A new appreciation of smaller things...

[JDogg]

like many my first tank was a 10 gallon, and why not they are compact and relatively cheap, you can even pick up a kit at walmart, that "contains all the goodies that a fish lover could need"! LOL
but seriously i think a lot of people start out with a 10 as their first tank. and since smaller tanks are by default less stable, for many it maybe be there last tank... :?

i however made it through that stage and moved on to bigger and better things, leaving the trusty old 10 gallon, with its neon gravel, plastic plants and plastic caves to collect dust... 8O why would i want to us a 10 gallon? they are so limiting i want to expand my horizons, i want bigger fish, i want live plants... so i got a 28, then a 75... i got plants, i got fish... WooHoo MTS here i come 8)

but somewhere down the line, as i learned about plants and fish... i started to fall in love with some of the smallest fish, Dwarf cichlids and now Dwarf Puffers, out came the trusty old 10 gallon... Neon gravel replaced with natural gravel, of a size that is good for plant roots to hold on to, plastic plants and caves are replaced with live plants, Driftwood and dosing ferts...

and you know what i have learned... that trust old RELIABLE 10 gallon, with a little patience and know how can make a REALLY AWSOME mico-world for some of the smallest and most interesting fish!

 

[joannde]

JDogg - I love this post - you have a flare for writing ! And I couldn't agree with you more. My DP tank is fascinating. DPs are fascinating. Its trully a wonder how such a small creature can learn so quickly (ie: they see the eyedropper and shoot to the top of the tank - only took 2 or 3 days for them to figure that out). And to watch them as they hunt - their eyes moving here, there, then over there ...hovering, staying still with one eye unmoving on the target.
My 10G looks like a JUNGLE - the plants aren't that exciting at this point (anacharis, hornwort, wisteria) but its a neat little habitat for 3 very neat little fish.

 

[Esra]

Yeah i've moved from 5G FW to a 120G FW

Used the 5G to learn.
Now I want to use the 5G to learn SW

 

[hsherman1986]

it all started with a betta bowl..yes I have learned my lessons, all of my bowls now hold plants. I now have 2 2.5g, 2 20g, 3 10g, 1 5g, and one 55g. I have a problem....

 

[JeffreyL]

tank

Well said JDogg!!!! I too love my bigger tanks, but that first 10 gal with Bruce the Idiot Betta will always be in my heart. Big tanks are the huge canvas. You pour sweat, money, inspiriation and precious time in hopes of creating your masterpiece. Sometimes you are even successful.

But a small tank is a jewel. Less room to work, possibly more chances for a mistake and if something it not just right it is much more glaring. But if you are happy with the result, well, you just want to put it in your pocket and carry it with you. Which would make driving a bit akward. And now looking at the clock, I need to drive to work. Have a great one everyone!!!!

 

[An t-iasg]

Good thread! I went through a stage where I was getting a bit frustrated with my 5 gallon tanks. I wanted more and bigger plants than what would comfortably fit, and maintenance was getting to be a hassle. Since a 75 gallon tank is not possible right now (but I am sure that it will be someday!) I decided to take a fresh look at my three 5-gallon tanks and one 10 gallon. I tore them all down (in the 5 gallons, the bettas had died, and the 10 was newly set up) and started over with a new attitude. I started with new substrate and put the plants back into the 5 gallons if they were suitable. If they were too big, they went into the 10 gallon. I have decided to treat the 5 gallons as the small jewels that they are and not try to put my 75 gallon dreams into them! As a result, they look better, maintenance is easier, and I am much more pleased with them!

 

[toddnbecka]

