Shallow Aquarium...

[cazSoma]

hello fish people,
I know very very little about fish at all, and dont mean to offend anyone by my ignorance but....
I was thinking it'd be really cool to have a glass coffee table, and build my own aquarium on top of it. What I'm thinking is that it'd be about 2 inches deep, with the corners slightly higher to support a thick glass top on top of the sides (the raised corners would leave a slot to let air in). hopefully with the high surface area to volume ratio the water could be naturally oxygenated rather than needing a bubble pump thingumie.

Thing I'm worried about is how humane this is.. will the fish be happy?

theres a possibility that cups will be placed ontop of the table aquarium, and I know fish dont like tapping noises... also are fish okay with shallow aquariums? if not why not...? google mentioned goldfish needing atleast a foot depth of water but cant see why depth is particularly important to them... surely horizontal space is more vital? Also do fish need the gravelly stuff at the bottom of the aquarium or is it decorative only? be nice to leave it totally see through!

Okay I realise I'm probably not winning many friends with this post, but really have no clue as to whether what i'm suggesting is inhumanely cruel to fish... its partly why I'm writing! so go easy in your reply!

if there are any species of fish you'd think would be more suited to these conditions then that'd be handy too.

Thanks, Caz

 

[Ace Of Spades]

hello fish people,
I know very very little about fish at all, and dont mean to offend anyone by my ignorance but....
I was thinking it'd be really cool to have a glass coffee table, and build my own aquarium on top of it. What I'm thinking is that it'd be about 2 inches deep, with the corners slightly higher to support a thick glass top on top of the sides (the raised corners would leave a slot to let air in). hopefully with the high surface area to volume ratio the water could be naturally oxygenated rather than needing a bubble pump thingumie.

Thing I'm worried about is how humane this is.. will the fish be happy?

theres a possibility that cups will be placed ontop of the table aquarium, and I know fish dont like tapping noises... also are fish okay with shallow aquariums? if not why not...? google mentioned goldfish needing atleast a foot depth of water but cant see why depth is particularly important to them... surely horizontal space is more vital? Also do fish need the gravelly stuff at the bottom of the aquarium or is it decorative only? be nice to leave it totally see through!

Okay I realise I'm probably not winning many friends with this post, but really have no clue as to whether what i'm suggesting is inhumanely cruel to fish... its partly why I'm writing! so go easy in your reply!

if there are any species of fish you'd think would be more suited to these conditions then that'd be handy too.

Thanks, Caz

TBH the shallowest Id feel happy with is 8", with 2" I really dont think the fish would enjoy it much...

 

[tenohfive]

Seconded, and there are commercially made coffee table fish tanks (Clearseal do some though I've no personal experiences of them.)

 

[OldMan47]

The problem that I see with a shallow tank is filtering and heating. The oxygen part is easy as you have said but how do you keep it clean? If I were setting a drink on a table I would not want to see algae and fish wastes 3 inches away. At 6 inches deep it would be easier to filter and deep enough for a heater to control the temperature. There are many of the very small fish that don't need much depth because they don't have a tall body. In other words, in 6 inches of water they could have room to swim up and down rather than just side to side. There are no fish that I would put in 2 inches.