# Is this pushing it for a 5 gallon?



## sohankpatel (Jul 10, 2015)

Dwarf gouramis need a larger tank, a pea puffer would be nice in that tank though, maybe a scarlet badis?


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## roostertech (Oct 27, 2015)

1" per gallon rule is crap - would you put a 3 ft koi into 36 gal tank, so I think the sooner you forget that the better 


5 gal is a bit hard to stock since it is too short for fast swimmer, too small for most cories

One betta + snails or

If you want schooling fish you can probably micro rasboras

For bottom I would do otos, they are more passive than cories

Dwarf puffer could be neat, but you would have to get a healthy snail population going or have another tub to breed snail. And you would hardly ever see them in with plants. I have three in a 10g and I only see them at feeding time.

Or a shrimp tank would be awesome at that size. If you have acidic water you can keep crystal shrimps.


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

Two small rosy barbs would look cool in it... I had a tank like that on my desk as a kid... was quite pretty


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## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

Nordic said:


> Two small rosy barbs would look cool in it... I had a tank like that on my desk as a kid... was quite pretty


Pretty sure this is sarcastic (due to the "..." and how big rosy barbs get for this size of tank), but not completely sure 
Rosy barbs get around 5".


To the OP, the gourami would want a bigger tank. I am not a fan of small tanks (fish can fit, but being happy is another thing), so much so that I personally don't feel comfortable recommending fish (even nano fish occupy much larger areas in comparison in nature). But I can advise that you should look up "nano fish list" and you can find more suitable fish species that you can choose from that can be housed in your 5 gallon (does count as a nano tank).


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

Mine were about an inch and a half, bit smaller than a small goldfish.
I had one female full of eggs and a male...


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## FuzzyCrawdad (Mar 21, 2015)

roostertech said:


> 1" per gallon rule is crap - would you put a 3 ft koi into 36 gal tank, so I think the sooner you forget that the better
> 
> 5 gal is a bit hard to stock since it is too short for fast swimmer, too small for most cories.


Well... The 1"-per-gallon is NOT applied to fish like goldies and koi. Goldies and koi require two gallons per inch of fish AT MINIMUM. So, with that in mind, keeping that rule is a good idea.

Secondly. I have two albino cories, one twin-tail halfmoon betta, and one otocinclus catfish in a 5 gallon tank and they're all very happy. My cories play up and down and clamber all over the decor, my betta swims around and even attempts bubble nests (but the water moves too much for them to remain intact).

I would not suggest a gourami in a 5 gallon, they need at least a 10 gallon. If you want a lovely buddy like a gourami, you can always look at betta. They can have fishy tankmates as long as those tankmates know to stay out of the way or inhabit a different part of the tank. Bettas are mid-swimmers, cories and otos are bottom and wall-huggers.

Just don't put fancy guppies in with a betta (and you're walking the razor's edge putting them in with a gourami since they're in the same family as a betta and are aggressive towards other pretty fish just like them).


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## Tbone_609 (Jan 10, 2016)

WaterLife said:


> Nordic said:
> 
> 
> > Two small rosy barbs would look cool in it... I had a tank like that on my desk as a kid... was quite pretty
> ...


I was looking for some nano fish but i did not want to have to deal with breeding. Any nano fish that would do fine with just one sex?


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

Don't have to deal with breeding, just ignore any offspring, they will most likely get eaten.


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

How about a betta?


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Dwarf Gourami is NOT a peaceful fish. They are aggressive, territorial fish that have been known to fight with all the other species in the tank, though usually their aggression is limited to related fish (other Gouramis, Bettas, Paradise fish). They also come with disease issues, so choose your supplier carefully. While not recommended, I think ONE in a 5 gallon might work, but NO other fish. The whole 5 gallon becomes his home territory, and all other fish will get chased.
Trichogaster lalius (Dwarf Gourami) ? Seriously Fish

Non-breeding, small enough for a 5 gallon:
Male Endlers

1" per gallon works for one purpose: The chemical needs of the fish. Oxygen supply, diluting waste- CO2, ammonia. 
It only works for fish under 2". 
It says nothing about:
~social issues (schooling, territory, breeding...)
~optimum water parameters
~tank set up (lots of plants/few plants, high water flow/low flow...)
Within its limits, it works. But to go outside those limits, then scoff at it because it does not work beyond those limits makes you sound silly.


