One Gallon Tank Masterpice Ideas?

[JonathanDP]

:rolleyes: To the point, I have a one gallon tank (sale ages ago from a Petcetra store) fully loaded cover with simple under gravel filter and pump with internal 5watt lamp and mini gravel pack. I chose to make one of these work but fell busy with others tanks like hexs etc...untill my support services bank office went nuts over a fish video for office learning and fish rolled in (90% dead or dying due to impulse buyers from all floors in my office, sad really).

:idea2: Needless to say I ran my black plastic one gallon tank at my desk empty except the given mini gravel pack:

- The tank ran for one month then I placed a 2 1/2 year old plant in the tank (small shrub sized (forgot the name).
- This stayed with more gravel used from other tanks for approx 4-6 months at least.
- Alge once grew on the plant and attacked the sides of the tank.
- Recently I cleaned up the water conditions to stop alge groth and windows are clean, but plant still has alge fish snack on.
- To this point, a rock(white limestone I belive) and a fake grass plant has been added with a Dwarf Tetraodon and a free Emeraled Catfish(small).

:D :eek: It is true that smaller tanks are hard to keep but I was hoping to give the best shot and so far so good. My Emeraled (CF) has done all the cleaning, the plant keeps growing alge due to 24 room lighting in office. This gives food to the fish and also does not spread to rest of tanks. Water changes every week with water placed in containers for a week to clear up the tap water on top of the use of aqua solutions.
My one gallon tank is basicaly "cereal box" shaped so has plenty of room for more small plants etc...

:confused: If you have ideas (or comments) to anything including fish plants stones rocks and more to spruce up this tank leave a message

[Pombe]

I think one gallon is really too small any fish.

the dwarf puffer in particular will be way more happy in a 5 or 10 gallon. they only grow to a little more than an inch but puffers are active and messy ingeneral. By a bigger tank for the puff and use the one gallon as a snail breeder for puffer food.

Just my two cents.

[Stefanie]

Also, if you mean Emerald Green Cory, it is a schooling fish and actually grows up to 3-4 inches. Dwarf puffers can get very aggressive towards other fish, especially if not given enough room (I learned the hard way trying to keep them in a community tank for a while... now they have their own tank).
Just a suggestion: maybe instead of fish you could put some ghost shrimp in it? I am not sure about their requirements for space, but hopefully someone else can answer this. They are fun to watch.

[cdawson]

I agree, not only is a 1 gallon tank a waste of money it's a waste of life. No fish can survive in such a small body of water, even a betta.

If you want to keep fish, try at least a 10 gallon.

Limestone will also raise the ph and hardness significantly, and you won't be able to keep anything in that tank because there's no fish from hard alkaline water that would even fit into a 1 gallon besides a bumblebee goby.

[olaf]

1g, that sound like it could be a REALLY small sump for a 5g - 10g tank.
HAHAHA! :D

How does a 1g tank look like. I was trying to figure it out. It would have to be something like 6.5" x 6" x 6" = 1.01g

You sure it isn't a milk jug? Or maybe it is a vase?

[cdawson]

1g, that sound like it could be a REALLY small sump for a 5g - 10g tank.
HAHAHA! :D

How does a 1g tank look like. I was trying to figure it out. It would have to be something like 6.5" x 6" x 6" = 1.01g

You sure it isn't a milk jug? Or maybe it is a vase?

Dude, the jugs our milk comes in are bigger than that tank!

[olaf]

I was just thinking a gallon of milk. TRYING to be funny.

[jonathan03]

Some red cherry shrimp wouldn't mind the space. They get to be less than an inch and will multiply fast. I think their official minimum tank size is 2 gallons, but anything you put in a 1 gallon will be less than its minimum tank size. So I guess at least its close to two gallons.....

There are several plants you can add. Some micro sword or short grass like plants would be good. I've never seen a tank where micro sword got close to the top of the tank, but it might in your tank :-P

You should have a sponge filter or at least something if you don't already. A ugf isn't the best by any means and they usually don't have filter floss. The filter floss will really help establish a good bacteria colony.

Last, its very important that you cycle in a tank like this. The water will go crazy with all kinds of spikes if you tank isn't cycled well. I would also consider some fast growing bunch plants. Rotalla is good at absorbing the nitrates in a tank. I am having trouble keeping the nitrates above 0 in my tank :-p

EDIT
BTW, trying for a brackish 1 gallon tank makes things a whole lot harder. Go for a freshwater tank. You will have to worry about the salt ratio in addition to all the other water problems with a brackish water tank.

[JonathanDP]

To all who has relpied to my post,

I undersdandthe size limits etc... I have very large tanks at home. If any thing goes wrong or the fish have become under stress (which both haven't yet) then I will do a quick transfer to another sutible tank. Today I was concern about the whole idea, but I have figured out that this whole thing some how has been working out and with both fish in good condition (execpt the rule of being kept in numbers for catfish) It works!? So my concern for safety of the fish is backed up easily by other tanks around :)

:bowing: thanks jonathan03 for the plant suggestions I will try to find some at local fish shops

:soda: Hey those sugestions as to a "sump" and "waste of money" is funny, just wanted to do one gallon to see what it's like in my office.

:idea2: I have thought about the "waste of life" from the start (with other tanks are standing by) and I think it's under control

:OT: :mad2 MY CAT IS SICK WITH SOME SORT OF STOMACH CANCER, she has 10-20 days left to live according to the vet... :sad

[Stefanie]

I am not trying to disencourage you or talk you down, there are many things that I did wrong and am still doing wrong...I am just trying to give you some food for thoughts...
I am a total newbie to fish keeping, but I understand that "making it work" and "safety for the fish" are not the only thing to worry about when keeping them. For me it is about trying to give them as good a home as possible, because they are for my entertainment, so in return it is my responsibility to make them happy.
To keep a social fish like the cat alone will work, but does it work well?
Keeping it with a potentially agressive fish like a puffer might work for a while, but what if it goes wrong? Taking the puffer out into a non cycled tank will be his death sentence. They are scaleless and can be very sensitive to water conditions.
Keeping fish is a learning process, and people on this forum have always been very helpful to me and made my fish a lot happier. There are people here with decades of experience, and often as harsh as it may sound they are simply right about things.

[tricksterpup]

Ok here is my 2 cents on the 1 gallon tank, they can be done but it depends on the fish. And there are not many fish that will live happily in this tank. Except one. The Heterandria Formosa the least killiefish, smallest livebearer in the United states.I have a picture of a pair as my Advatar, the Males reach a lengh of 1/4 of an inch and females up to 1 inch.

You will need to keep the tank a freshwater and keep some java moss or hornwort in there to keep them happy. But you should not have any problems with thiese guys. They do very well in small tanks. There are many breeders who do raise their colonies in one gallon jars. I did very well keeping these guys and raising them in a 2.5 gallon tank. In this tank, you will only be able to keep these guys in there. No other fish. Also, you will probably need to do water changes about twice a week but these lil guys should do fine if you can find some. I would probably keep a 1:4 ratio in this tank, 1 male to 4 females.