# 2.5 gallon stocking recommendations?



## FuzzyCrawdad (Mar 21, 2015)

I'm not sure how common ember tetras are for you, it seems to vary greatly. I could easily go buy about 200 right now, but I've talked with people that have never seen them in local/semi-local shops. I'd suggest true endlers livebearers, but again I'm not sure how common those are for you. How about CPDs, scarlet badis, pygmy sunfish, or dwarf hatchetfish?

Sparkling gourami are a good option. They're so tiny and cute and right beautiful.


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## LotusBunny (Jun 9, 2016)

Pea puffer all the way in my opinion. Great personality, should theoretically be OK in the 2.5 although I don't have any personal experience with that.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

I actually saw ember tetras today at the AFA! I can get like, 6 for 12.00$, which isn't bad...but a substantial school seems kind of big for a 2.5 gallon...

I could maybe get endler's, but if so, then it would probably be a trio of M;2F, but that also seems quite large for a 2.5 gallon...

I already mentioned CPD's: they're too dang expensive for me... :'(
Pygmy sunfish wouldn't be available to me...
Hmm...I haven't considered dwarf hatchets (marthae, right?) but wouldn't they have the same problem as the ember tetras?

I hadn't considered scarlet badis, so I'll look into those for sure!

If this helps in helping with advice, the tank isn't really a cave-y setup, more like one of the Nature aquarium meadows, with a potential stand of tall grass like plants on the sides and back of the tank.

One other thing I forgot to mention: as a college student, I can't really afford to do complicated food. Micro worms would probably be the most live thing I could do, since they require so little space, and don't need very much care and are easy to harvest. I also don't have a good freezer fridge for frozen food. So the best I could do is either microworms, or pellet (probably some sort of Hikari food), as freeze dried would be a big hassle to rehydrate and comes in too big of a container for just one fish. Snails might also do well, since I can just add a bladder snail into the tank from who knows where.


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## FuzzyCrawdad (Mar 21, 2015)

ichthyogeek said:


> I actually saw ember tetras today at the AFA! I can get like, 6 for 12.00$, which isn't bad...but a substantial school seems kind of big for a 2.5 gallon...
> 
> I could maybe get endler's, but if so, then it would probably be a trio of M;2F, but that also seems quite large for a 2.5 gallon...
> 
> ...


Whoops, sorry, didn't see that (about the CPDs). You wouldn't necessarily need a substantial school, 3 of a tetra species is technically enough to keep them happy, you could maybe pull off 5 of a really small fish (like embers, which don't even make it to quite 1"). To be completely honest with you, shrimps might be your best bet, without fish. Shrimps are plenty entertaining themselves, especially in a tank that small.

Ahhh, the varying degrees of college poverty lol I'm a college student myself but I have a massive batch of homemade gel food and a few sleeves of blood worms and brine shrimp in the freezer (I've got three tanks, though, so quantity is as important as quality). Your food dilemma would be answered by just shrimp as well, you'd be 100% fine on having just one pouch of Hikari shrimp pellets (it's "expensive" but trust me, worth the buy), supplemented with the occasional tiny morsel of a veggie and the algae that will no doubt try to take hold.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

Hmm...but is 3 enough for them to feel content enough to breed? Or would this be more of an ornamental non-breeding setup? What are other smaller fish that could work in a group of 5?

I really do like shrimp...but one gets bored of them after a while. I'm more of a fish guy than a shrimp or plant guy...


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## SueD (Nov 20, 2010)

Ruby tetras are tiny and maybe you could do 5, but that is a really small tank. I would do 3 male endlers and leave it at that, unless you want to add a few RCS. Tank is too small to start breeding fish in there.


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## FuzzyCrawdad (Mar 21, 2015)

What SueD said. It won't be the numbers of the fish making it hard to breed (it would but that's only part of it) it'd be the size of your tank. If you want to breed, I'd suggest a 10g minimum.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

Bump on this to see if there are any other recommendations!


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## Helmetless Stig (Jan 10, 2016)

+1 for the sparkling gourami. You might be able to do a honey gourami instead. 

I've wondered how a species only tank for bristlenose plecos would be. Maybe 2-3 of them in the 2.5 as they dont really use much swimming space. 

Just make sure you have really good filtration, at least 50 gph if you would go for a more heavy stocking. 

Sent from my 6045I using Tapatalk


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## geisterwald (Jul 18, 2016)

Helmetless Stig said:


> +1 for the sparkling gourami. You might be able to do a honey gourami instead.
> 
> I've wondered how a species only tank for bristlenose plecos would be. Maybe 2-3 of them in the 2.5 as they dont really use much swimming space.
> 
> ...


Bristlenose plecos get to be like 6 inches long...????? They might not use much swimming space but like, jeez, two or three in a 2.5 gallon tank is absurdly crowded! Yeah you could control the waste by overfiltering but that doesn't mean they'd be comfortable in that... And then what if the power goes out or something? There's no way to save a tank that heavily overstocked. Maybe a species only tank of bristlenoses in a _25_ gallon, but not a 2.5. Yikes!