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## Virc003 (Dec 3, 2011)

FuzzyCrawdad said:


> Well... The 1"-per-gallon is NOT applied to fish like goldies and koi. Goldies and koi require two gallons per inch of fish AT MINIMUM. So, with that in mind, keeping that rule is a good idea.


As a rule it is a bad idea. Goldfish and koi are not the only fish that get big. Plus there are different shapes of fish too. Some stay torpedo like and others grow mostly in girth. 

The inch/gallon rule only truly works for fish that stay around an inch in length. After that it is no longer a rule and more a starting point for research on the individual species. Unfortunately, many people like to be lazy and take shortcuts so the research step is usually skipped and thus the guideline becomes their rule.

The other problem is that the rule assumes a standard dimension tank. Some tanks are much taller than wide. So a fish could be longer than the tank and still fit within the in/gal guidelines.

With these issues in mind, to be a good idea the rule should acount for each size of fish, type of fish, shape of fish, behavior of fish, shape of tank, ratio of each dimension of the tank to fish, etc. You can see how this is getting out of hand for a general rule?


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## FuzzyCrawdad (Mar 21, 2015)

Virc003 said:


> As a rule it is a bad idea. Goldfish and koi are not the only fish that get big. Plus there are different shapes of fish too. Some stay torpedo like and others grow mostly in girth.
> 
> The inch/gallon rule only truly works for fish that stay around an inch in length. After that it is no longer a rule and more a starting point for research on the individual species. Unfortunately, many people like to be lazy and take shortcuts so the research step is usually skipped and thus the guideline becomes their rule.
> 
> ...


Goldfish and koi aren't the only ones that get that big, no, but their size is not what makes them the 2g/1" exception. And it does not apply to only 1" fish or fish under 2". Seriously... it's a guideline saying "If you have a 6" fish in a 6 gallon tank, that's it. No more. Your tank cannot biologically handle any more." even though you'd be smart to stop at 6" of full-grown fish in a 10 gallon

At no point has it been said it's the Golden Rule or the only rule. It's just a good starter to keep in mind that leads to the rest of the research. If your tank can't even biologically support your community, it's a good sign your thoughts should change on what to research. If a single rule covered EVERY issue about buying fish, that would just be lazy. Researching is half the fun.


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## roostertech (Oct 27, 2015)

The calculator on aqadvisor, while it has some flaws, is pretty good at stocking estimation and warn about behavior issue. Far better than arbitrary ratio.

My 22 long current stocking: 10 neons tetra, 7 panda cories, 5 otos, 6 zebra danios, 12 forktail rainbowfish, ~10 cherry shrimps, all fishes are perfectly healthy.


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## Coursair (Apr 16, 2011)

With my 5.5g tanks I've kept 
Single male Betta

Or Red Cherry Shrimp

Or you could do 1-2 Scarlet Badis...but they need heavily planted and may only eat live food. 
This was my heavily planted 10g










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## Calestus (Oct 1, 2015)

Sparkling Gourami would do nicely.

So would a group of ~10 pygmy or dwarf cories running around.


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## c9bug (Feb 15, 2015)

I think the problem with the 1in/gallon rule is that it can get confusing to beginners (the very people the rule is designed to help). Fish enthusiasts often will do their own research and have a better idea of how a tank should be stocked. However, beginners don't have that knowledge and therefore a rule of thumb is helpful. As other posters have pointed out, the rule works fine when the fish are small, but larger fish (e.g. rainbows, bichirs, clown loaches, goldfish, etc) will not thrive in tank which has a volume that corresponds to the fishes' length. This can get confusing to a novice who wants larger fish. I think that is why many people dislike the 1in per gallon the rule, especially because nowadays you can use websites like aqadvisor instead. 

I also doubt the efficacy of the rule as the fish size increases past 1in/2in. The amount of waste produced by fish does not have a linear relationship with length since you are not accounting for weight/girth (which also does not have a linear relationship).


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## dhsanti (Nov 15, 2013)

In my 5 gallon i have 5 cpds 3 pygmy Corys 1 oto 5 amano shrimp and soon to come 40 cherry shrimp havent lost a fish or shrimp after my long period of cycling








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