Making the best of a 5 gallon tank

[JuiceBox52]

Ideally, I would have water hardness. But I don't. I won't be buying until I'm there, so right now, I'm just trying to come up with some potential ideas. I don't want to get there and be clueless as to what I want and want to give my roommate an idea of what I'm thinking. I'm prepared to soften or harden the water when I get there if I have to, but obviously, any idea I get stuck on could get shot down.

If you know where you’re going to be staying, what city, the city PUD or municipal water source will have a report with the hardness levels

 

[Ellie Potts]

Yah compatability was gone over a bit, but without the knowledge of your water conditions, it's a gamble to get a fish (or other aquatic animal).

Scarlet badis live in a soft to medium-soft water environment with a PH of 6-7.5

You spoke of adding crushed coral? But that adds hardness and PH. So if your water is already soft, with a good PH you shouldn't need to worry...

If your water IS hard, I will say it's a lot harder to lower hardness than to raise it.

I don't know what part of NC you're in (I'm from NC as well), but as far as I know all the water around here is soft with a higher PH... I don't know if you are closer to the mountains or not and what the conditions are like where you are but for me (in the eastern side) I have some strange water... It's probably what our water provider adds

I'm from NC and have only ever had softer water, but my college is up north in Ohio. I've read of softening water with water softeners or boiling it but have never actually tried. I've also read about using driftwood or peat moss but, again, no idea how effective it is in practice. I'll have a better idea when I'm there to test the water. My buddy at the college who's an upperclassman has kept fish and tested the water in the past, but it was a year ago and the only thing they remember is that it's "pretty medium" and "softer then you expect," so I don't really trust that assessment.

 

[Ellie Potts]

If you know where you’re going to be staying, what city, the city PUD or municipal water source will have a report with the hardness levels

The water department for the city the college is in recorded hard water - 160/mg/1 or 9.3 gpg. But when I'm looking at the website for the water source the data for how many people water is being delivered to can't possibly include the college. So I'm not 100% sure.

 

[Rocky998]

I'm from NC and have only ever had softer water, but my college is up north in Ohio. I've read of softening water with water softeners or boiling it but have never actually tried. I've also read about using driftwood or peat moss but, again, no idea how effective it is in practice. I'll have a better idea when I'm there to test the water. My buddy at the college who's an upperclassman has kept fish and tested the water in the past, but it was a year ago and the only thing they remember is that it's "pretty medium" and "softer then you expect," so I don't really trust that assessment.

Driftwood and peat moss work at softening the water by absorbing the minerals. But once it is "full" you would have to remove it and add another. So with the driftwood you'd be spending A LOT of money on chunks of wood that would only last you for a bit... So don't use driftwood for softening water.
Peat would be the more affordable option but your water would always be stained by tannins (not a bad thing. Tannins do have their benefits but to some its not appealing.) It would have to be added a lot as well. I don't know how much the parameters would swing with either of those options as well... Cause it takes a little for each of those to absorb the minerals, so you'd add water during a water change and the hardness/PH would be completely different than what's in the tank and it would shock the fish... As it is when you first put the peat in, it would have to slowly absorb the minerals and change the parameters.

The absolute best option for softening water is a reverse osmosis water filter that you can attach to your water outlet. It will remove all the minerals.
Depending on how hard your water is, depends on how often you change the cartridges. (the more it has to remove the fuller the system gets in a shorter period of time).
This would work MUCH better.

But this is only if your water is hard... I'm hoping its soft and you don't have to worry about getting an R/O filter or anything.

The water department for the city the college is in recorded hard water - 160/mg/1 or 9.3 gpg. But when I'm looking at the website for the water source the data for how many people water is being delivered to can't possibly include the college. So I'm not 100% sure.

I don't think a water provider in one state would be providing water to another state... I could be wrong but I highly doubt it.
Especially if your college is in Ohio. They would not be getting their water from here.

 

[BrianK]

I had to read up on dwarf crayfish. That sounds like a nice option for your circumstances.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Welcome back!

