Bedside Table Tank Idea

[rikkitiger]

Hi, i am rikkitiger and i have successfully kept a tank for about a year, first a ten gallon then a twenty gallon and i have had an idea for awhile that i want to keep a small less than or five gallon tank on my dresser or side table. I live in a place with only walmart for pet resources so i want to order online for the first time

Where and what should i order? Im thinking i want one fish or a pair of something and not a betta if possible because i dont have a good history with bettas.

 

[BerryAttack]

go for a shrimp tank, you can't really keep a lot of fish in a 5 gallon .. so you can do a live plant tank with dirt substrate for low tech.. lighting can get at florescent bulbs with metal lamp.. then all the plants from petsmart.. make sure to look at leaf health and root health. 
then when everything is growing good (have wood or rock decor for interest) and then add shrimp and you can keep some kind of nano fish.
that's what i would do with a 5 gallon

 

[AeonMapa]

I keep a dwarf gourami in my 5 gallon heavily planted. He has 3 ghost shrimp as tankmates

 

[attibones]

I would do a shrimp tank, a single dwarf puff, a gorgeous betta, or a few endlers.

Nano tanks make poor community tanks, so it would be best, of course, to work with a single specimen tank unless you go with the shrimp and stuff.

I keep a dwarf gourami in my 5 gallon heavily planted. He has 3 ghost shrimp as tankmates

That's a very small tank for that species. They usually are recommended for twenty gallons or more.

 

[EllieJellyEllie]

I would just do a shrimp setup with some bright and colorful fish! You can order plants from bamaplants.com, they are really good and will work with you to make it cheaper, and can hold plants for you if you want a bunch at one time
 
High tech would be cool. 

 

[thefishnoob]

I would say some cherry shrimp or a betta. You could do a walstad tank: google!

 

[rikkitiger]

Well i really like the idea of a dwarf puffer or fiddler crabs. Where should i order sand or dirt from, also the fish or crabs?

 

[attibones]

Fiddler crabs would need a paludarium, I believe. They also would need to be in a species tank. Dwarf puffers new to be in a species tank as well, but a single dwarf puffer in a five gallon (nothing less than that) would be fine. You'll need to supply it with plenty of snails and frozen or other live foods. I ordered mine on aquabid and am really happy about them, but last night I had a dream my PetsMart was selling them as female bettas. I keep a few ghost shrimp in the tank with mine as well. The puffers snack on them, but I'm fine with that.

I get my sand from my tractor supply or home improvement stores. If you like white sand or sandy sand, get play sand. I'm using black blasting grit in two of my tanks. I really like it. Rinses well. Doesn't leach out any chemicals. Easy to clean. I got fifty pounds for about six dollars. Compared to black aquarium sand, that's a huge saving. I paid six dollars for more than twice the amount of black sand I can buy at the LFS which costs about 25 dollars a bag.

If you want to do walstad method, MiracleGro Organic Choice potting mix is recommended and can be purchased at walmart or lowes. Be sure it's not the soil which has manure in it. It needs to be the potting mix.

Otherwise you can get sand from amazon or ebay.