One last question( for today anyway). Small tank lvstking.  9/7/07
Neale,
<Linda,>
Thank you again. I found this site when I had a sick Betta in another tank. Poor thing did not make it even though I got an immediate response form WWM. Nor did two of three black neon tetra. I now have a ( embarrassed pause) three gallon tank with one lone black neon in it.
<Eek. Well, he probably wants a few pals. A three gallon tank isn't really useful for fish, in my opinion. Get some cherry shrimp and a lump of Java moss instead. Much more fun to watch, and the cherry shrimp will happily breed, providing you with lots of entertainment as the baby shrimps grow. The baby shrimps are almost indescribably cute and very easy to rear. Being bright red, the female cherry shrimps are also very colourful. Juveniles and males are translucent pink.>
I have had the thought of putting him in the 5 gallon tank with the Betta and four platies. The black neon seems healthy. He is active, eats well. Thought I could use the small tank as an isolation tank. Should I shift the neon?
<I would, and get him some pals.>
Is the small tank safe for use as a hospital?
<Not really, no. Much better to have all your fish happy and healthy in one tank than to fuss about with hospital tanks. Healthy fish kept properly just don't get sick much. It's hard for beginners to accept sometimes, but truly, experienced fishkeepers can go years between buying fish and/or medication. It's an easy hobby... once you get over the learning curve (probably like most other things... driving, raising children, cooking, sex, etc.)>
The Betta I lost had brown splotches that seemed to spread and the neons just were there and then not. I assume my lack of knowledge of cycling killed them. I will maintain the three gallon for the neon but is he ok alone?
<Yes and no. He's obviously alive, but I doubt he's happy.>
Glad you enjoy what you do to the point you will help out fish with new owners.
Linda
<I'm glad too! Doing these questions is my "time out" when having cups of tea in between my actual work. Have fun, Neale>

Betta Companions and General Tank Questions – 08/31/07
Hi WWM Crew;
My name is Andrea and I have been taking care of a male Betta who's owner couldn't keep it anymore. Currently it's living in a standard sized fish bowl and seems quite happy. I'm going to move him into a 5 gallon hexagonal fish aquarium (has a carbon filter and Bio-wheel filter) that I'm bringing back up. Because of this I was hoping to get a few more fish in the aquarium, and was wondering if a small school of say 3 Neon and 3 Glo-Light Tetra's would work out with him. I am also a fan of Synodontis catfish and was wondering if he would be compatible with one or not (the last Synodontis I had was very mild mannered and left the other fish alone). Your answers to these questions would be much appreciated.
Andrea
<Hello Andrea. Do not mix your Betta with any of the fish mentioned. Tetras tend to nip their fins, even "good" tetras like Neons. Some people mix them fine, but some people don't, and you don't really want to take the chance unless you have another aquarium ready to house one or other species if things go wrong. As for Synodontis, other than the fact most species will nibble on the fins of Bettas given the chance, a 5 gallon tank is simply nowhere near big enough to house them. Even the dwarf S. nigriventris needs something like a 20 gallon tank, ideally more, because they are social fish that do best when kept in threes or more. If you must mix a Betta with something else, consider some type of small snail or shrimp. They will be fine in a tank your size, and generally cause no problems with Bettas. Cherry shrimps (Neocaridina denticulata sinensis) are tremendous fun, being not only colourful algae eaters, but also quite willing to breed, so before long you'll have lots of baby shrimp scuttling about the tank that you can grow on and share with other fishkeepers. Cheers, Neale>

Fish help, stkg. small FW  8/9/07
I am wondering what fish I could possibly put in a 10 gallon aquarium. Right now it is just a tank and lid with incandescent light bulb and a really old Whisper 10. I will be buying for it either a new Whisper 10, which is for 5-10 gallons, with a turn-over of 90 gph, or a Rapids Mini Canister Filter which is for up to 20 gallons and has a turn-over of 80 gph. Some freshwater sand as a base with a mix of live plants such as Cabomba, Amazon sword, Anacharis, and some sort of hybrid plant that is in my 10 gallon right now. I will use silk plants as a filler until the plants get bigger I will put in some small terra cotta gardening/craft pots to give the fish hiding spots. I do not want another Betta, because I already have 3, one of which lives in an Eclipse Hex Five and the other two are living in two different community tanks belonging to my mother. I will also buy a Whisper 10 air pump and all the