# What fish should I put in my 5 gallon cube



## craigofva (Aug 30, 2011)

Ohh im going to tag along cus i want to see what people say


----------



## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

They do like a bit more room, but white cloud minnows have no issues with cooler temps. Black skirt tetras might be fine as well, since they can take cooler temps


----------



## FriendsNotFood (Sep 21, 2010)

All of your options sound great. I've kept both sparkling gourami and phoenix rasboras in a 2.5 gallon tank and they were fine. My office tank is unheated although it seems to stay at 78 degrees so that probably doesn't help your case. 

You could have quite a few chili rasboras in a 5 gallon. Probably 15+. I've never had them but I don't think they're much bigger than phoenix rasboras and I have 11 of those in a 2.5 right now.

I love microdevario kubotai. I've never owned any so I can't comment, but I imagine they'd be a great choice.

Other options would be celestial pearl danios, a dwarf puffer, ember tetra, pseudomugil gertrudae, pygmy cories, scarlet badis, any other microrasboras.

If you go with sparkling gourami or scarlet badis you can probably only keep one male of each but they will mix fine with other small fish.


----------



## toastedtoast (Nov 13, 2011)

In my experience chili rasboras are much less active then microdevario kubotai, so in a small tank they may be a better choice (though I'm sure either would be fine). Either fish will take flake well.


----------



## Mike1239 (May 20, 2012)

i would say 3 neon tetras. dose this cube have a filter or air stone?


----------



## Kworker (Oct 28, 2011)

Kehy said:


> They do like a bit more room, but white cloud minnows have no issues with cooler temps. Black skirt tetras might be fine as well, since they can take cooler temps


5gal is too small for black skirts.. I have a school of them in my 50long and they use the whole length easily and get to large bodied IMHO.. I would only do microrasbora, dwarf puffer, white minnow, endlers, killiefish or a betta. I don't think any tetra would really enjoy it.


----------



## AquaPipes (Jun 4, 2012)

So to answer questions:
- I do have a heater in the tank. I have it set at 74 to keep the shrimp happy. I prefer to keep the tank on the cooler side, not only for shrimp, but for ammonia. But there's no worry for the water dropping below that.
- The tank has a sponge filter designed for 20 gallons. I can also always throw a HOB on it.
- The tank is over 1 year old, so nice and broken in. Although I'll probably go easy on the fish, adding just a few at a time.


----------



## CatB (Jan 29, 2012)

Mike1239 said:


> i would say 3 neon tetras. dose this cube have a filter or air stone?


BAD idea they like to school and suffer when they're not in a properly sized group (NOT three, more like 6-8+)


----------



## CatB (Jan 29, 2012)

AquaPipes said:


> So to answer questions:
> - I do have a heater in the tank. I have it set at 74 to keep the shrimp happy. I prefer to keep the tank on the cooler side, not only for shrimp, but for ammonia. But there's no worry for the water dropping below that.
> - The tank has a sponge filter designed for 20 gallons. I can also always throw a HOB on it.
> - The tank is over 1 year old, so nice and broken in. Although I'll probably go easy on the fish, adding just a few at a time.


you say it's "broken in," but is it cycled? have you been feeding it with some source of ammonia so the bacteria doesn't die? sorry if i sound condescending, i just want to make sure you don't have problems in the future!


----------



## AquaPipes (Jun 4, 2012)

Yeah, I don't think Tetra's would like such a small cube.


----------



## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

The only fish I have enjoyed in a tank that is 10 gallon or less are guppies. Every other fish I have tried just doesn't seem to have much behavior, compared to a larger tank. That would be a variety of Tetra species.


----------



## exv152 (Jun 8, 2009)

Check out this link. Of the various species of boraras out there, I would recommend the b.brigittae (chili rasbora) and you can keep a fair sized school of them in that tank. Their colours can't be matched.
http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=2713


----------



## jemminnifener (Nov 23, 2011)

I had some ember tetras in a 5 gallon and their behavior was not ideal. They were especially shy and hid all the time. I have them in a 10 gallon now with some white cloud minnows and they are out and about & constantly looking for food. Excellent. I don't know what exactly happened that changed their behavior. It may have been having the brave wcmm's around to make them feel safer or the bigger space or some other factor.

