I have a 5 and a half gallon tank...?

Question

and I was wondering how many and what types of freshwater fish would be best to put in there?

Answer 1

That's a little tank.

A good rule I seem to remember is that you should start an aquarium with no more than one inch of fish for every gallon of water. i.e you can have 5 one-inch fish or two 2 1/2 inch fish. Once established, you can easily double it.
Especially if it is for a child, guppies are great. One male to two or three females. Or, there are swordtails and platies and mollies, all of which should be one male to 2-3 females. These guys will breed and give birth to live young. Kids love this.
If you don't want any babies, neon tetras are good. So are zebra danios (although they zip around and can freak out fish like bettas).

I would stay away from angelfish as they can be agressive to other fish.

I would say a decent start for variety would be one betta and four or five neon tetras. After a couple of weeks if all is going well, you can add in a few more neons or a SMALL pleco (2 inches max). The pleco will grow and you'll have to take him back to the store or give him away later, but he'll keep the tank clean. Most stores happily take bigger plecos (for free or a trade-down to a smaller one).

Good luck!

Answer 2

Well I'd look at either a single male betta, 4 guppy, 4 danios, or 4 platty. A betta would really be best as a loner with a single apple/mystery snail. With a tank that small I'd go slow adding fish. Adding more than 1 week would be a bad idea. A better would be to cycle the tank.

Answer 3

For a 5 1/2 gallon tank you'll want to stick with very small fish.

I would go with 4-5 neon tetras and perhaps 2 pygmy cory cat fish.

Alternatively you could go with 2-3 neons and 2-3 other small tetra's such as lemon, glo-light, head and tail light, etc. Or even some white clouds or zebra danios.

The key will be to make sure you don't over stock the tank.

Also make sure to go through the cycling process before you add anything more than 1 fish to the tank.

Here is an article on cycling a tank: http://www.aquaria.info/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=376

Answer 4

5.5 gallons is pretty small, and you have to substract for gravel and plants etc. So, your options are limited, but the options you do have are all really lovely.

Tetras are not a viable option because they are schoolers and they are active swimmers.

You could get a betta fish, either one male OR one female.
You could get 3 white cloud minnows
You could get 3 cherry barbs

And you could add to either of those either a mystery snail or an african dwarf frog.

Or you could get lots of plants and some cherry shrimp, if you have a fluorescent light. That always looks really nice.

http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2006.cgi - flip through that site if you want ideas :) They have a section for tanks under 10 gallons.

Answer 5

Put a 1 male Betta fish in there, he'll think he's got the world by the tail & they eat very little, so they are easily affordable.

Answer 6

in keeping with possibility some small snails. additionally Daphnia are great cool. some species are microscopic although. i exchange into staring at them in technological awareness type and that they are great lovable?! some species of bugs might slot in that. sturdy success?! in case you ever experience the want for sparkling eggs typical and easily friendly, lovable pets get chickens????!(Belgian D'Uccles are great??)

Answer 7

Go to a fish or aquarium store....the people there have the expertise to help you with the proper care, feeding, and helping you pick-out the kinds and quantity of fish you can have safely have and live compatibly with each other....good luck