stuff to go with that; a Rena Cal Top light Excel heater, which is for 5-15 gallons of water, it has an adjustable thermostat; a Coralife Digital thermometer; all sorts of medications and conditioners, such as API tap water conditioner, BIOZYME, Amquel, Proper pH (the balance that is appropriate for the fish you may suggest, they have 6.5-8.2 pH); BIO-Spira Freshwater; Kent Freshwater essential; and lastly Seachem Equilibrium. I will be buying an APUI freshwater master test kit, API freshwater aquarium salts, and lastly a Coralife Mini compact50/50 fluorescent bulb. What fish could I keep in this set up? I know not many because of the size. The only aquarium I have right now is the Betta tank and a Goldfish set-up (2 3" goldfish and a 3" Pleco live in the 10 gallon right now) I am buying the goldfish and Pleco a 29 gallon aquarium in about a week or two (which is when I will also buy all of the above stuff too) I was thinking of a salt water, but they are too much work for me what with the painstaking and time-expensive live rock acclimation process, plus most stores do not guarantee their saltwater fish because they are wild caught. It's not worth it to me. So what can I put in it? I would prefer a mostly one species or a slight mix of different kinds.
<I can tell you what I have in my two ten-gallon tanks. In one of them, a "long" tank about 8" wide by 24" long, I have a small group of Corydoras. Periodically they spawn, and rearing the fry is fairly easy, even in a breeding net because they are very accommodating little animals. Once the fry are a couple of months old, they can go in with their parents until I pass them on to other fishkeepers. Corydoras are fun, easy to care for, and any number of varieties are available so you can pick and choose a species you like. This tank is basically unplanted because it has no hood or lights, and while in summer I add some floating plants brought in from the garden, these are a temporary thing. The tank contains a mix of sand and gravel so they can dig nicely, and a couple of ornaments for a bit of shade when the catfish want to lurk (a ceramic Chinese bridge, that sort of thing). In another 10 gallon tank, this one about 10" wide and 18" long I have a group of cardinal tetras and cherry shrimps plus a lone and very tame halfbeak female who has (greatly) outlived her siblings. The shrimps breed, as do the snails, so the whole tank looks a bit like a freshwater reef tank. It's planted with Java moss, Anubias, tiger lily, and Vallisneria, and while the lighting isn't much (11 Watts, I think) because the tank is so shallow the plants seem to do quite well. The Java moss certainly covers everything and needs regular cutting back. The whole thing looks quite pretty. Cardinals are very eye-catching for their size, but not very active, so you get the bright colours without worrying about them feeling cramped. You can safely have a dozen or more of these tiny tetras in a 10 gallon tank, just keep on top of water changes and don't over-feed them. The shrimps are pretty low maintenance since all they eat are the microbes, algae, and decaying organic matter trapped in the Java moss. If you wanted to keep something else instead of Cardinals (or Neons for that matter) another good "mini" fish is the Endler's guppy; there's lots of variety there, and being so tiny they fit well in small tanks. A third option is the bumblebee goby. While arguably best kept in slightly brackish water, this little goby can also be kept in freshwater tanks too. The main problem with it is feeding: it loses out to more competitive animals like guppies and tetras. But on its own, or with shrimps and Nerite snails for example, it's easy to care for and spawns readily. It's also great fun to watch, as each goby defends its shell or cave fiercely, and will chase others away. Each goby needs about a gallon of space including a cave, so in a 10 gallon tank, you can have a whole bunch of them. If you go with gobies you can always make the system brackish water and add sea shells and fake corals. Add some of the exotic brackish water Nerite snails and shrimps and you can create a very passable imitation of a saltwater aquarium at a fraction of the cost! Finally, the dwarf pufferfish is perhaps the current fish-du-jour for the mini aquarium. Although not hardy or a beginner's fish, it isn't difficult to keep if you have a bit of fishkeeping experience, and in a 10 gallon tank you can keep 2-4 specimens depending on the shape of the tank and how well you divide it up into caves, tangles of plants, and bogwood hidey-holes. They're neat little fish, and well worth the extra effort. Hope this gives you some ideas. Cheers, Neale>

Was: fish and salt... Now nano FW stkg.   7/13/07
Neale,
Thanks for the info. May I ask one more question please? I also have a 12 gallon Nano type tank. Will the Corys and Kuhli Loach do okay in this tank?