15+ chili rasbora in a 5 gallon? OOOOHH... Is their behavior a lot like the rasbora heteromorpha?


----------



## AquaPipes (Jun 4, 2012)

Ok, so looks like my initial though on using Chili Rasboras will be ok. Any suggestion for a contrasting fish to put in there?


----------



## Ashok (Dec 11, 2006)

I don't think any fish will be happy in a 5 gallon tank.


----------



## VictoriaLeigh (Jul 25, 2012)

Ashok said:


> I don't think any fish will be happy in a 5 gallon tank.


Not true. There are several species that could work in a 5 gal. I would recommend a betta but since you don't want to heat over 74 and want it to leave shrimp alone, a betta wouldn't be a good idea.


----------



## FriendsNotFood (Sep 21, 2010)

Add a scarlet badis and make it an all red fishtank 
Or you could still add a sparkling gourami. Just be prepared not to see him much, they're sort of like that cat that hides under the bed all day and only comes out to eat.


----------



## AquaPipes (Jun 4, 2012)

Do you think the Gourami will do ok in 74~76F water? Everything I see says they need a minimum of 77F.

I actually had some in another (warmer) tank I set up for a friend. They spawned. The babies weren't shy at all, but the parent were.


----------



## FriendsNotFood (Sep 21, 2010)

Mm you're right, seems like they like it 77 and above. You do a small school of 5-6 pygmy cories. They're fine with temps from 72 and above. I'm assuming a scarlet badis is out because of the frozen/live food issue?


----------



## AquaPipes (Jun 4, 2012)

I've heard SB's are ok on mico-pellets. I've been worries they'll harass the shrimp.


----------



## FriendsNotFood (Sep 21, 2010)

I've only ever seen my scarlet badis eat frozen bloodworms and hunt baby shrimp. If you add some patches of dense moss to your tank that should give the baby shrimp a much better chance. He won't follow them into the moss. If you're willing to give it a try they're awesome little fish and much more outgoing than some fish twice their size.


----------



## exv152 (Jun 8, 2009)

The badis only eat live food from what I've read, which is why I've shied away from getting them, they have awesome colours but the mere fact they don't eat dry food makes them a bit expensive & high maintenance.


----------



## AquaPipes (Jun 4, 2012)

Well, I tried to adjust my heater from 74 to 76 to prepare for the fish, but it jumped all the way up to 78. I decided to just leave it, and went ahead with Cili Rasboaras and some Sparkling Gourami's.

Its been 24 hours since I added the fish (and 72 since the temp his 78), and they all seem to be happy and eating well. The tank is super heavily planted, so hopefully that will keep the water clean with so many fish and help prevent a mini cycle (I also added Seachem Stability). 

I just refilled my CO2 tank, so I'll start doing CO2 some time next week.


----------



## dubels (Jun 14, 2012)

CPD? 
Scarlet Badis?

I like chili rasboras but they don't school well. I would get more if the main purpose of the tank was not shrimps.


----------



## FriendsNotFood (Sep 21, 2010)

Watch out for your sparkling gouramis, they get very territorial and the males bully each other.


----------



## AquaPipes (Jun 4, 2012)

FriendsNotFood said:


> Watch out for your sparkling gouramis, they get very territorial and the males bully each other.


Yup, I'm learning that. Wish it was easy to sex them. 

I saw one of them trying to do the mating dance with a large female fire yellow shrimp. Confused the heck out of the shrimp as he'd do his little wiggle dance alongside the shrimp.

But now the other two gouramis are in hiding. One is still eating, just staying away, the other didn't come out to eat, instead hiding behind a piece of driftwood. Guess I some how managed to get 3 males. 

Guess I got lucky the first time I got these guys (for a friends tank), just bought two, and they managed to spawn.


----------