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## Helmetless Stig (Jan 10, 2016)

geisterwald said:


> Bristlenose plecos get to be like 6 inches long...????? They might not use much swimming space but like, jeez, two or three in a 2.5 gallon tank is absurdly crowded! Yeah you could control the waste by overfiltering but that doesn't mean they'd be comfortable in that... And then what if the power goes out or something? There's no way to save a tank that heavily overstocked. Maybe a species only tank of bristlenoses in a _25_ gallon, but not a 2.5. Yikes!


In my experience they rarely get over 3 inches, but yeah the dimensions I have in my head of a 2.5 are probably not so accurate. Thanks for correcting me. I figured I'd throw it out. 

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## SueD (Nov 20, 2010)

This is an adult BNP. No way he should be in a 2.5g, never mind 3 of them. He's about 6" long


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## brandonhauser (Nov 6, 2015)

I think as fish keepers, it is our responsibility to provide the best, most natural environment possible for our little creatures. As such, I personally do not think any fish should be kept in anything less than 5 gal. The only fish that could potentially tolerate such conditions, and I mean tolerate, is a beta fish. Even then, the filter must be cycled and water changes must be preformed once or twice a week. As others have suggested, I think that this tank is best left for shrimp. They come in all kinds of beautiful colors and can be equally as entertaining as their bigger, finned friends!


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## sevendust111 (Jul 15, 2014)

I have a few honey gourami's and I would say the minimum tank size for them would be a 10 gallons.


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## Watercrayfish (Apr 21, 2016)

ichthyogeek said:


> Hey everybody, I'm wondering if y'all had any recommendations for fish that could live in a 2.5 gallon aquarium that aren't bettas,WCMM's or other "common" fish that you find everywhere (also no least killifish)? I've got access to an AFA in SF, and probably aquabid as well. I'm thinking of adding shrimp to the tank as well. The tank is dirted and capped with sand, and will have a HC lawn and some sort of tall grassy plant (tiger vallisneria maybe?). Anybody got ideas? I've been trying to find information on short lived fish like annual killifish, but I can't seem to find any information at all... Also, I'm a pretty cheap guy, so anything that's super expensive (I'm looking at you CPD's...) is way out of my price range. Anything that breeds easily is also highly appreciated.
> 
> So far, I've got my eyes on:
> ONE pea puffer OR
> ...


I got CPD's from Petco for $3.5, but they are very shy, you won't be able to enjoy them in a planted tank.
I should have gone with the Ember tetras.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

Bumping an update on this since the tank gets filled after break. The water in my area is hard hard hard, so I'm thinking that the best option would be endler's, or perhaps the pea puffer. I think one of my friends is willing to give me a couple of her shrimp to jump start my population after break. Question about feeding: I know the pea puffer will require snails, but do you think the endler's would be okay with Hikari Shrimp cuisine or should I feed them something more fish-specific? Are Endler's fairly algivorous?


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## Pattern8 (Dec 9, 2015)

Endlers will eat anything you throw at them. I'm a fan of the pea puffer. The only thing that makes them somewhat difficult, as you already mentioned, is feeding them. Some will take frozen blood worms others won't. Just depends on the fish. They all of course love snails and will also readily accept mosquito larvae


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## natemcnutty (May 26, 2016)

ichthyogeek said:


> Bumping an update on this since the tank gets filled after break. The water in my area is hard hard hard, so I'm thinking that the best option would be endler's, or perhaps the pea puffer. I think one of my friends is willing to give me a couple of her shrimp to jump start my population after break. Question about feeding: I know the pea puffer will require snails, but do you think the endler's would be okay with Hikari Shrimp cuisine or should I feed them something more fish-specific? Are Endler's fairly algivorous?


No experience with endlers, but I thought I'd mention that you'll need a pretty sizeable shrimp colony before adding the pea puffer as they will go after shrimp as well as snails. Love those little guys, tons of fun to watch, but mine went after the cherry shrimp and ate many babies...


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

Hmm...endler's it is...now, do I want just one? Or given that my maintenance schedule is going to be weird, can I end up with three? 

Harassment issues: If I were to buy 2 female endler's, and one male endler, about how angry am I going to be at too many offspring/ should I be worried about harassment by the sole male on two females?


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## SueD (Nov 20, 2010)

ichthyogeek said:


> Hmm...endler's it is...now, do I want just one? Or given that my maintenance schedule is going to be weird, can I end up with three?
> 
> Harassment issues: If I were to buy 2 female endler's, and one male endler, about how angry am I going to be at too many offspring/ should I be worried about harassment by the sole male on two females?


Get 3 males, no females. The females can actually be about twice the size of males. And what will you do with the fry? Females can also have fry multiple times from one breeding. A tank that size will crash very easily if overpopulated.


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