Office Aquarium

[Snooks1!]

My mom wants to have me set up an aquarium in her office up town. It would have to be something small (10gals or less) and would have to be able to go for the weekend without feeding or tank lighting. Given those requirements, what would be a good fish for her to keep in the tank?

I was thinking about a dwarf puffer or two, but I don't know if they would be suitable for this. ( But, it would be easy to get snails for them to eat, my Really Not so LFS has a whole tank specifically set up for breeding MTS )

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[rdd1952]

For an office tank, I would think you would want something that you could keep a fairly decent number of fish that are relatively active. I'm not very familiar with puffers but I think they need to be in a species tank and probably in small numbers (you said 1 or 2). I would lean more toward a school of neons or some other tetras that would be relatively active but not hard to care for. The weekend without feeding wouldn't be a problem for any fish that I'm aware of. Mine are never fed when I'm on vacation and have gone a week without food on several occasions.

 

[Snooks1!]

For an office tank, I would think you would want something that you could keep a fairly decent number of fish that are relatively active. I'm not very familiar with puffers but I think they need to be in a species tank and probably in small numbers (you said 1 or 2). I would lean more toward a school of neons or some other tetras that would be relatively active but not hard to care for. The weekend without feeding wouldn't be a problem for any fish that I'm aware of. Mine are never fed when I'm on vacation and have gone a week without food on several occasions.

Aye, I was thinking if I couldn't find any other more interesting fish, then I would go with neons.

The puffer idea came to mind because when I took her to my Really Really Not so LFS, they had green puffers and she absolutely loved them. Though, rather than going through the hassle of trying to set up a brackish tank for her, I figured that dwarf puffers would be a pretty good choice.

~edit~
If I can't come up with anything, I'll probably get her some smaller schooling fish and some pygmy corys.

 

[Ace Of Spades]

Maybe get a betta and some others not tetra's I dont think, But a Betta could easily live in a 10gal !

 

[Snooks1!]

We have enough bettas already

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Snooks1!

Since it's common practice to lower the temperature of offices when they are not occupied at night and on weekends, be sure you equip the tank with a reliable heater.

 

[Snooks1!]

Hi Snooks1!

Since it's common practice to lower the temperature of offices when they are not occupied at night and on weekends, be sure you equip the tank with a reliable heater.

Two steps ahead of you

 

[Snooks1!]

I'm considering more and more a set of dwarf puffers.

Could I keep two in a 14 gal tank with a filter made for a 20gal?

Also, I've been reading up on tankmates, it seems that the only real suitable mates are ottos. However, would a small pack of pygmy corys or a khuli loach or two work?

 

[rdd1952]

The biggest problem I can see with the puffers is that they have rather unusual feeding needs. Snails are a must to help keep their teeth ground down but they are also messy eaters, leaving bits of trash around after eating. If that is not removed relatively soon, it can break down and cause water issues. Just not so certain how that will work in an office tank.

 

[Snooks1!]

Getting snails is like getting crabs... It's free and easy if you go to the right places B)

I'm gonna do some more research on them, and when I get back home I'm going to make a thread in the oddballs section. Should get a better answer from there.

 

[smmetz]

I have a 20 gallon office tank, and I set up a light with timer and a battery operated feeder. I currently have 10 platy and a BN plec. I have, in the past, kept neons in it, zebra danio, and have also tried a blue gourami (which killed a couple platy, so he went home)