Ideas For An 8 Gallon

[Tom H]

I recently aquired an old 8gal fish tank. it just undergone vigorous cleaning and is ready for setting up.

i just wanted some opinions on what to keep in it, i am aware that it is kinda small! i quite like 'odd' fish , ones that are a bit different, so something like that would be great! any ideas?


Thanks

Tom

 

[Sanj]

3 Peacock gobies?

 

[WILDER]

Algae eater always look weird to me, and snails.

 

[sylvia]

First you'll need to look into fishless cycling the tank (look at the link in my signature). Then there are hundreds of possibilities.

You said something unusual... well killifish are somewhat unusual. I think a pair of badis would work. A single south american leaf fish might though I have limmited knowledge of their requirements. There are puffers that would work though I've never kept any. Shell-dwelling cichlids though, again, I've never kept any and am not much of a cichlid fan...

In fact, I'm more a gourami person - you could keep some honey gouramies or a pair of dwarf gouramies. Croaking and sparkling gouramies would also work. They croak so are somewhat unusual... Licorice gouramies if you are prepaired to research them, may also be possible though more fragile.

Then there are all the typical combinations of small tetras - black phantoms are the best - 5 of them would be beautiful if you planted the tank... the males will display to one another. 5 harlequin rasboras in a similar setting would work and there are various similarly-sized rasboras that are rarer but just as suitable. Golden dwarf barbs are great too.

A few otos would be nice. Try getting them to breed - that might be fun in a planted tank.

You could probably get 4 cories though they are somewhat active for so small a tank - pygmy/dwarf cories would work though and you could probably put 6 in there. They aren't bottom-dwelling so much either - so they'd be hanging around the middle layers in plain view - so cute!

I must mention a betta... with a couple of otos and maybe some rasboras.

And of course livebearers - guppies or platies would be nice and they'd breed for you too. Alternatively - get 8 mosquito fish or some endler's livebearers. Don't mix guppies with the latter though and be prepaired for lots and lots of fry (they don't eat their fry as much as other livebearers tend to)!

As I said, there are limitless options... what are you looking for? Species tank or community? Active, peaceful, colorful? Do you want to breed the fish? What sort of set-up? Planted? etc...

 

[Tom H]

thanks for your help

I would definetley like a planted tank, they can look so good if you get them right! I wold prefer a species tank i guess, and quite active fish. breeding would be a bonus!! I do quite like algae, eaters. What about a freshwater shrimp? Can you breed them?

thanks again

 

[WILDER]

Theirs a link for you to an algae eater but only thing is it says 10 gal.http/species.fishindex.com/species_145crossocheilus_siamensis_siamese_algaeeater.html

 

[sylvia]

Well the only possible algae eaters are otos in a small tank. Breeding them is fun, can be difficult but deffinately possible. Livebearers are the way to go for breeding. You could also breed honey gouramies in a well-planted tank though it would be more difficult to keep the tiny fry alive. Shrimp would work well. They are breedable. I've never tried myself but I think they are relatively easy - given the correct conditions and no predators. If you want an active planted species tank, tetras, rasboras or small barbs are the best. Cories - the smallest especialy, are wonderful. Croaking, honey or sparkling gouramies would work but wouldn't be quite as active and you'd have to keep less to avoid aggression. Licorice goouramies would make a nice species tank but are fragile if kept in an unsuitable environment. Try whatever is small enough and you like

 

[Tom H]

mm shrimps do seem tempting!

Would they live happily with other fish such as small tetras? I guess other fish would eat the shrimps eggs if they spawned?

thanks (and sorry for more q's!)

 

[WILDER]

I've just looked strimps up and most of them need 10 to 20gals so I don't no.

 

[sylvia]

Well most shrimp are pretty small so provided you didn't over-stock, calculate each shrimp as if it were an inch of fish Small tetras and the like should be fine. I think the more common freshwater shrimp actualy carry their eggs on them so I don't think the fish would get at them though any other shrimp might.

BTW, it is often suggested to keep shrimp with bettas or the like, in very small tanks, so I don't think they would need much room.

 

[WILDER]

No nothing on strimps as they creep me out, when you look at profiles on fish and things it's away of learning about other fish you wouldn't normally bother learning about, and sometimes information differs from site to site, anyway good luck on whatever you choose.