Advice re small tropical tank/aquarium

novicecyclist

I have been given a small tank approx 18 litres/5 gallons for my very young child but I will be doing all the care maintainance etc. It comes with lights heater filter etc.

I was wondering what fish you would recommend. I was thinking small tropical, perhaps cherry barbs or guppies with a betta and a snail or African dwarf frogs.

I did have a cold water tank years ago with blackmoors and various goldfish in it but am rusty. I never had a tropical tank, so any advice welcome. and have never had dwarf frogs or snails



Thanks in advance for advice

Sleepy

I'm afraid the only thing you can humanely keep in such a small tank would be shrimp.

Some fish-shops will tell you anything to keep you buying new fish from them and while a single betta (they can't be kept with other fish) might survive in a well maintained 18l tank for a year or two, it really wouldn't be ideal.

In general, anything smaller than 60l really isn't suitable for fish keeping.

kylith

Shrimp would be all I'd recommend too. They are fascinating creatures to watch though, so don't think that just because they're not fish they're not worth getting. They're probably especially good for small children because they'll be able to spend ages searching for them, and they're easy to replace so you wouldn't have to worry about questions about why Fishy look slightly different.

novicecyclist

What plants would i need?

Looking at the shrimp tanks on youtube some lovely ones. Any recommendations for shrimp saw some lovely cherry shrimp and blue tiger shrimp. Could I put an apple snail in with them?

garzezu

Realistically, with such a small tank you can ill afford to overstock otherwise your fish will soon be belly up and its all a waste of time and money. Frogs and fish do not mix well even in large tanks so steer clear of them and the snails. The general rule of thumb is one inch of fish per gallon of water but even that's not a given because a one inch zebra danio is clearly not as broad as a goldfish of the same length. The goldfish would produce more waste. Keeping waste to a minimum is obviously good for the water and in turn is good for the fish. This should be your aim. If I was you I would be looking at smaller breeds of fish. Danio's, guppies, tetras or cherry barbs like you have mentioned. I think kids would like neon tetras or rummy-nose tetras. They have plenty of colour. You could try one or two small breeds of angelfish with 4 or 5 tetras. Predation shouldn't be a problem because angelfish tend to be slow movers and as long as there's enough room, they won't catch the tetras. Good luck with your tank!

kylith

No way would angelfish be suitable for an 18L tank. Because of their fins they need high tanks, and of much greater volume since they get up to 6" long.

fguinan

Would a Betta be suitable for that tank?

kylith

Even a betta would be pushing it a bit. Shrimp or ADFs would really be all I'd recommend.

garzezu

kylith wrote: »

No way would angelfish be suitable for an 18L tank. Because of their fins they need high tanks, and of much greater volume since they get up to 6" long.

I did say "small Breed of angelfish". Lepoldi Angelfish are small but I'm not sure how large they grow.. Don't get any fish which will grow over 2 inches. Your best bet is just to stick to one type of small fish like neons or tetras imo...

kylith

garzezu wrote: »

I did say "small Breed of angelfish". Lepoldi Angelfish are small but I'm not sure how large they grow.. Don't get any fish which will grow over 2 inches. Your best bet is just to stick to one type of small fish like neons or tetras imo...

Apologies, I missed that. They certainly are a smaller species, the info I could find says a max of 4", but I still wouldn't keep them in an 18l tank.

Tropheus

You'll find it next to impossible to keep the water parameters stable in an 18l tank with anything more than shrimp. Is there any chance you could get a larger tank? The larger the tank, the easier it is to keep the water stable and the fish healthy.

novicecyclist

I got a bigger tank in the end 38l and have guppies in it

But thank you for all the help