For transport, you can buy little battery-powered aerators. Sure wish they had had those when I was in college! As for stocking, have you considered any of the wild betta species? Some (not all) of them are quite durable and willing to travel.

 

[Byron]

My comment has to do with the GH and pH of the source water, specifically the mention that it can be adjusted up or down. This is a lot more work than one might think, and given that you will not be permanently there, regardless of the knowledge that someone else may have, I would not recommend any water adjustment. Once you know the GH, KH and pH of the source water, consider fish suited to that water (sand the tank size obviously). In the past 30-40 years I have a couple of times had to prepare water for fish, and there are several pitfalls that would see the demise of the fish within hours.

Another aspect of your absence periodically/regularly is feeding the fish. Small "nano" type fish frequently have much more specific needs. Fussy eaters, and that means more work for whomever.

 

[Ellie Potts]

Driftwood and peat moss work at softening the water by absorbing the minerals. But once it is "full" you would have to remove it and add another. So with the driftwood you'd be spending A LOT of money on chunks of wood that would only last you for a bit... So don't use driftwood for softening water.
Peat would be the more affordable option but your water would always be stained by tannins (not a bad thing. Tannins do have their benefits but to some its not appealing.) It would have to be added a lot as well. I don't know how much the parameters would swing with either of those options as well... Cause it takes a little for each of those to absorb the minerals, so you'd add water during a water change and the hardness/PH would be completely different than what's in the tank and it would shock the fish... As it is when you first put the peat in, it would have to slowly absorb the minerals and change the parameters.

The absolute best option for softening water is a reverse osmosis water filter that you can attach to your water outlet. It will remove all the minerals.
Depending on how hard your water is, depends on how often you change the cartridges. (the more it has to remove the fuller the system gets in a shorter period of time).
This would work MUCH better.

But this is only if your water is hard... I'm hoping its soft and you don't have to worry about getting an R/O filter or anything.


I don't think a water provider in one state would be providing water to another state... I could be wrong but I highly doubt it.
Especially if your college is in Ohio. They would not be getting their water from here.

Thank you! This is really helpful. I'll look into this. I'll know January 15th-ish hopefully and will go from there.

 

[Ellie Potts]

My comment has to do with the GH and pH of the source water, specifically the mention that it can be adjusted up or down. This is a lot more work than one might think, and given that you will not be permanently there, regardless of the knowledge that someone else may have, I would not recommend any water adjustment. Once you know the GH, KH and pH of the source water, consider fish suited to that water (sand the tank size obviously). In the past 30-40 years I have a couple of times had to prepare water for fish, and there are several pitfalls that would see the demise of the fish within hours.

Another aspect of your absence periodically/regularly is feeding the fish. Small "nano" type fish frequently have much more specific needs. Fussy eaters, and that means more work for whomever.

At home I almost exclusively feed various frozen foods or live brine shrimp that I breed and I plan to keep doing that in college (fortunately I have my own fridge/freezer), so I'm not tooooo worried about getting the lil fish to eat (I, of course, supplement for algae-eaters or omnivores, but for the fish species I'm looking into, it's almost entirely frozen/live). It would be ideal if I could find one that would take dried bloodworms every now and again, but I'll make it work if they don't.

I'll try to make two lists in my research - one that can handle hard water, and one for soft water. After testing my college's water I'll adjust.
Could I not just use distilled water?

 

[Byron]

At home I almost exclusively feed various frozen foods or live brine shrimp that I breed and I plan to keep doing that in college (fortunately I have my own fridge/freezer), so I'm not tooooo worried about getting the lil fish to eat (I, of course, supplement for algae-eaters or omnivores, but for the fish species I'm looking into, it's almost entirely frozen/live). It would be ideal if I could find one that would take dried bloodworms every now and again, but I'll make it work if they don't.

I'll try to make two lists in my research - one that can handle hard water, and one for soft water. After testing my college's water I'll adjust.
Could I not just use distilled water?

