok...bluefin killies would work as well, they stay about an inch long and are coldwater fish. I actually have 2 males and 3 females in a 5.5 now as a breeding setup and have seen no signs of stress, as a matter of fact with the exception of the cories, the other fish mentioned don't need heaters either... A few male feeder guppies would provide some color without the massive size. Shrimp are a good option. Espei rasbora might would work as well as phoenix rasbora (I don't think they get quite an inch). Check out this link, it can give you multitudes of tiny fish to choose from:

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/planted-nano-tanks/31095-nanofish-list-v1-0-a.html

Hope this helps...

Kevin


----------



## efish (Apr 23, 2006)

ikuzo said:


> google for boraras brigittae


those look awesome with that dark red color. I'm starting to think about my 5.5 even though i've got another 6 weeks to go on my emersed growth. 

Where could I find them? Also, would a school of 5 and a betta be too much for a 5.5 Gallon?

TIA,
efish


----------



## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

franksaquarium.com

You can find many species of microrasboras here. 
Be warned though, they are very, very delicate. I have read they are more difficult to keep than CRS.


----------



## kaldrina (Feb 5, 2008)

Ive think I've decided on a few white cloud mountain minnows, would they be ok for a small tank?


----------



## deleted_user_16 (Jan 20, 2008)

they prefer to be in bigger groups, and a 5.5 gallon could not house them, I would go with microrasbora.


----------



## Fish'InMN (Apr 23, 2006)

From my experience, the boraras brigittae are not difficult to keep, but they are certainly small and easily spooked. I bought 12 initially for my Mini-M and am down to 4 now due entirely to jumping. I believe most jumped at night, probably due to a shrimp bumping them or something, and I don't have a cover on the tank. This problem was solved by adding some floating plants (Phyllanthus fluitans) for the most part.


----------



## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

Bororas briggitae are easy to keep and will do well in a 5.5 gallon. But if you have not kept fish before, it is not a good beginner fish. As mentioned, they are timid and quite fragile. Not much fun to look at for any sort of interesting behaviour. I have read that some microrasboras are jumpers, so floating plants and/or a lid is recommended.

White cloud minnows are hardy, do OK in a nano, but do better in a larger tank since they are very, very active swimmers that like fast water current.

Bettas can do ok in a small tank, but a common misconception is that they only like small tanks. They do very well, if not better, in bigger tanks as well.

All fish will prefer larger tanks. Nano-tanks are so-so to keep fish in. Why? Less water volume = less stable water parameters. For example, one dead fish will take longer to have an effect on a 100g than a 10g. Also, in the wild, they live in water volumes much larger than our tanks, so bigger tanks with more swiming room seem to bring out the best in them as opposed to a small space with limited swimming room, even if you have pristine water conditions. I don't mean to discourage you though, many fish will still be very happy in a 5.5 gallon! There's a very good nano-fish list on the sticky in this section.

Somebody here mentioned to me that one of their peppered cory cats lived in a 2.5g for 9 years too.


----------

