My butt-ugly 5 gallon

[lelouchzeta]

The spongebob pineapple was an impulse buy. Don't even ask.
I am sort of unaccountably angry at this piece of acrylic. I bought it online from walmart and as soon as it arrived I disliked it. The filter is cruddy, it's ACRYLIC when I prefer glass, it's a sort of half hexagon thing when I much prefer cubes, I chose white gravel and it's not good for cory cats, and it's too small, and I don't like it. Did I mention I don't like it?
That's not even including the reason which I bought it, which was to separate two female bettas, both of which I was very fond of, but the one I put in the stupid tank died and the one in my fluval chi remained happy and cute so now this ugly yet-to-be-cycled reminder of my multiple blunders is on my room mate's refrigerator equipped with a heater.
God I hate it so much. Everything about it grinds at my aesthetic sensibilities like sandpaper. ...and then my room mate taped a bow to its hulking hideous hood. That helps buddy, thanks.
Anyway. I desperately need suggestions. I can't drive but I have a HUGE canister of goldfish food on hand because I like to feed the koi at my school with little pieces of it when I walk by so to initiate a cycle I dumped a teaspoon of that in there last night and now the big decaying flakes are there to remind me that perhaps I should have used pure ammonia. Instead of glaring miserably I want to think of stocking ideas. I want to slightly overfilter and perhaps be somewhat overstocked. I know that probably irritates people but I was thinking maybe 6 microrasbora or 6 corys, BUT I have the accursed gravel. Oh, my life. The worst part is, I can't stop thinking about it and I would rather concentrate on the two tanks that ALREADY have fish.

 

[corinne118s]

Pics? ?

 

[Koikid88]

I would have bought another tank lol So what is the question?

Using food as an ammonia source won't work like many people think. Creates a different type of toxins when decaying.
when you vacuum the other tanks, dump the poo water into the cycling tank, that's the best source of ammonia. Even use some of the other filter media to help seed the new one.

and I hope the goldfish food is goldfish/koi mix, even though they aren't yours lol hope youre not feeding the betta with goldfish food either.

So how come you moved the one betta over to the new tank if you were aware it wasn't cycled?

 

[Bearchumjs]

Why don't you sell it on Craigslist and buy a tank you will actually like?

 

[Bearchumjs]

Or keep it for use as a hospital tank so you have somewhere to put a fish if it gets sick?

 

[lelouchzeta]

It's koi food, sorry. I bought it specifically for them. They're in a lake-ish pond thing that has a total area of over 200 feet. I only give each koi one flake. I just like feeling their little sucky faces. The fish on the label looks like a gigantic goldfish so that's what I was thinking about.
My betta is fed little pellets and occasionally frozen prawn eggs. Of course I wouldn't feed her koi food.
I only intended to have 1 betta because our apartment was giving them away and I didn't want someone to take her who would keep her in the tiny bowl. ... and then we got a second one for the same reason. Impulse control... Anyway, I put both in a five gallon with the intention of buying another 5 gallon for the second fish, and they were being nippy, so I had to separate them and one fish got an uncycled tank because of these unexpected circumstances. It was already indicating symptoms of ammonia poisoning and had red gill plates and seemed very sick from the moment I saw it in its little cup. Gamma didn't make it despite much effort and expense on my part.
Anyway. That was not the point.

 

[lelouchzeta]

Why don't you sell it on Craigslist and buy a tank you will actually like?

Do you think someone would really want it?
A hospital/quarantine tank sounds like a good idea. I'd hate for my bumblebee gobies to become ill because of an new introduction...not that I plan to add anything to that tank.

 

[corinne118s]

I don't understand the problem or what the question is. If you want our opinion post a pic lol. Whyd you buy the tank anyways? Why not go to a store and buy one you like

 

[Biosfear]

Haha!!

 

[lelouchzeta]

I tried to post a picture but it didn't show up because I'm lame
my problem is that if I can't get rid of it I'd like to make it look nice. I'm not very good at flower arranging and apparently this deficiency translates over into plant placement and tank design.

 

[lelouchzeta]

I was thinking design ideas more than questions of my effectiveness as an aquarium chemist I don't think that came across too well

 

[Bearchumjs]

Do you think someone would really want it?
A hospital/quarantine tank sounds like a good idea. I'd hate for my bumblebee gobies to become ill because of an new introduction...not that I plan to add anything to that tank.

Yeah- you said its spongebob themed right? Tons of kids would want that. If a parent is looking into getting their kid an aquarium and they see it they might be interested.

I like the hospital tank idea better.

 

[severum mama]

Fish food will work for cycling. It just isn't as precise as some other methods. Anything that decays in there will provide an ammonia source, whether that is a dead fish, fish food, raw shrimp, etc.

BTW- it isn't THAT bad. Pick up a small bag of gravel or sand and switch the substrate if you hate it that much. Those little hex tanks can look pretty cool with some plants in them. I kept a trio of sparkling gouramis once in a 5 hex with a few shrimp and some black sand, planted. It was kind of a neat little tank. But seriously, if it offends you that much, just sell it and buy a rectangular or cube tank.

 

[lelouchzeta]

I'll do that Thanks guys. I think I wanted a 10 gallon anyway...

 

[corinne118s]

Tank isn't bad it's good to have a lightweight tank in college. Hmm.. Maybe see if you can plant a carpet/short grass that grows over the whole base with some tree-like plants?

 

[lelouchzeta]

I did recently take an interest in moss...hm that would look nice. I still am not a fan of the shape... It will be expensive to replace it though.. I'm waffling around a bit. I guess I'll look into all the options at greater depth

 

[HeatherW]

why not start to plant the moss, list it on craigs for actual cost and see what happens?

 

[lelouchzeta]

why not start to plant the moss, list it on craigs for actual cost and see what happens?

I did this today

 

[librarygirl]

Do a YouTube search for 5 gal planted tanks. There are some gorgeous ones out there that you might try to replicate. You might need to stick with lowlight plants depending on your lighting but some live plants and a change in substrate can make all the difference.

 

[lelouchzeta]

I might switch to eco-complete and make a java moss carpet..