My mentioining of the food was just to point out that this can be an issue with some fish species. Example, scarlet badis was mentioned and this fish can be very fussy. Twice I acquired them, and both times they starved, refusing any non-live food. Frozen bloodworms were (or seemed to be) accepted by one of them, for a time anyway, but nothing else. Culturing varied live foods to ensure a healthy diet does not sound a simple matter given the circumstances here. Hence my caution.

As for distilled water, yes, if the fish species are very soft water, you can use pure water such as distilled or RO.

 

[JuiceBox52]

My mentioining of the food was just to point out that this can be an issue with some fish species. Example, scarlet badis was mentioned and this fish can be very fussy. Twice I acquired them, and both times they starved, refusing any non-live food. Frozen bloodworms were (or seemed to be) accepted by one of them, for a time anyway, but nothing else. Culturing varied live foods to ensure a healthy diet does not sound a simple matter given the circumstances here. Hence my caution.

As for distilled water, yes, if the fish species are very soft water, you can use pure water such as distilled or RO.

Most fish that are fine in pure RO need a larger tank than 5 gallons

 

[Ellie Potts]

Most fish that are fine in pure RO need a larger tank than 5 gallons

Could I mix water from the tap with distilled water? Get to the hardness I want, record the ratio and just add in that proportion of distilled water to every water change?

My mentioining of the food was just to point out that this can be an issue with some fish species. Example, scarlet badis was mentioned and this fish can be very fussy. Twice I acquired them, and both times they starved, refusing any non-live food. Frozen bloodworms were (or seemed to be) accepted by one of them, for a time anyway, but nothing else. Culturing varied live foods to ensure a healthy diet does not sound a simple matter given the circumstances here. Hence my caution.

As for distilled water, yes, if the fish species are very soft water, you can use pure water such as distilled or RO.

I'm leaning away from Scarlet Badis. After doing some research they seem really predatory and too finicky for my purposes.

 

[JuiceBox52]

Could I mix water from the tap with distilled water? Get to the hardness I want, record the ratio and just add in that proportion of distilled water to every water change?



I'm leaning away from Scarlet Badis. After doing some research they seem really predatory and too finicky for my purposes.

Besides a betta you don’t really have any options for a 5 gallons aside from shrimp and snails

 

[Ellie Potts]

Besides a betta you don’t really have any options for a 5 gallons aside from shrimp and snails

You don't think any killifish can be kept successfully in a 5? I've seen a few people have least killifish and clown killifish without issue. Also Asian Stone Catfish and Borneo sucker loaches. I definitely think pea puffers can be kept in a 5, but college living seems too stressful for them. I just keep going back and forth on what fish I think are ethical for the situation. I'll have to look into wild-type bettas, I was never able to get too into the bettas I've had so far.

I really wish I had a 10 or 20. A 5 is by all means unideal. But considering the amount of attention it will be getting - constant water changes, regular scape changes, and the the babying that is being divided amongst all of my aquariums right now directed at 5 gallons - I don't think the conditions will be too bad. It's why I'm not intimidated by playing with distilled water all the time or getting unnecessarily nice equipment for what the tank it is.

 

[Rocky998]

SOME killifish species can be kept in a 5g.
Borneo sucker loaches are a definite no. They need more space and high flow.
Asian stone catfish are also a no. They'd do better in a 10g

I really appreciate you doing your research and trying hard to do this properly

You don't think any killifish can be kept successfully in a 5? I've seen a few people have least killifish and clown killifish without issue. Also Asian Stone Catfish and Borneo sucker loaches. I definitely think pea puffers can be kept in a 5, but college living seems too stressful for them. I just keep going back and forth on what fish I think are ethical for the situation. I'll have to look into wild-type bettas, I was never able to get too into the bettas I've had so far.

I really wish I had a 10 or 20. A 5 is by all means unideal. But considering the amount of attention it will be getting - constant water changes, regular scape changes, and the the babying that is being divided amongst all of my aquariums right now directed at 5 gallons - I don't think the conditions will be too bad. It's why I'm not intimidated by playing with distilled water all the time or getting unnecessarily nice equipment for what the tank it is.