Can I use a reptile terrarium as a fish tank?

[TatteredOcean]

Hello,

I'm planning on setting up a 5-10 gallon tank for shrimp and sometimes Molly and Platy fry. I found a 7-10 gallon plastic reptile terrarium in my garage with no leaks or scratches. It's a little scratched up near the top but from what I could tell, it holds water. Could I use it as an aquarium or would it not work?

 

[tanker]

Usually the glass is thinner, so I would not.

 

[OrionGirl]

Plastic? Is this a critter keeper? They work for either. As mentioned, glass reptile tanks are not designed to hold water, but the plastic ones I've seen are marketed for both. One concern I would have is if this was ever treated with something that would leach from the plastic--medications, for example, which might contain copper and be lethal to invertebrates.

 

[TatteredOcean]

Yeah, it's plastic. It sorta looks like a critter keeper(I'm not sure what is considered one) it has a light and no handle. Im not sure if you mean the plastic was probably treated with something before I had it or if I used some sort of medication for whatever I might have had in it but, I got it quite a few years ago because it was on sale(around $10 I think), took it out its box(which was destroyed by my cats) and didn't use it except once I used it for my rats while cleaning their cage because their carrier was destroyed(again, by my cats) but it has been cleaned very thoroughly since then. Would copper be harmful to fish?

 

[OrionGirl]

Yes, that is a critter keeper.

Copper is lethal to invertebrates. It's not great for fish to be exposed to it for very long, but it's not lethal to them.

Truthfully, I wouldn't. The problem with this type of enclosure is that it's not really designed to come into contact with heaters, so while you can run it unheated, but that's not going to be ideal for the fish you're interesting in.