Suggestion For Single Fish...

[meola]

Hi, I have a 20L tank which is fully cycled and been sitting empty for weeks since its last occupant (a psycho guppy) died. It has sand substrate and a plastic plant (and no lid).

I'm looking for one or two interesting fish to keep in it. Was thinking dwarf puffer but gf not so keen on keeping worms in the freezer (they won't eat dried food?)

any interesting ideas?

 

[waterdrop]

So you're keeping the bacteria alive with household ammonia? The bacteria would die off a number of days after the last fish died otherwise and the filter would become uncycled.

We do have some good species suggesters on here who will hopefully be along.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[meola]

DID NOT KNOW THAT!!! Thanks!! need to re-cycle

 

[Assaye]

He he, common mistake meola. Those bacteria need to be kept fed

As for what to do with it . . . 20L is too small for two puffers but just fine for one. You'll need good filtration and lots of hiding places such as plants and caves. Puffers want a very meaty, varied diet. Some take dried foods but many are happiest with small snails to munch and a mix of live or defrosted foods such as bloodworms and chopped earthworms.

You could instead try a mini-community tank consisting of 6 tiny fish (such as chilli rasbora or celestial pearl danio) and a handful of small shrimp (such as cherry shrimp).

20L would also be acceptable for a single betta splendens or perhaps a nice specimen of a small wild betta species, such as a male imbellis. I believe it would also be sufficient for something like a trio of sparkling gourami or 3-4 male endlers. A trio of male guppies is also an option.

Let us know what sort of thing you'd like and we can advise further.

 

[moochy13]

i had a tiny puffer and it used to eat frozen cockles. and he liked to chew on the shell aswell.

 

[meola]

Thanks guys. Would really love a dwarf puffer. Wondering if I can get away with not keeping live food in the freezer. What about keeping the tank stocked with lots of baby snails and supplementing with flakes etc. I imagine it will take a few weeks for all the snails to get eaten, then replenishing with more snails....

 

[meola]

Frozen cockles hmmm... interesting I can try feeding it various types of frozen seafood from the supermarket....

 

[Assaye]

You don't keep live food in the freezer, you keep pre-killed, frozen food in the freezer. It's not smelly or nasty at all - comes in little packs and is really very discreet and clean.

 

[meola]

You don't keep live food in the freezer, you keep pre-killed, frozen food in the freezer. It's not smelly or nasty at all - comes in little packs and is really very discreet and clean.

makes no difference to the missus. worms in the freezer are worms in the freezer, alive or dead in little tubs. maybe I can tell her they're raisins. but then she might eat one

 

[fluttermoth]

You don't keep live food in the freezer, you keep pre-killed, frozen food in the freezer. It's not smelly or nasty at all - comes in little packs and is really very discreet and clean.

makes no difference to the missus. worms in the freezer are worms in the freezer, alive or dead in little tubs. maybe I can tell her they're raisins. but then she might eat one

Don't get a snake then; nothing like dead rats in the freezer for alienating your other half!

 

[meola]

that would be hilarious!!

 

[fluttermoth]

He squealed like a girl

 

[waterdrop]

i had a tiny puffer and it used to eat frozen cockles. and he liked to chew on the shell aswell.

While you guys were having a particularly fun freezer moment, I was having a particularly American moment from the above quote, lol.

Its probably some weird deficiency in my southern eastern american upbringing but despite being used to looking at and indeed collecting what I now realize are "cockle shells" from the beaches as a youngster.. "cockle" was never a word for them, in fact there was NO word that I remember. Seems we just referred to them as shells or clams (even while knowing that they were obviously not clams since we knew clams, mussles and oysters quite well.

And yet "cockle-shells" was a familiar term from literature, always having an "british/english" ring to it and immediately shifting the voice inside my head to speaking with an accent . (Actually, isn't there some famous rhyme with cocle-shells in it??) Most of our self-caught fresh seafood meals when I was growing up involved either fresh blue crabs my brother and I hauled up in a bushel basket from the little footbridge where we caught them or big messes of salt water fish from out in the bay or ocean. We never ate "cockles" that I remember. How do they compare to clams? Are they more tender, tougher, different flavored?

~~waterdrop~~