My first tank was a 20 long, metal frame, slate bottom, plastic corner box filter filled with floss and activated charcoal. It housed many fish over the years. Eventually the filter was upgraded to a Dynaflo Power Filter. State-of-the-art back in the day, , and finally an Aquaclear.
The first 10 gallon I had was used for African Cichlid fry that were spawned in the old 20, don't remember what became of it.
Now, with 2 55's, a 38, and a 29 (and too much money spent on setups, fish, etc.) the tank I find most interesting is the 10 I picked up last spring. I decided to try some cherry shrimp, so a bit of crushed coral was scattered on the bottom, a DIY sponge filter was created from odds and ends, and an oversized heater that was handy started it off. Included with the cherry shrimp were several live plants. Snails and a couple of praecox rainbow eggs came along on the plants as well. The fish fry grew from eye-strain size to large enough to join the school in one of the 55's over a couple of months. The plants have grown or died, and the dead ones replaced with more suitable types. After selling a couple hundred cherry shrimp, placing a fluorescent hood on the tank, and adding a 24" strip light behind the tank (all funded by the shrimp sales) I had enough left over to get some dwarf orange crayfish. First was a trio of orange/brown mixed that turned out to be 3 (brown) females. 8O They got along fine with the shrimp, but w/out a male, there won't be any baby crayfish. So, after weeks of searching with no luck, I finally got 2 pairs of orange dwarf crayfish from Germany. Some of my cherry shrimp are bigger than the new crayfish. The orange/brown females now occupy a 30 long while the new ones grow a bit more with the cherry shrimp, and I have a line on 1-2 orange males for the lonely ladies. Still, it's the 10 that draws more interest from both myself and my wife. It's so full of life and bright colors, with little shrimp and crayfish swimming and climbing all around and over the plants. Even the snails grow on you after a while...

 

[Sicklid]

Ha... GREAT THREAD! Just two days ago I bought both a 2.5g glass tank, and a brand new 10g from petsmart. The 2.5 cost $10 with a Marineland glass top + $3 for a DIY sponge filter, and the 10g was actually only $8.50... I am going to do a betta tank with a custom Asian inspired wood stand/canopy. And the 10 gallon is going to be the start of a mini reef, or maybe dwarf seahorses... Gotta figure out a mini fuge... All this is because I can't set up the 55 I have in storage right now, and I need to do SOMETHING with keeping fish or I feel incomplete!

 

[CaysE]

I love small tanks. My first real tank was a 20 gallon that I still have going and transformed a lot, but the 5 gallon hex is probably my favorite out of the two. Nano planted tanks are a lot of fun.

 

[triazole]

the 10g i picked up from the dump is the one that started me off!
nice thread. its great to know 10g's are so appreciated!

 

[JDogg]

I got to thinking about this thread today, though i might re-vive it for those that missed it the first time around. i think what made me think of it was setting up a 20 Long for some shelldweller. sure it is twice the size of the RELIABLE 10 gallon, but it is still a great mico-world, and you know what that RELIABLE 10 gallon, with is pair of a Apisto, (Breed, Baby Breed), fits nicely under it on the rot-iron double stand.

Horray for all the LITTLE things in life!

 

[patryuji]

I still have my first 10Gallon tank.

I've gone through a couple tanks (mainly due to different housing arrangements having different limitations), but I have always kept my first 10G as it is universally accepted at every apartment I have ever lived in and makes for a great QT. I may have to institute a "bridge" one of these days to get around the aquarium size limitations (they don't say how many tanks I can have, just the max size of the tank...hehe).

 

[tropicfishman]

I agree totally!!! I think you have to be an experienced hobby to really maintaina thriving perfect small tank!! for instance on one site I saw an article about a guy who had a 3 gallon nano cube that was drilled with bulkheads and had a 10 gallon sump below it and he had an outstanding looking and working tank..it was beautiful, he had saltwater mushrooms and stuff growing in it, MH lighting!! it was aweosme

 

[plecoperson]

My favorite tank is my 5 gallon $32.99 special from PetsMart. It's planted with H formosa, crayfish, a couple shrimp, a snail and the 2 baby rasboras that appeared one day in my quarantine tank.

I dose it with Excel and Flourish Comprehensive, feed the fish, change the water once a week, and everybody's happy. No drama.

I wanted a little snapshot of a weedy pond somewhere, rather than a perfect miniature world in this tank.

This IS a great thread!

 

[blazeyreef]

I LOVE this thread! I agree all the way! I started with a betta vase, then a 1gall betta, then a 10gall angel, then a 29gall community, then 2x 10gall community, then 2x 5gall betta, then 1x 10 and 1x5 planted and 29fowlr and now I am moving up to 75gall reef with softies! dang its amazing how it all gets started!!!

 

[Bubble_B0y]

As many of you have already mentioned, its true - you do NOT need a big tank to have a beautiful aquarium.

From my experience, some of the most beautiful aquariums I have ever seen, were less than 20 gallons.

But like you all said, there is less room for error and require a little extra maintenance to keep everything perfect.