2.5 g any ideas?

[clownin around]

I have a 58 g salt water tank going great clown and a coral that are thriving! Before gaining some experience I made the mistake of thinking I could use a 2.5 g tank as a quarantine tank for my salt water system.. well needless to say its to small for that purpose. Well now I have this tank sitting empty and I just cant bear to let it stay that way soooo I thought I'd do fresh water with 1 teeny tiny fish or frog or something. Looking for suggestions on what to with this little tank and what type of lights and filter will fit on it. Its a little mini bow from walmart and i think the lights may be ok but the filter is a joke or at least it seems that way to me coming from salt water. Its a In - tank Whisper 2-5. Well any ideas suggestions or comments or welcome. OH and is there anything else I'd have to do to convert this cheapo tank into something that a animal could live in?

 

[sweetsuvvyb]

You could certainly put a betta in there! The filter is fine, or you could just forgo filtration and do big water changes (not sure what you mean by "in tank"...but I have a whisper 5-15 HOB for my 10gallon, so I'm guessing its the same kinda thing). Bettas aren't real big on tons of current, so you might have to see how harsh the return is. I've kept bettas with fake plants, but I understand that java ferns are pretty easy to care for, and will do well in moderate lighting.

There are a couple of people around who are keeping dwarf african frogs...might want to poke around and see what their requirements are.

Have fun!

 

[MicroFish]

Why not put a Betta in it? Ours is thriving in his 2 gal. Just be sure to pull the UGF out and put one of those little sponge filters in there instead. I *finally* found one at WalMart that works perfectly.

Mine came w/ a regular incandescent bulb but I found a small florescent bulb that screws in and fits the hood. Depending on your hood, you might be able to do the same.

Sheila

 

[clownin around]

By In - tank I mean that the entire filter assembly is set up to sit inside the 2.5 g tank making the tank even smaller LOL . It dosnt move much water at all ,but, it does work i have had it up and running. There is no UGF at all thank the gods.
Thanks alot for all the suggestions!! Will check out those little frogs or perhaps I will save a betta from one of those cruel little bowls. If that filter is all I need it is durn near silent which would be nice. I'd love to have a a little live plant that would be so cute!! I understand that you have to vacum out FW tanks is there a vacum small enough for a tank this size?? kinda scratching my head on that one. Gosh i really have to read FW is whole different ball game.
Thanks so much!

 

[sweetsuvvyb]

Well, with a tank that small...you can use a piece of airline tubing to siphon out any gunk from the bottom, but if you do go ahead and use the filter, you may find that you don't really need to, unless you accidentally overfeed. You can skip the filter...I have a 2 gallon I'm going to put a betta in, but it came with a UGF...so I'm just planning on doing big water changes every couple of days to keep on top of things.

Only thing I think you might want to buy is a freshwater test kit, so you can keep on top of water quality.

 

[An t-iasg]

I have a vacuum siphon for my 5 1/2 gallon tank, and it's also the same one that I used when my bettas were still in their gallon bowls. The siphon part is 6 inches long by one inch wide. The length of tubing varies; mine is 4 feet long, I think, and it's a Lee brand. It was a bit of a squeeze to do in the gallon bowls, but it's easy to use in the 5 1/2 gallon tank, and it should be easy to use in the 2 gallon tank too. I need to vacuum my gravel because I just have a sponge filter for the biological filter. I don't have a filter that pulls little debris out of the water. I've seen those Whisper filters at Wal-Mart, and I think they'd be OK for this tank. I never used one though, but I think it would be OK. Just watch out for the current -- like Sweets said, bettas hate current. I had my betta in an Eclipse 3-gallon with bio-wheel, and that filter really churned up the water. Now he likes the sponge filter much better! It's a Junge Jr. dirt magnet. It has a steady stream of bubbles, but it doesn't churn up the water. It's the right size for my tank, but it may be a bit too big in diameter for the 2 gallon tank.

 

[Allivymar]

You can do a betta as some folks have suggested, or a dwarf african frog, or my personal choice which would be some FW shrimp *grin* I have a few cherry shrimp (about 1 inch long) and a bamboo shrimp (about 2 inches long...will grow to 3) in my 10g with some fish, but they would do fine by themselves in a small tank. Some live plants, maybe a sand substrate and a couple of diff shrimps would be awesome to watch. Plus, they carry a much lower bio-load then fish or frogs; less gravel vaccing needed. The only thing you need to be concerned about is feeding as most are filter feeders. Letting the tank get some algae would help greatly, as will the live plants.

To see some of these neat lil guys, you can check out here: http://www.franksaquarium.com/freshwatershrimpfarm.htm and here: http://www.azgardens.com/shrimpfactory.php

 

[tkos]

Use some nice java fern as a plant choice. It is so easy to care for and will help the tank water stay cleaner. Plus if you go with a Betta they love to have a plant to rest on from time to time.

My betta has some snails in his tank to help keep things clean, but a few of the smaller shrimp would probably work with the betta as well.

 

[clownin around]

Thank you so much for all the suggestions! I have a lot more info to make my desision thanks to all you helpful folks out there ! Once i get it set up I will be sure to put up a pic !! Still open to ideas ! I would buy anything for another week. As I's like to get the tank up and running again first !

 

[megnmick]

I have a dwarf frog in my 1 gallon. I haven't much luck with two frogs. But the one is interesting enough!!!

 

[LonerVamp]

Bettas look nice in small 2.5 gal tanks. Click on my gallery link in the sig or side, and you can see my setups. Bettas are hard to make out in the pics, but I'll get more sometime soon.

Besides, you won't need filters or bubbles or anything if you use bettas. Just a weekly water change (they're easy enough to coax into and out of small holding tanks...curious and bold little buggers they are!), a few decorations to relieve boredom, and daily food and they're very happy!