Little fish for little tank

Celestial Pearl Danios are cute, awesome looking, and are nano fish.

As for an invertebrate, cherry red shrimp.
 
Dwarf rasboras, ember tetras, maybe a trio of sparkling gouramis. Three male (!) guppies or some Endler's livebearers. Dwarf puffer. Scarlet Badis. Cherry shrimp. There's really not a whole lot of fish that could be happy in such a tiny tank. Celestial danios are really pretty but I think I'd want at least a 5 gallon tank for them. If they're like any of the other danios they'd like space to swim and play.

Actually, if you can't find Endler's, healthy feeder guppies look quite similar and are much smaller than their fancy siblings. Their colors are just usually washed out from stress in overstocked feeder tanks.
 
More to the point, how do you know when a snail is hungry? I've had plecos and otos before in past tanks, but never a snail, and I'm a complete newbie on invertebrates in general. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks so much!
What species is this snail? Most snails like algae depending on what it is but some don't. My Pomacea diffusa like soft green algae in addition to veggies, calcium pills (not necessary if the water is already hard and alkaline) and fish foods. Stores do not often give sufficient food diet for the snails so most of the time, hungry snails tend to hog any food they can find although starved ones tend to weaken and will not move around too much in the process.
 
The Heterandria Formosa, least killie fish, are not very easy to find in pet shops but are very nice fish that seem to be hardy. Mine are given no more care than you would give a platy, feed them and do some water changes but nothing fussy. Their numbers are increasing nicely in a little 10 gallon tank. Being located in NC, you are close to the northern end of their natural range so you might even find some in a small creek.
 
What species is this snail? Most snails like algae depending on what it is but some don't. My Pomacea diffusa like soft green algae in addition to veggies, calcium pills (not necessary if the water is already hard and alkaline) and fish foods. Stores do not often give sufficient food diet for the snails so most of the time, hungry snails tend to hog any food they can find although starved ones tend to weaken and will not move around too much in the process.
I was thinking a ramshorn (the small one, not the big species...) I'm more than happy to add algae wafers and/or calcium as needed - I just don't know what to watch for to know they're needed. Thanks!
 
Celestial danios are really pretty but I think I'd want at least a 5 gallon tank for them. If they're like any of the other danios they'd like space to swim and play.

That's what I was thinking, too. Used to have zebras when I had a bigger tank - they were total speed demons. Fun to watch, but I'm worried they'd go nuts in a 3gl.

Actually, if you can't find Endler's, healthy feeder guppies look quite similar and are much smaller than their fancy siblings. Their colors are just usually washed out from stress in overstocked feeder tanks.

I actually love guppies. I just don't admit it in public very often. ;)
 
The Heterandria Formosa, least killie fish, are not very easy to find in pet shops but are very nice fish that seem to be hardy. Mine are given no more care than you would give a platy, feed them and do some water changes but nothing fussy. Their numbers are increasing nicely in a little 10 gallon tank. Being located in NC, you are close to the northern end of their natural range so you might even find some in a small creek.
That's good to know! But I'd hate to remove them from the wild if I don't have to - where did you find yours?
 
Ramshorns will eat just about anything you throw their way. When they run out of algae, they'll eat any scraps the fish misses - they're great little cleaners, and quick at it, too! You don't have to buy them anything special. You can toss in a cucumber slice or a chunk of lettuce from your dinner (uncooked/unseasoned, of course) every now and then, if you want to give a treat. I'd recommend just one snail in that tank, though, because they breed like crazy. My little brother has a small handfull of ramshorns in his new tank, and they laid literally over 500 eggs in under 24 hours.

And having QTed a couple danios in a small tank, I agree that it would be too small. They go crazy in small quarters, and sticking them in 3 gallons long-term would probably be a bad idea.
 
I actually love guppies. I just don't admit it in public very often. ;)

I saw some feeder guppies that somehow snuck into another tank at the store once and I was impressed with how pretty they were. I already have a livebearer tank but the adult males would probably fit into the mouths of my mollies...

A few boys would be great in your little tank though!
 
Two little glolight tetras have taken up residence. I'm waiting a while before I add anything else, since we're still cycling, though levels look good at this point. Maybe a couple of rasbora hets down the road...
 
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