How many fish can you have in a 2.5 gallon tank?

Question

I am interested in purchasing 2 more fish for my 2.5 gallon tank. I already have 3 fish in the tank. Will the fish feel crowded if there is a total of 5 fish? I have three small goldfish, and I'm thinking of purchasing two small other fish. Thanks

Answer 1

Gold fish need 10 gallons EACH as babies. As they mature, they need 20 gallons EACH.
The only thing you can put in a 2.5 gallon is a single betta.
Anything else it's a death sentence.

Answer 2

The fish are already crowded. Somebody said you could keep some Danios, but they will go insane because of the minimal swimming space. 3 Goldfish is too many, Goldfish are extremely messy fish (they crap a lot!). Try getting at least a 10 gallon tank for the time being for your Goldfish and try keeping a Betta and some Ghost Shrimp in your 2.5 gallon... why would you even buy a 2.5 gallon tank?

Answer 3

AHHHH!!! NO NO NO! That tank is not suitable for one goldfish much less 3 or 5! Goldfish get big. THat tank is only suited for one male betta! Why on Earth the petstore would even sell you this. It wrong and they know it. That is animal cruelty. Do you think you could live in a small closet with 4 of your friends, eating and pooping and breathing? Y'all all would die in a month and that is exactly what will happen to those poor goldfish of yours. For that many goldfish you will need at LEAST a 55 gallon tank. For now if you want to keep them alive you must change your water in that tank at least 3 times a DAY! You put 5 fish in there you better wake up at night to change all of the water a few times so you won't have dead fish in the morning. That is no home for a goldfish. Please do not get any more fish, you will kill them.

Answer 4

Sorry, but you really can only keep about one fish that is an inch long in a tank that small. No way can you keep even three goldfish for long in a tank that small! Goldfish grow very large when properly cared for. Goldfish do best when they have at least 5-10 gallons per Goldfish. Your tank is already overcrowded.

You are right to think about them feeling crowded. Yes, fish that are overcrowded will be stressed and thus more likely to get diseases. Goldfish are messy and are really going to pollute a tank that size and the stress of the pollution in the water will do the same thing. If you want to keep five Goldfish healthy and living a long life, upgrade to at least 29 gallon or larger tank. Bigger is better!

Answer 5

3 GOLDFISH IN A 2.5 GALON? OMG THATS INSANE.

Why the goldfishbowl is bad

Many of the goldfish will end up in a goldfishbowl. People unfortunately don't realize that this is an instrument of torture for the fish. What makes it so bad? First of all the goldfish bowl is of course much too small. The bowl usually contains only a few litres of water. If they are lucky and get a big fishbowl it contains 10 to 15 litres of water. That's far too little for a goldfish who needs at least 250 litres. The small amount of water in a fishbowl not only gets dirty very quickly, but can also become too warm very fast. Due to the shape of the bowl the contact area of the water with the air is so small that there is a constant lack of oxygen. The living environment of the fishbowl offers the goldfish no interests or variety. They can't take their bearings, conceal themselves, keep their distance from other fish and search for food. The bowl also barely offers any room to move. Fish, Goldfish as well, are built to swim considerable distances. In a bowl they can just swim in circles. According to the opinion of the experts the goldfishbowl is absolutely unsuitable for keeping fish. The biologist and head of the Wilhelma Aquarium in Stuttgart, Dr Dieter Jauch, writes in his book about the care of goldfish, Goldfish in aquariums and gardenponds; 'who ever puts goldfish in this sort of prison is committing animal abuse'.

Take these goldfish back to the store!

Answer 6

A 2.5 gallon tank can't support all those five goldfish. Try not to get more because ammonia will increase and ruin everything.

A 2.5 gallon won't even be a suitable tank for a goldfish. Try to move them into a 29 gallon tank. That should fit all of them.

Answer 7

First of all Goldfish should never be housed in anything less then a 10 gallon. www.thegab.org "Use at least 10 gallons of water per goldfish, more for commons and comets."

A 2.5 gallon is better suited to a few male guppies, endlers or a single betta.

Answer 8

What? You are incredibly overstocked already, and your goldfish are suffering and going to die young. What you are doing is incredibly cruel, goldfish are supposed to get a footlong and their insides will continue growing even in your incredibly tiny aquarium. Please don't get to kill this way, have some sympathy for the poor. If you trade them back you can get a couple tiny fish for the aquarium, ones that don't grow bigger than one inch. Or, invest a few bucks in a 10 gallon, you can get one for like $30 (though that is also EXTREMELY temporary for just the two goldfish, who need at least 40 gallons for just them). Why get fish to torture them in a tiny prison cell, and make them die young?

Answer 9

Those goldfish are really cramped. Even of they're small, they each need at least 15 gallons. I would suggest to buy a bigger tank.

~ZTM

Answer 10

the rule is 1 inch of fish per gallon. i have a 2.5 gallon tank too, and i figured since the fish i was getting were tiny, it could support 5 of them (they are about an inch long). however, within a month, two of them had just randomly died off to make space. you can attempt buying more fish but the runts will just die off.

i dont recommend trying to introduce more fish.