1 gallon tank what to put in it?
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rreekers
Aquarium Advice FINatic
shrimp or a few (2) snails.. plants
cheeky_monkey
Aquarium Advice Freak
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I have a small tank (a little larger than yours though) and I keep red cherry shrimp in there. They love it and we love watching them. 
Unfortunately, nothing much, but perhaps 1 smallish goldfish, but only for a short period of time, if you know what you are doing you might get buy. However, they are generally very messy eaters and thus make poor H20 quality fast, Most all species of these fish will grow far too big for a 1 gal tank but some will grow so slowly that it might not be an issue for some time. However, with only a gallon, I do not recommend them. In a 1 gal situation a male fighting fish may work or any of the small Labyrinth fishes. These are fish from southeast Asian region that generally live at times in mud puddles during the monsoon periods of flooding and are thus happy in small spaces, because they breath air, H20 quality can be slightly marginalized but never neglected. If the tank is <11 inches high a male beta or Paradise fish (which can be absolutely beautiful), Cherry Red Shimp can work quite well if you can find them and even 1 small crayfish may be suitable, although you will have to clean up after it alot, and will have to feed live food, lots of work, too much, so why not upgrade to a small 5 gal tank and follow my instructions below.
As long as the Bio load is not compromised this is smallest tank you can have. It's small size should no be an issue for someone who knows what they are doing, I have an unheated 5 gallon tank in my kitchen, that contains 2 Zebra Danios and 2 Cardinal Tetras and 1 Cory Cat and all have been alive and well for 3 years, the rule of 1 inch of fish body per gallon of water works, but you have to play by the rules of nature.
This tank ran for 6 months 1st with only snails and a small amount of biological starter. Once the filer floss is dark green and covered with biological matter that looks like algae, do not change it, worship the **** out of that because its more powerful than any new canister, uv, reverse osmosis crap that anyone will sell you, in fresh water conditions its all about aeration and water movement.
When the water smells like rainwater on dirt in Spring you can stock the tank to the levels I describe above. I never change the water only top it off with matched water of similar temp and chemistry as it evaporates about 1x per month. The filter floss material is seldom changed but the carbon is about every month or two. I feed 1x per week only! Agitate the substrate 1x per week and use a power filter designed for a tank 2 or 3 times bigger to have maximum water filtration the overturns the tank volumes between 3x and 5 x and hour. A small power head on the other side of the tank form the filter at the bottom will create a circular current which you need in any tank and especially a salt tank. Also, keep the lights off ! No more than 2 or 3 hours a day otherwise you will turn your water green, also if you do have a light make sure you are not using an incandescent bulb as may 5 gallon tanks come with or offer this kind of lighting and that kind light source will only over heat the water, screw up the H20 chemistry and fry your fish, replace the incandescent with compact fluorescents that produce similar Lumens’ at about ¼ of the wattage .
You want to keep your small freshwater tank as cool as you can, this is a good rule for any species to keep metabolic rates high, this also coincides with weekly feedings. Also, when stocking try and pick small fish that swim in different levels of the tank, for a 5 gallon tank the fish should have an adult body from head and tail of no more than 1 inch.
Substrate can be off the shelf bleached sand or crushed stone med or fine aggregate, sorry generally plants can only be plastic in this scenario. If you are more advanced there are 2 or 3 species of common potted hydro folia that can work but you will need to build a more robust lighting cover with 2 macro fluorescent tubes and will thus have to pay more attention to water quality If a beginner is patient enough, this can work out fine. Best of luck!
As long as the Bio load is not compromised this is smallest tank you can have. It's small size should no be an issue for someone who knows what they are doing, I have an unheated 5 gallon tank in my kitchen, that contains 2 Zebra Danios and 2 Cardinal Tetras and 1 Cory Cat and all have been alive and well for 3 years, the rule of 1 inch of fish body per gallon of water works, but you have to play by the rules of nature.
This tank ran for 6 months 1st with only snails and a small amount of biological starter. Once the filer floss is dark green and covered with biological matter that looks like algae, do not change it, worship the **** out of that because its more powerful than any new canister, uv, reverse osmosis crap that anyone will sell you, in fresh water conditions its all about aeration and water movement.
When the water smells like rainwater on dirt in Spring you can stock the tank to the levels I describe above. I never change the water only top it off with matched water of similar temp and chemistry as it evaporates about 1x per month. The filter floss material is seldom changed but the carbon is about every month or two. I feed 1x per week only! Agitate the substrate 1x per week and use a power filter designed for a tank 2 or 3 times bigger to have maximum water filtration the overturns the tank volumes between 3x and 5 x and hour. A small power head on the other side of the tank form the filter at the bottom will create a circular current which you need in any tank and especially a salt tank. Also, keep the lights off ! No more than 2 or 3 hours a day otherwise you will turn your water green, also if you do have a light make sure you are not using an incandescent bulb as may 5 gallon tanks come with or offer this kind of lighting and that kind light source will only over heat the water, screw up the H20 chemistry and fry your fish, replace the incandescent with compact fluorescents that produce similar Lumens’ at about ¼ of the wattage .
