2.5 Gallon Stocking

Belltrain said:
Mix up saltwater. Do live sand. Live Rock. Bingo. put emerald crab or 2 and some hermits in there and boom. g2g.
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This from petsolutions.com
Scientific Name: Mithraculus sculptus
Ease of Care: Easy
Approximate Arrival Size: Medium: .75 inches; Large: 1+ inches
Native Region: Atlantic Ocean
Recommended Aquarium Size: 10+ Gallons
Temperament: Semi-Aggressive
Diet: Omnivore
Reef Safe: Yes

Emerald Crabs, Mithraculus sculptus, are a native from Atlantic reefs bordering the Americas. This crab is also known as a Mithrax, Clinging, or Green Crab. They are excellent scavengers of uneaten food, preferring to search primarily at night. The emerald crab will also consume Valonia and Ventricaria species of bubble algae. Emerald crabs make an excellent addition to the reef aquarium.

Notes: This species must molt in order to grow. Generally at night, it will lay on its back and exit its exoskeleton. A new exoskeleton is excreted and will harden over a period of several hours. The animal is vulnerable at this time and should not be disturbed. Proper iodine levels assist with successful molting.


I have two emerald crabs in a 40breeder and would not consider adding even one more. They are eating machines and live on algae. I can not imagine a 2.5 gallon being able to support even one.
 
There are lots of YouTube videos of people doing vase sized pico reefs etc...but we are talking about a ton of work and a ton of experience on the part of the fishkeeper. This is more of an exercise in discipline.

How much experience do you have, exactly? What kind of money and time are you prepared to invest? This determines everything.

For anything not to be a daily chore, you would have to plumb your tiny tank into a sump. Hardly worth it, IMO.
 
platytudes said:
There are lots of YouTube videos of people doing vase sized pico reefs etc...but we are talking about a ton of work and a ton of experience on the part of the fishkeeper. This is more of an exercise in discipline.

How much experience do you have, exactly? What kind of money and time are you prepared to invest? This determines everything.

For anything not to be a daily chore, you would have to plumb your tiny tank into a sump. Hardly worth it, IMO.
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I would totally agree with this. It's not that you CAN'T do salt that small...it would just be a ton of work and not really worth it. You would be better off saving for a bigger tank if you wanted to do salt, or at least gaining a lot of experience in salt if you don't already have some. There really are some interesting shrimp and inverts out there for freshwater that would fit in a 2.5 gallon. If I were you I would just shop around. have you checked out things like crystal red shrimp or crystal black shrimp? Nerites? Assassin snails (not to be kept with other snails..)? Tiger shrimp? Yellow shrimp?
 
If you have the right tools and knowledge it can be done

Edit=oh and wizard. Algae wafers, sinking wafers, and nartural algae is fine for one crab.
 
I have seven years of experience keeping fish, so I'm not a newbie. But I'm not really prepared to take on the time consuming aspects of saltwater on a small level, and I really don't want to do an sort of plumbing or sump fixtures.

What about one of these:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=830+836+2823&pcatid=2823

It only grows to 1", and I was thinking of keeping a heavily filtered and planted aquarium. Thoughts?
 
Recommended minimum tank size is 10 gal.
 
Online shops aren't the most accurate sources for minimum tank requirements. The same website says the minimum for bettas is a one gallon set up is best, but many people here say that is too small. That's why personal experience is so valuable.
 
powellmacaque said:
Online shops aren't the most accurate sources for minimum tank requirements. The same website says the minimum for bettas is a one gallon set up is best, but many people here say that is too small. That's why personal experience is so valuable.
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While I agree that they are not best, your own example shows they often do not show a tank that is big enough. The question to ask is, why take a chance at keeping a species that you don't have the space for it to thrive?

People still keep goldfish in 2 gal fish bowls. There is a difference between "existing" and living a long, happy, healthy life. Many qualified and experienced people have already stated that about the only thing that should be done in 2.5 gal is shrimp or snails.

I like to opt for caution on the the fish's side when it comes to stocking. Probably because when I started keeping fish we didn't have the readily available information we have today and maybe I am just trying to make up for the fish that I have housed improperly as a kid.
 
Perhaps you should raise killifish? Experienced killifish keepers can keep them in shoebox size setups, but a planted and heated 2.5 gallon tank could probably accommodate them:
http://www.aka.org/

The least killifish is the smallest livebearer. A few would probably do ok in a planted 2.5 gallon...but they're not very showy, and I'm guessing you want colorful and bold? Their behaviors are quite interesting, and I bet they would breed in the right water chemistry with conditioning.

I am not sure how hardy scarlet badis are. I was under the impression they were sort of delicate. I wouldn't keep a scarlet badis in a 2.5 gallon tank, personally - the smallest I'd go is a 5 gallon. Which is about what they recommend here:
http://www.seriouslyfish.com/profile.php?genus=Dario&species=dario&id=41

Bettas can be kept in much smaller tanks than 10 gallons, but they thrive in 10 gallon setups and over, in my experience. For one thing, they do best with humid air above them and these smaller rectangular tanks without built in hoods, often do not provide that.
 
Just one final plea ;) Considering that there is a huge variety of shrimp (and nerites) that you can keep now, it seems a shame not to look into setting up your 2.5 gallon as an invert setup, which is what it is best suited for.

If you were in the hobby 7 years ago, you probably remember a time when you were lucky to find ghost shrimp at the LFS! Cherry shrimp became popular in the late 90s, and they kind of changed everything along with Takashi Amano and his namesake shrimp.
 
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