Small desk tank

[CharlieKlein]

I'm looking into getting a small tank for my desk in my room. The space I have is big enough for theese two tanks that I found. One is a petco bookshelf tank, and it is a bit larger. It would be very tight on the desk and honestly look almost too big. The second is the fluval spec v. I like this one alot, and an leaning toward this. The only reason is get the other is if I could fit more fish that I want in it. So anyway, for the fish I have a few different ideas

- dwarf puffer-- i like them a lot, but would only be able to have 1-2 puffers and Mabye 3 ottos. Would there be a possibility if adding guppys?
- scarlet badis-- don't know much about them, information would help!
- killifish-- I love clown killifish. Could I do that and a small school of say galaxy rasboras?

For the setup, I think you get the idea of what I want by the pictures I will provide below.
What is a good heater for this tank?
Thanks to all who help!'

 

[Brad M]

From the sound of it your better off getting a 29g and a stand. Desks are not designed to hold 40 to 50 lbs tanks even though it would probably hold.

Also those tanks may house those fish now but in a year when they grow up they wont have any room. That same fish line up in a 29g tank behind your chair would be much better.

 

[CharlieKlein]

I already have a 37 gallon tank right beside my desk. The reason I wanted a small tank is because I'm interested in nano fish. The fluval spec with Mabye 3 clown killifish and 4 Burmese rosy loaches, or maybe 1 sparkling gourami and some CPD, or a dwarf puffer would all be Nice. I don't have the room nor the money to buy another medium sized tank right now. But that is an interesting point about the desk and weight. Woul a 5 gallon tank(55lbs when full, with another 6 pounds for gravel, and more for the rocks, dw, etc. hold on a desk?

 

[severum mama]

Any of the above fish (not all at the same time) would be fine in a nano tank throughout the lifespan. Charlie, if you decide on clown killis, I would not add the CPDs (and obviously do not put them with dwarf puffers)... JMO.

The third photo there shows non aquatic plants. Beware.

I'll be honest with you since I have been following/posting in your latest 37 gallon thread... work on the 37 gallon first. It appears that you are young (which is great! this hobby needs more young people involved!), so I'm guessing you do not have tons of disposable income, because that is generally the way it goes when you are young. Given that you haven't been too happy with the most recent incarnation of your 37 gallon, it seems unlikely that you will suddenly come across the fundage to set up both the 37 and the nano exactly the way you want them. I guess you should decide if you would rather have 2 tanks that you might deem mediocre because your budget is spread too thin, or one tank that you have focused all your effort and money into that you can tweak to your satisfaction.

I've been on your side of this question many times, and it is rhetorical... no right or wrong answer and there are definite pros and cons to either approach.

 

[Brad M]

People sit on desks for short periods of time all the time so im sure a 5 gallon would hold at first only a desk is not designed for that.

I would worry about anything larger than a beta bowl. What about upgrading to 1 large 55g instead?

 

[severum mama]

Perhaps we use our desks differently, but I tend to not sit on mine very much.

I would be absolutely shocked if the cheapest of the cheap walmart desk was unable to hold a ~50 lb. aquarium in the long term. That said, I wouldn't recommend it. Water and computers generally don't mix well, and TRUST ME it is only a matter of time before you spill water from that hypothetical tank onto that hypothetical desk. I don't care how careful you think you are, it will happen eventually. lol

 

[CharlieKlein]

Thank you very much. You are very right about the money and everything, by this was planning on being a Christmas present. For the 37 I plan in getting that all figured out with in the next few months. I won't buy 1 think for the next tank until I am 100% satasfied with my main tank.
As for the nano tank, I would ask for all this for Christmas including giftcards to the lfs. I love clown killifish, but would they need a species tank? I've looked into rosy loaches, which seem like they would do ok with them. In leaning away from the puffer idea because i think a single puffer would look lonely and empty in the tank.
In the future when/this tank happens, would it hold on a desk?p. s. this is my desk that I do homework on and stuff, and I do have my laptop there quite often. In wouldn't imagine spilling to be a problem because when I am working on the tank if take papers and the laptop off temporarily.
I really appreciate all the help!

Also, a 55 gallon would be amazing, but between budget ( I'm a kid) and space requirements it is not possible

 

[azmodan]

A species tank would be best for the clown killies in that small of a tank although you could easily keep a colony of red cherry shrimp with them too.

Here's my low tech ten gal clown killie tank:

No CO2, just ferts and Excel. Along with the clown killies I have RCS, an amano shrimp, snails, and two ottos. It was a pretty inexpensive set up overall (minus the lighting, but even that was only around ~$50 and there are much cheaper options available too) and I've been very pleased with the results so far.

Have you seen any of the rimless tanks by Mr. Aqua or TruAqua? Those similarly priced to the ones you linked to but rimless and very good quality. You would need to get a heater, light, and filter separately however.

The cheapest route might just be to pick up a basic 5.5 gal at your local LFS and equip it with a HOB filter. For lighting you could do some clamp on hardware lights with CFL bulbs, but regular aquarium lights for that size tank isn't terribly expensive anyway.

With all that said I agree with severum mama that you may want to pool resources into your 37 gal. IMHO I think you should stop focusing so much on the stock and start looking at the decor. Ditch the fake plants and fake driftwood/stones. Start researching live plants (really not that hard once you get a few very basic ideas down) and the doors will fly open to a myriad of different options as to what to do with your tank. Planted tanks are a completely different animal and once you get into them it really is like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole. Just a suggestion.