You want to keep your small freshwater tank as cool as you can, this is a good rule for any species to keep metabolic rates high, this also coincides with weekly feedings. Also, when stocking try and pick small fish that swim in different levels of the tank, for a 5 gallon tank the fish should have an adult body from head and tail of no more than 1 inch.
Substrate can be off the shelf bleached sand or crushed stone med or fine aggregate, sorry generally plants can only be plastic in this scenario. If you are more advanced there are 2 or 3 species of common potted hydro folia that can work but you will need to build a more robust lighting cover with 2 macro fluorescent tubes and will thus have to pay more attention to water quality If a beginner is patient enough, this can work out fine. Best of luck!
rreekers
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Ruby055 said:
oringinal poster: please please please do not put a goldfish or betta in there! !!!!!!!!!!! common goldfish need ALOT of space, they are mentioned for PONDS!! and fancy goldfish need a MINIMUM of 20g (for 1) with 10x filtration per gallon. and bettas need at least 5g to have any value of life ....
IMO,stick with plants, snails, or shrimp
Galligak
Aquarium Advice Addict
You could always skip on fish entirely and do a terrarium. I'm doing one, and their pretty sweet!
However if you do stay with fish I would defiantly suggest shrimp. I have some and their 10 times more exciting than what you could think!
. I'm doing one, and their pretty sweet!However if you do stay with fish I would defiantly suggest shrimp. I have some and their 10 times more exciting than what you could think!
I have edited my post a bit but disagree with you. Certain species of Goldfish will be fine for several years as their growth rate will be controlled by their enclosure size, they will not grow its called biological environmental suppression and does little to destroy the fishes quality of life. You will eventually have to find them new homes. The Bettas I have collected in the wild I have found living in handfuls of water in rice patties with water volume not larger than your fist, so I am not buying the common belief that they need more space. It was not until the advent of groups like PETA, that applied the concepts of mammalian happiness that anyone in the scientific community ever felt that any labyrinth fishes ever needed any more space than a few gallons. Paradise fish which actually started the entire idea of keeping fish in the 19th century were kept in small encloses where they actually breed during passage for ornamental trade on ships.
Tetras and danios in a 5g?! The tetras need at least 20 inches, and the danios need 30! The danios are going to become stunted in a tank that small. And cories need to be kept in groups of 5 or more... And the inch of fish per gallon rule does not work. There are variations in shape. For example, a twenty gallon long, and a twenty gallon tall. the long one has a lot more swimming room, so it can be stocked with more fish. It also does not work because it suggests that a 10 inch fish can be put in a ten gallon. When thinking about stocking, you have to consider adult size, bioload, aggression, swimming space, schooling, sociability, activity, swimming level and a lot more things.
rreekers
Aquarium Advice FINatic
maxwellag said:
+1 I totally agree that there many factors and that stock in a 5g blew my mind as well!
"biological environmental suppression" is stunting. Sure, the fish stops growing... Is it happy? No. The skeleton of the fish stops growing, but the internal organs do not. The fish would suffer a slow and painful death.
Galligak
Aquarium Advice Addict
Ruby055 said:
This may be true, and I'm not trying to say that what you have written is wrong, but times have changed. The betta may be found in holes the size of a fist but that is probably not the best thing for them. The water would come and go as the rain did. However we are not the rain and so we must try to keep the betta at it's happiest and fullest potential.
The "mammalian happiness" may have been spread around by groups like PETA but it is for the better. In the roman times lions and tigers were kept in small cages to be killed. In France, were zoos started in the 18th century animals were in horrible conditions. This continued until the mid 20th century. But we've learned so much more! It applies to fish as well. Would zoos get good feed back if they kept a lion in a 5'x5 cage, no! Why should the individual do the same thing but on a smaller scale. Times have changed and so has the knowledge on animals.
However, I say that we all drop this and go back to what this thread was started on: what to put in a 1 gallon tank.
I 100% agree. I think only shrimp and snails would thrive in a tank that size.
Yes Tetra’s and Danio’s in a 5 gallon tank, not a 1 gal. I mentioned only a one fish in that scenario, we are not talking about a school of fish, we are talking about 4 fish and a system that works, the Danio’s do not bother the Tetra’s as they never leave the top of the tank. The idea of needing a small group is a myth created by pet store owners, simply to sell more fish, as my family owned an aquarium store for 30 years. In the wild they swim in a schools to make themselves appear larger to potential predators not for socialization, fish with a CNS connected to a brain the size of an atom, are not social creatures. 2 of them in a small tank is fine. Also if anyone wants to follow the instructions I have left in this blog, I guarantee the results, no heavy work required, but the set up for the 5 gal, tank is 3 to 6 months.
Galligak
Aquarium Advice Addict
Ruby055 said:
I highly doubt that a fish's brain is the size of an atom
We still need to replicate the natural environment which is done in larger tanks that are symbolic of the ecosystem which they came from.
It seems that we are all in disagreement, but please can we get back to proper and ethical things to put in a 1g tank!
No, it most certainly is not. They will become stunted. The need more swimming room. Danios like to dart around a lot. The brain is probably in scale... if the fish was the size of us, it would seem normally sized. Tetras and danios need schools of 6 or more. It's not a myth... it's true. Tons of aquarists' experices have proven that.
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