Is my 1 gallon useful for anything now?

[trennamw]

I have two with filters, one without, now that I've saved my betta from them. Is it too small to keep as an emergency hospital tank? The fish I'm getting are all likely under 2". Danio, dwarf cories and loaches and pencilfish.

Or a planted tank with some nano fish? I would repopulate the tank if I can keep it healthy with a 50% water change once a week. (My betta in his 3 gallon is thriving, with excellent water tests, on that level of water change).

My water is naturally extremely soft (0.1 degrees each KH and GH).

I would cycle the tank first now that I have populated media.

Yes I'm addicted. But I don't want to hurt anything in that tank like I did with the bettas.

 

[azmodan]

They're useful for temporary betta tanks or could house a handful of dwarf shrimp but not much else. A nice little nano planted tank with a few red cherry shrimp would be nice.

 

[Istrom]

Great for jail cell or hospital tanks, or for fry. Trust me, almost all fish eat fry.

 

[Huro]

They're useful for temporary betta tanks or could house a handful of dwarf shrimp but not much else. A nice little nano planted tank with a few red cherry shrimp would be nice.

+1 I wouldn't consider it for much more than a planted nano, a hospital in a pinch but I would look into something larger even for that.

 

[trennamw]

Yeah I was kind of thinking, it's a good place for a sick fish to get sicker. When these tanks are bare the filter is a little too strong.

They might just end up being a plant home with nobody living inside; I love plants but my apartment is pretty dark for them, and I can never remember to water indoor plants.

 

[azmodan]

Thankfully you don't need to water aquatic plants.

A simple desk lamp and a cfl bulb could provide all the light a nano tank like that would need, plus some basic ferts and a liquid carbon supplement like Flourish Excel.

 

[trennamw]

Thankfully you don't need to water aquatic plants.

My thought exactly!

These 1 gallon Mini Bow tanks have a little "nightlight" light, tricky part is the filter blocks the light from one side of the tank. Would a plant-only tank need a filter?

My goodness these sure are awful little tanks ... I cannot believe back in June when I got one, and a Betta, I felt sure I was giving it a very generous home. They really only hold .75 gallon of water.

But I want to keep playing and learning and I *cannot* buy any more equipment.

 

[azmodan]

Yup you wouldn't need a filter. To get some really neat lowtech ideas look up Walstad shrimp bowls.

http://www.bookmasters.com/marktplc/00388Shrimp.pdf

 

[trennamw]

The shrimp bowls mention snails... I could have a snail in one of these? Their food seems so dirty from what I've tried so far.

 

[azmodan]

Sure, snails would be fine. You don't really need to feed them as they'll eat decaying plant matter and diatoms and other algae.

 

[Sgtdap]

You could turn it into a 1 gallon punch bowl. Use it as centerpiece for a party and maybe adapt the filter to be a flowing faucet?

 

[trennamw]

You could turn it into a 1 gallon punch bowl. Use it as centerpiece for a party and maybe adapt the filter to be a flowing faucet?

Lol. And when the aunt I don't like is drinking hers I'll tell her about the fish that died of fin rot in there ...