SMALL Tank nearly cycled

[jaarus]

Hey all,

Could do with a little advice - I have a small tank... 30 litre Hexagon which I was bought as a gift.
--- Needless to say I am now really looking forward to upgrading my tank in about 6 months (as the hexagon is a gift I must be SEEN to use it before upgrading to probably a 3 ft tank ) ---

Trouble is with a tank that I now know is far smaller than recommended on any webpage I have come across I am not sure what to keep in it - all help pages assume 10-20 gallons as the small tank.... so I am very unsure of what to get.

Been given pretty bad advice in a Fish Shop near me in the past so refuse to ask them

I know its my choice etc as to what I put together but - well - you guys know WAY more than me about fish so I would really appreciate some honest advice/suggestions on 'micro' communities or 1 or 2 'slightly' larger fish good in small tanks.

Was taken with Silvertip tetras originally - but the ones I have seen in a LFS look a little off - also liked the idea of Bettas...but just one fish, that only lives such a short spell I think could prove a little distressing down the road after I name him etc, unlike a shoal in which one (sadly) wouldnt be overly missed

Please suggest away - and please dont assume I have thought of something and already discounted the idea!

Thanks guys!

 

[WILDER]

I afraid only thing suitable for that tank is a betta.

 

[nuttyfishgirl]

crabs

 

[Bloo]

neons ???

 

[WILDER]

Neons need a least a 10gal they might be small but they are a shoaling fish and need room to move, also they need a mature tank of six months.

 

[Bloo]

OK, I will write purely from my *own* experience, but way back many many years I kept 6 neons for 2 years in a glass cookie jar that took approx 2 litres max No filtration - only weekly water changes. I'd never do that now, but I did it and they did very well. Eventually I put them into my community tank and they died I'm not condoning what I did, but I did it out of ignorance - and for whatever reason they thrived.

 

[WILDER]

That ok, don't want to break the rules or everyone will think it's fine to put neons in small tanks.

 

[jaarus]

Concerning Bettas, my tank is currently set-up with a filter stuck on the inside of the tank and plastic plants etc.

I have just read that Bettas dont like either of these!

anything similar to these that dont mind my current set-up? It seems the 1-2 fish idea was preferred this end anyway!

 

[pnyklr3]

I have known bettas who like to rest on the leaves of plants, so I don't think that you should count them out yet. I think that there are some on this forum who keep their bettas in a filtered tank...I know I wish my tank was filtered. I guess it would depend on the betta and his personal preferance for currents. My betta likes an airstone (though I have no idea why), and gets a little down in the dumps if I turn it off. The only reason plants would be a bad idea for a betta is if they have sharp edges (could tear the fins)or if there is not a lot of swimming space.

 

[jaarus]

Heard it was plastic plants (like I have) that could cause problems due to fin damage as you said.
They dont look sharp to me...but then again I am not a fish with fancy fins!


I suppose I could simply turn the filter down to its lowest setting? so it does something but doesnt pin him to the oppsite side of the tank with current!

I have an airstone etc as well set up and a small rock - looks like tonnes of room for one fish



Havent seen any locally though, neither of the fish shops near me seem to stock them - they may know someone that breeds them I suppose though? Seems to always be full of regulars

actually anyone know hwo much bettas cost (roughly) in the UK?

 

[sylvia]

So how big is this in gallons? Around 8? That's actualy quite a good size for lots of fish and seeing as you'll eventualy be upgrading it's only temporary... Still, you're better off with something permanent - you'd be surprised at how many fish besides a betta can work in there.

For a start, guppies, platies, mosquito fish, most killifish, a dwarf puffer, spotted rasboras and other very small schooling fish, sparkling gouramies, pygmy cories, honey gouramies, a dwarf gourami, shelldweller cichlids, otos, badis, many gobies, very small plecs and some of the smallest loaches. I'm sure there's more.

If I were to make a suggestion, I'd go for a dwarf gourami and either 6 spotted rasboras or 5 pygmy cories. Alternatively, you could get a trio of mosquito fish or guppies or platies and a couple of otos. You could also breed killies in there - if you got a pair of american-flag fish and planted the tank heavily, you could breed a good number and observe some very interesting behaviour as well. Just remember, no matter what you do, that the surface area of a hexagonal tank is smaller than that of a rectangular tank of the same volume - therefore there's less area for gas exchange, which leads to less oxygen in the water, which means you have to stock more lightly. It also means the fish you choose have to be well-balanced at all levels as it's easy to over-crowd just one layer and territoriality issues and clashes are more likely to arise.

As long as you keep all this in mind, don't mix incompatible fish (not all those I listed will get along or have the same water prefferences!) and keep up with maintainance, you are by no means limmited to a single betta (though that may be a nice choice combined with a snail and maybe a few shrimp or a couple of platies).

edit: VOTE LABOUR! (sorry bunjiweb I couldn't resist )

 

[jaarus]

cool thanks for the list of possibilties!

Hard searching for small freshwater tropical fish on google when you dont know any names!!

 

[bunjiweb]

You could have loads of different species in a tank of that size... a combination of any of the following would work (in the right ammounts of course)...

Killiefish - most varieties,
Tetra - a small group of anything like neons or glowlights or lampeyes..
Ottos - Great little catfish that clean algae also, get about 3
Corydoryas - a small group or if you can find a pygmy variety up to 6..

If you want to go for something different you could try 3 dwarf puffers and a goby, or something similar...

So as you can see, there is plenty of things you can do with an 8 gallon tank... just plan it well and make sure you have ok filtration and keep up the water changes

Ben

 

[jaarus]

Never considered dwarf puffers - that is before I read Sylvias post - I thought all puffers were marine..or at least brackish

you think that 3 would be ok in there? They are so cool!!!

I know I need to get more plants as apparently they like the tank to be divided up so they all have there own little areas.... anyone have any suggestions on plants? Do they have to be real or is plastic/silk ok?

 

[sylvia]

Plastic plants would work but I think 3 may be too many as I remember one per gallon was the general rule of thumb so you may be better off with just 2. You'll probably want to look in the oddballs section as I'm not realy a puffer expert myself and pretty much all that I know about puffers came from reading posts in that section of this forum . Obviously, if someone else comes along with a more deffinite answer great but I'd ask in the oddballs section anyway.