3.5 Gallon Aquarium Help

[LAV23]

Hi! I am getting a 3.5 gallon aquarium and here are my thoughts about fish so far:
1. 6 Celestial Pearl Danios
2. 4 male Endlers
3. 6 Ember Tetras
4. Scarlet Gem Badis(not sure if it would be just one or a pair)

I will also have 10 shrimp of some kind as well as one of the ideas listed above. Any thoughts on the number of Scarlet Gem Badis and the best kind of shrimp for that kind of tank would be greatly appreciated. And yes, I know this is a really small tank and that I should really only put in a Betta, but I want something more interesting than a Betta. I will be getting a 30 gallon in the near future as well.

 

[Exigenn]

I like endlers personally, stay small and have a lot of color in a very small package. For shrimp you could do RCS or any of the blues/yellow or whatever color morphs. beware they can breed like rabbits though your population will stay fairly low with fish in the tank.

any reason your choosing a 3.5 over a 10 gallon kit or even a 5 gallon?

 

[Autumnsky]

Badis eat shrimp babies quite effectively. I had the 2 together and the Badis ate all of my shrimp except 2 which I guess hid well they were black so the blended in with the substrate and after the Badis died I now have a tank full of shrimp.

I think that list is too much for 3.5G tank (fine for a 8-10G), skip the Pearl Danios would be my recommendation. They like to hide too much and you hardly see them. (though they are most beautiful).

If you must have that size tank I would go with shrimp only.

Fish like to have some place to swim. A Betta would also be an okay fish for a 3.5-5G

Or go with a 10G for some nano fish.

 

[Exigenn]

Maybe i misread the post but i thought he was going with 1 of the 4 options not all of them.

 

[Autumnsky]

Ah, yes after the re read I see that little detail. Thank you for mentioning that.

Still basically the same info that most those fish need significantly bigger tank set up for optimum fish keeping.

 

[LAV23]

Thanks for the replies. To answer some questions, I am only going to chose one of the four options. And I chose this size because I already own a 5.5 gallon aquarium and I wanted a challenge. I think I will go with RCS. Also, if I wanted to do the Scarlet Gem Badis, how many should I have? Will they eat all the shrimp?

 

[Autumnsky]

Yes they eat shrimp, they like shrimp. One is too much for that size.

For shrimp, it would be useful to mature the tank for awhile, or at least add some moss balls and some already been in the tank DW, moss clumps and rocks and plants. The maturity of the items is useful because of the biofilm, aufwuchs, micro critters, etc. shrimp babies feed on. Adults do too.

 

[LAV23]

Ok, I have ruled out the Celestial Pearl Danios and Scarlet Gem Badis. Any thoughts on the Endlers and Embers?

 

[Exigenn]

I wouldn't do embers, endlers i think you could get away with. I kept some in my 3.5 for a while when i didn't have space for them when a tank broke. They did fine but still not the best conditions. best bet would be a beta and some shrimp.

 

[unstopaBULLFish]

A school of bororas maculatus or urapthelmoides should do good in a 3.5 IMO...


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[LAV23]

Ok, I am going to try the Endlers. How many RCS should I put in? I was thinking 10. I was also wondering what live plants would be beneficial to the tank? I know for sure I am getting a moss ball or two.

 

[Exigenn]

java fern/java moss are my go-to for basically every tank, then expand from their.

 

[LAV23]

Where do you get your Java Fern/Moss? Petsmart and Live Aquaria are my go to fish suppliers, and I can only find Java Fern...

 

[Exigenn]

I got the ferns from a LFS and the moss from a buddy of mine who was just going to throw it out. The ferns aren't that expensive on something like ebay, the moss is kind of a rip off on their.

 

[LAV23]

Oh, ok. One last question: what is a good amount of shrimp to keep if I don't want more than 15 in the long run?

 

[Hunter73]

Where do you get your Java Fern/Moss? Petsmart and Live Aquaria are my go to fish suppliers, and I can only find Java Fern...

Hanaquatics.com has what your looking for. Excellent service, and quality products too.


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[Exigenn]

well hard to say, amano shrimp cant breed if freshwater but you would need to supplement more then 1-2 shrimp. RCS will breed in freshwater and will still need supplementing so it would be hard to ONLY have 15 in the long run.

 

[LAV23]

Thanks Hunter73! I will definitely look into that website! And sorry for more questions. Do Amano Shrimp breed at all in the home aquarium? Because if they don't, I will get those instead of RCS.

 

[Exigenn]

They only breed in brackish water. Any more then 1-2 will need supplementing.

 

[LAV23]

So I could only get 2 if I didn't supplement? Can you explain supplementing? I have had shrimp in the past, but gave up on them because they kept dying. It was probably because I wasn't supplementing, whatever that is.?