new fish bowl

[JulieB]

Hi everyone! So my friend got me a 3 gallon fish bowl for Christmas. It has an underground filter and that's about it. But I'm wondering what kind of fishies to put in it.

I was originally thinking platys or mollys, 3 preferably, but I read that they require 10-15 gallons minimum. All the gold fish I've seen require 5+ gallons. I could just transplant one of my bettas from work into it... but I'd rather get some new critters to care for

Here's the other thing to consider, besides space, is the temperature. I don't like to run the heater or a/c as it costs money and that's not something I have a lot of :? It gets pretty cold in the winters and hot in the summers (say maybe low 60's to mid 80's F) What fish can do that range? I once set up a small sick tank for one of my columbian tetras in the summer, and I think it just got too hot in there for him... or maybe whatever was bothering him finally got him? The water was pretty hot, though. My big tank is fine with the temperature flux, but I'm worried about how much the air temp will affect a small amount of water.

 

[Pleco]

How about a invert tank? Some mystery snails, and maybe some red cherry shrimp/ghost shrimp?

Capital Aquariums snails arent too healthy looking to me, O st. usually doesnt have any except golds. I have some pink/purples that i got from a snail breeder in Oklahoma, healthy as can be.

If you get ghost shrimp get them from O street as they seem to house them better than the "feeder" system that Capital keeps them in. RCS have to be ordered as no place really carries them.

You might be able to get away with 1 marble shrimp which you can find at Petco or Petsmart, and a snail or two

Fish wise your options are really limited imho.

-Pleco

 

[JulieB]

Won't the snails crawl out? I had a couple of mystery snails when I had my 18 gal. and the gold one commited suicide (I found behind the bookshelf the tank was on when I moved.) I like the idea though! I've never had shrimp...

 

[tropicalfish]

don't you need a heater for it?

 

[DepotFish]

Platies will do. They don't need a heater. Just get males or females, not both. Goldfish require 10-20 gallons, not 5.

 

[WaterPond]

actually, goldfish require 30gal for the first fish, then 10-20gal per each additional fish. Thats how much waste they produce. I like the idea of an invery tank.

 

[JulieB]

I don't want to put a heater in it because of the small quantity of water. I've heard that you can easily overheat small tanks.

As for the goldfish water ammount, I'm just trying to recall what I saw at the pet store, (no, not an aquarium, I think it was Petsmart.) But I could be remembering wrong. I know that goldfish are really...uhh..."wastful" fish so I was pretty sure I didn't want to buy them.

I might go with platys. I'm worried about snails and shrimps crawling out. There's no cover on the bowl. For now the bowl is just up and running on the kitchen table cycling and wating for me to make up my mind!

Thanks for the advice!!

 

[WaterPond]

can you go with sunset coral dwarf platies? They sell them at petsmart.

 

[DepotFish]

Oh, no platies without a cover. Sorry, didn't know. Those kind of fish like to jump, a lot. I'd fashion some sort of cover for just about any tropical fish you'd be able to put in this small tank.

 

[JulieB]

Oh, no platies without a cover. Sorry, didn't know. Those kind of fish like to jump, a lot. I'd fashion some sort of cover for just about any tropical fish you'd be able to put in this small tank.

Like what? It's a cheap plastic bowl (not acrylic, plastic).

Also, if it starts to get too hot in the house for them in the summer, would platies do OK in my big tank? See my sig for who lives in it.

 

[theotheragentm]

The Platies should be fine with Gouramis and Tetras based on the pictures I saw in your profile. I have Gouramis and Platies together.

 

[JulieB]

Cool. Thanks theotheragentm

 

[Kongo]

Glass bowl are good for one thing, having chips in them.