Alrighty! I've set up my DIY divided tens, which will hold eight males. They each have two small sponge filters on one end of the tank. I cancelled my order for my giant pair :( because I really don't have enough room at the moment.

Alrighty, so I'm moving my yellow male out of my five gallon minibow into a divided tank. I desperately want neon tetras. I mean I love them, love them, love them just because they're so cute. I wanted to put neon tetras in my ten with my danios, because I thought you could do schools of three, but with five danios (one died :( ) it's too many inches of fish. It's been suggested that I do one more danio, and two otos in the ten. I wanted brighter fishies though... I was thinking of getting an iridescent long finned zebra I saw at the LFS, he was pretty cool. I would start another ten up for tetras, but I was wondering if I could put six in the 5 minibow?

It's going to be re-done. I'm adding more substrate and live plants. Anacharis, banana plants, and assorted swords. The filter has been going for over two months now, all water perams are at zero. I would do plenty of water changes, and I'm planning on a seventy-five percent change and using the gravel vac when I get home next weekend.

What thinkest thou?

Yes or no? :D Thanks!! If I can't do the tetras I think I'll just put another male in there with some otos or cories.

In my opinion, I would not do neons in a 5. That's just me. Its not that the bio-load would be too great, its that the neons are so incredibly active. I have 7 neons in a 29 and they swim around like nuts! I just don't think that they could exhibit natural schooling activity levels in a 5. I'm trying to think, a five is probably 10 inches across? I just don't feel that that is enough room for their activity level. Can you give us the dimensions of the tank?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if it were me- I wouldn't do it.

Whatever you end up doing, I would reccomend a dark substrate for neons. They look super cool and bright up against it! You may read of them reaching 1.5 inches, but nowadays the captive bred neons don't often get that big. I'm like holding a ruler up to the tank lol. I would estimate mine to be about an inch. They are full-grown. They are very hardy little guys. Some people will recomend a 15gal for them, but I think you would probably be fine with a 10. Once again, everyone has their opinions! ;)

But ultimately, its your choice. Maybe more people will post opinions on the matter.

Good Luck! :D

Awhile ago I had a 5 gallon hex tank with 5 Neon Tetras and although they were very beautiful they really needed more room to swim. I also agree with Catlover it isn't the bioload but their activity level. I wouldn't put Ottos either in a 5g as they really need to be kept in a group of 3 or more and in a 5g that would be alittle cramped. You could maybe house 4-5 pygmy cories but those are the only cories that I can think of that can be kept in a 5g.

If you did keep a male Betta in the tank the only other animal you could keep with him would be a snail or some shrimp.

These are just my opinions and obviously it is your tank so it is your choice. :)

I previously had four danios and one cory in the tank, and they did fantastic. I'm probaby going to bite the bullet and get another ten for the tetras. :D I wouldn't mind some ghost shrimp, I've heard they're very entertaining. I'm not really interested in snails though, they multiply far too fast.

What about a dwarf puffer?

I've never had a dwarf puffer.

Ghost shrimp are rather entertaining. That would probably be fun to have a male betta and some shrimp.

You could do a single Betta, 2-3 Cherry Barbs, few Endlers, 2 male Guppies, 4-5 pygmy Cories, along with some Ghost Shrimp. Better yet you could keep a Ghost shrimp only tank, and I think that would be very entertaining. You could keep a single Dwarf Puffer in the tank, but provide many plants(real or fake), Wood, Rocks, and other decor so the puffer doesn't get bored.

All that in one tank? :D

No not all of them. Either of my fish suggestions along with some Ghost shrimp.

Trio of Endlers gets my vote. Also you could get 2 dwarf puffers, but they are picky eaters and and messy too...read up on them.

I have 3 dwarf puffers in a long 6 gallon, a 5 gallon minibow isnt long enough becuase IME, dps are pretty active. Mine are babies, they are going in a 10 gallon soon when they get a bit bigger. Plus, my dps are always playing with eachother and 1 would be bored to death, its like only putting 1 neon tetra in a tank by itself.

Dwarf Puffers would be fine the rule for dwarf puffers is 1 puffer for every 4 gals so if you have a 5 gallon tank you could keep1 or if u had 2 then you would ideally looking at a 10 gallon tank.

I would say this would be overstocked seeing dwarf puffers make a lot of waste and also they get very aggresive.

a great site dedicated to dwarfpuffers is www.dwarfpuffers.com

they have some great info there.

Its fine atm. They are babies and are getting a 10 gallon in a few months. Plus, i have an aquaclear 20 and do water changes every weekend.

I think I'm going with a Male betta, one of my brighter ones, and about three ghost shrimp. Does this sound alright? Also, would black gravel look good, or bronze?

Yeah that sounds like a good idea, although I have heard about some Bettas eating shrimp that are housed with them but it depends on each individual Betta. I like black gravel in aquariums since the colors of the fish really stand out, and natural colored gravel is nice also.

I think either color of gravel would look nice. The beauty of the ghost shrimp is that you are only out about 30 cents if he decides to eat it. Some people actually buy ghost shrimp as feeders.

But I think that idea would be great!

I decided on two male guppies, two ghost shrimp, and my shy and very gentle DRCT male Saku. Everything's going great so far! They all get along swimmingly. However, I added a very small ghost shrimp and I can't see him anywhere, at all. I dunno what happened to him. The big one is cruising around the tank having a good old time, but the smaller one is gone, as far as I can tell. Weird huh?

I also decided to add another leopard long-fin danio to my ten gallon community-ish tank, then added two ghost shrimp, and a male betta. I think it's pushing the stocking limit, but I'm very good with water changes. So far, there has been no trouble in paradise, the danios are too busy schooling to even bother the betta, either that, or my danios are just super busy doing other...um important stuff, like looking for food. I'm thinking of adding some java moss to the ten as well, just to help the water along some. :D I'm sure Lucien is much happier with the danios than in his one gallon tank where he was before.

When adding ghost shrimp you must make sure you have a secure lid. He probably bailed.

Well, um Catlover and Perfectblue...I think Lucien + Ghost Shrimp was not a good idea. I hadn't fed him in a day because he was going to be travelling in his cups, and umm...

I was watching him look at the shrimp a second ago, then he reared back, slammed his face into one of the shrimp and shook it like a dog until he died. This is in the ten. I promptly snatched the other still living, and obviously horrified ghost shrimp out of the tank before any other damage could be done, and put him in the five with the other one.

Luckily Saku has gorged himself on an algae wafer, and is so full that he looks like he's pregnant, or has a tumor one. I'm definitely not feeding him for a few days...

Your right though Catlover, at least he was only thirty cents...

Well, at least Lucien probably had a very nice meal!

My 5 gallon is 18" across.

I found the tiny one!! *yay!!*