Best Saltwater fish (possibly multiple) for a 5 gallon beginner tank

[Withlovethesun]

So I have an empty 5 gallon tank from my betta and pleco died. And I’d like to try a saltwater tank, but I’m not sure what fish to use, how much live rock/sand to use, what equipment to use and how to test salinity and such. Any recommendations? Or is that to small of a tank?

[Boggers]

too small for a fish unless you have another tank for when the fish is older in 4-6 months.

[BustytheSnowMaam]

There are lots of people who do a single fish in a 5.  You could do a shrimp/ yellow watchman goby pair.  The blind shrimp digs a burrow for the goby and in return the goby acts as the shrimp's "eyes" for finding food and avoiding predators.  They live together in the burrow, the shrimp's antenna always in contact with the goby.  Since it lives in the burrow with the shrimp, it doesn't need much swim room.  

 

A couple others that don't need as much swim room are oscellaris clowns (in the wild they don't go far from their anemone) or royal grammas (live in small caves in the rock).

 

Don't get more than one tho- too much bioload for the tank.

[Clown79]

You can do a small goby.

 

Clown goby

Tail spot blenny

Small watchman goby

 

Only 1 fish in a 5g. You can add crabs and shrimp.

 

The best advice is do lots of research. Salt water is extensive. If you don't do research on lighting, water chemistry, salinity, maintenance, cycling,  it can make the hobby very difficult because understanding is simply not there and you start off with issues that become very overwhelming in no time.

 

What kind of tank do you have? An all in one or standard. Do you have any equipment?

 

Sand is an option. Some go bare bottom. If you do sand 1-1.5" is enough. And you want sand that's used for saltwater tanks like tropic Eden or caribsea.

 

Liverock- no more than 5lbs

 

You need a powerhead - there are a lot of options but in a 5g a hydor 240 or hydor Pico is good.

 

Are you planning on corals because then there's lighting.

 

Salinity: you test using a refractometer 

 

You need to use ro/di or distilled water only

 

There's a lot of info on starting up a tank.

I would start by reading others journals and beginners threads, then start Google searching topics.

 

Without knowing what you currently Have, it's hard for others to recommend anything 

[Lula_Mae]

5 hours ago, Withlovethesun said:

So I have an empty 5 gallon tank from my betta and pleco died. And I’d like to try a saltwater tank, but I’m not sure what fish to use, how much live rock/sand to use, what equipment to use and how to test salinity and such. Any recommendations? Or is that to small of a tank?

The first thing is to do a LOT of serious research.  Saltwater has a pretty steep learning curve, and it's an amazing hobby in which you'll never stop learning.  I researched a good six months before buying equipment for my first setup years ago, most of it on this site.  Start with the stickies in the beginner forum and the articles on this site and they'll give you a good base to build on.  Read the tank journals of members here to see different ways of doing things.  There's nearly as many ways to do things as there are hobbyists so you'll have to figure out what works for you--AFTER a lot of research.

5 hours ago, Boggers said:

too small for a fish unless you have another tank for when the fish is older in 4-6 months.

There's actually quite a few fish that are perfectly appropriate for 5 gallon tanks long term--green banded gobies, neon gobies, clown gobies, tailspot or two spot bimaculatus blennies...among others.

[dhruchainzz]

Too small for fish, but you can do a pistol shrimp and goby pair.

[Regan0]

I i’ve seen people have a very small tanks with just anemones. I haven’t done it before but it seems like a good idea maybe add some shrimp if you want to mix it up a little. Maybe other inverts. I do not currently know of any fish.

[j.falk]

Betta and pleco died...if you can't successfully keep easy to keep freshwater fish...I'm not sure I would recommend saltwater.  🙁

[debbeach13]

This thread is From 2017. In case you didn’t notice. You might not hear from the OP

[j.falk]

13 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

This thread is From 2017. In case you didn’t notice. You might not hear from the OP

D'oh!  😂

[Felix6302]

…keep the thread going on mimi’s…. so, I’ve got a 5 gal works great, super simple. $$ up front in live rock, but that’s seeming to do most the work