What fish will do well with them and how many can I put in this type of tank? Most of the info I can find for Nano Tank talks about a Marine Set-up and I just don't think I am ready for that yet.
Thank You,
Melissa
<Hello Melissa. Keeping a "nano" tank is difficult. In the case of freshwater fish, its doubly difficult because we don't tend to keep invertebrates, just fish, and fish are not very good in very small tanks. A marine aquarist with a nano tank can stock it with corals and starfish and shrimps and of he goes. Not so easy for us freshwater folks! Our pets expect swimming room. Assuming you *don't* add salt, then your Corydoras and Kuhli loach should do fine. If you add salt, remove those two fish and stick with livebearers of various types. Personally, I'd avoid swordtails and mollies because they [a] get big and [b] males tend to be aggressive. But guppies, Endler's, and platies will all co-exist nicely, and they're salt-tolerant at low doses. If you add salt, you also have the option of adding brackish water fishes such as gobies, which would be a superb addition to any small aquarium. Wrestling halfbeaks are also salt tolerant and do very well in small tanks. In a tank *without* salt, apart from bumping up the numbers of Corydoras and Kuhli loaches, I'd be thinking about small tetra or barb species. Cherry barbs are always fun, being territorial rather than schooling fish and a nice shade of red. Badis badis (the "chameleon perch") is a superb fish for the small aquarium, and while it will not eat flake (wet frozen or live food only!) its amazing colour changes make it great value. There are also some miniature gouramis worth considering. The sparkling gouramis Trichopsis pumilus is a lovely little fish, and couldn't be easier to keep. Basically, choose fish for the water in your tank, and then limit yourself to species 4 cm or less in length, and ideally pick species that will do well singly/in small groups and doesn't need a lot of swimming space. Danios, for example, are the right size, but their frenetic, restless behaviour makes them a poor choice in small tanks. Hope this helps! Neale>

Betta splendens Ali?   3/11/07
My Betta was originally in a small Betta container that held about a quart of water. : (   I felt sorry for him and he now lives in a 5 gal tank (Waterhome5) which is also home to a few small plants that I keep trimmed to a proportionate size for the tank and the substrate is small stones, about 1" round (purchased in a LFS).  So far this $4.00 fish has cost me over $100.00.  
<A step up to be sure, but still a little small.>
My one and only attempt to add fish to that tank was 2 Mickey Mouse Platys who managed to live for a whole 5 days before I finally put them out of their misery when they started looking like losers from a Mohammed Ali boxing match.  the Betta is now named "The Terminator".  <I’ll be back.>  
<Your tank is too small for this.>
I suspect my mistake was that I added 2 young (1-inch) fish to a tank that already had one territorial fish, but I want to make the tank more interesting and entertaining, both for myself and for the fish - although he certainly had other ideas about that at the time.  
<I would select a larger tank.  Perhaps a 20g - 29g.>
My 3 local LFS locations have each told me that I should have added 4 or 5 fish at one time,
<Sure this would work, if you wanted everyone to die from toxic build up.>
suggesting Tetras or White Clouds, and a Corydoras or two instead of just those 2 Platies.  I do have a bit of an algae problem that I'm trying to keep under control, hence the addition of live plants, so am interested in an algae eater.  However, I don't want to add these fish just so they can be sparring partners for the Betta to train for his next bout.  Keeping to the rule of thumb of 1 inch of fish per gallon of water, would 4 neon tetras and a Corydoras be too much to add to the Betta in a 5 gallon tank?
<Yes.  When you stock, you have to stock with the fish’s adult size in mind.  They sure are cute when they are little, but it won’t last forever. I would get a larger tank, or let the B. splendens live peacefully on it’s own.>
By the way - your site is the only place I've been able to find sensible, easy-to-read and easy-to-understand assistance - both are important qualities required by a "newbie".  Thanks for being there for us all.
<That is what we are here for,  Brandon.>
Lynne