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Getting my kid a fish tank

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I have one who lives in the hallway aquarium pictured. It has lasted over a year, along with a clown loach and a large male Molly. Sometimes my son buys a female molly or two, but they don't tend to last too long.

The only current I use is the Aquaclear filter and a bubbler. The hillstream loach is supposed to need a lot of oxygen, but what I have set up does the job. It works with the clown loach to clean up different algae and biofilm, the clown also eats snails. I've been dropping in frozen blood worm every month or so as a dietary supplement, but they also clean up extra fish food from the bottom.

The hillstream is one of the family favorites. My youngest son tickles his belly against the glass. When he moves around it's an amazing sight, they are quick as mercury.
Yeah, as a general rule livebearers don't have very long lifespans. I couldn't tell from your photo whether that was a molly or a swordtail.

I already have a plan for the swifter current and increased oxygenation I'm going to need. I'm going to use a Fluval FX6 canister filter and several powerheads to create a unidirectional flow from one side of the tank to the other. I'll place the powerheads high in the tank to create a lot of surface agitation to enhance the oxygenation of the water. Since I'll be limited to low-light plants it'll take some time for the tank to look "mature", but eventually it should look pretty nice. And I won't be able to add the hillstream loaches until I develop a decently sized coating of biofilm/aufwuchs for them to graze on.
 
I had a fish tank once. Went on vacation, left my stepson with feeding instructions.

He got confused, and poured all the food meant to feed the lizard in the terrarium into the aquarium instead.

Came home, and the tank was a dark green/brown that no light could penetrate. Smelled like shit, and all my fish were...sleeping with the fishes.

Quite a poetic ending in its own murderous way.
 
@The Oi is correct in that I would recommend going with a larger tank, especially if you are just now venturing into the hobby. You are better off going larger because larger tanks are more stable and thus more forgiving if you slack a bit with your maintenance and water change schedule. Nano tanks require that you be extremely disciplined. For people just getting into the hobby I usually don't recommend anything less than a 40 gallon tank.

If you are determined to proceed with your 7.5 gallon cube then here are some things to keep in mind...

- with a tank that small your selection (and number) of fish will be quite limited. You're going to be limited to tiny fish like small tetras (such as neons, glowlights, embers), rasboras (chili, phoenix), or pencilfish. You could also do an ornamental shrimp tank.

- I can't stress this enough: you have to be disciplined and have a stringent, regular, and frequent maintenance and water change schedule and you must hold to it religiously. In that small of a tank, even the slightest mishap or gap in your regimen will be magnified because of how small you tank will be. It can literally be the difference between a successful aquarium and having an entire tank melt down.

- ADA Amazonia powder is essentially over-hyped, over-priced compost. It contains nothing you can't get in a cheap bag of Miracle Grow garden soil. There's nothing wrong with the product... if you like boutique substrate.

- I'm assuming you're trying to emulate the aquascaping method popularized by Takashi Amano. While those kinds of tanks can be maintained long-term (with some serious effort), please understand that the look you are going for was really created for competitions where the tank will be up and running for at most one week. Not to sound repetitive, but the larger the tank the more likely you are to succeed long-term... especially with this kind of setup.

- With the amount of organics you are introducing with that substrate into such a small space, you are going to have difficulty fighting algae and maintaining healthy plant growth if you are planning on forgoing additional fertilization (either root tablets or water column additives) and CO2 injection. If your substrate surface PAR approaches the mid-teens there is a fine balance that must be achieved between light, ferts, and CO2. If that balance is not achieved, your tank will be in trouble. As an FYI, at 22 inches the 12-inch Finnex Planted + light has a PAR reading of 60. Now keep in mind that the distance between your light and your substrate will be half that distance. You're talking about PAR levels most likely over 100. You are in for some serious challenges.

- If you're wanting to go "low tech" as you mentioned, if it were me I would forego the ADA Aqua Soil in favor of a small-grained inert substrate like CaribSea Peace River or CaribSea Rio Grande, both of which have granule sizes in the 3mm to 4mm range. I would keep low-light plants like Anubias, Cryptocorynes, Java Ferns, and any of the various Fissidens mosses. And I would definitely choose a different light source with less intensity.

- With respect to filtration, any surface agitation will increase oxygenation and conversely decrease CO2 saturation. If you're injecting CO2, you want to avoid any filters which cause disturbance of the water's surface. That pretty much limits you to a small canister filter. Now, if you're going to go low tech with low light plants, CO2 saturation isn't as much of a concern because you can dose bio-available carbon in the form of Seachem Flourish Excel. Since it's dosed as a liquid and not a gas, surface agitation will have little effect on reducing its availability for your plants. If that's the course you decide to take, I would recommend a HOT power filter. I'm partial to the AquaClear brand, but there are several good manufacturers of this kind of filtration.


OK, that should give you enough to consider for a while. Let me know what you decide and keep us posted as to how your tank progresses.
Thanks for the insight. I don't think I can get much bigger, but I think could probably do the Fluval Flex 15 gallon. That comes with a light (7500k, I thought 6500-7000k was supposed to be best for plants? Would it still work) and some type of filter system in the back (would I need additional filters?). If the light and filter work then I think I would just need a heater.

And yes, no CO2 so I was looking at Excel like you said. Was hoping to avoid ferts with a decent substrate and having snails, shrimp, and tetras (maybe other small fish but mainly just algae eaters). My ultimate goal is to get equilibrium between the plants and fish to not need ferts.

You pretty much said the plants I have been thinking about anubias, Java fern, maybe an Amazon sword, some type of moss. Maybe something as a carpet? Something as a floater? I haven't thought too hard besides going with beginner, low CO2, low-med light plants.
 
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On the topic of carpet...I tried dwarf baby tears, which look really cool, and my cories shredded it. I think this is common for certain fish and shrimp as well. @Cratylus can probably advise more on this.
 
@Cratylus how does this sound like for a fish competition for the 15 gal Flex? Under our over stocked? See any problems with temp/pH?

-3 male guppies
-3 platys (all one gender)
-6 neon tetras
-8-12 ghost or cherry shrimp
 
@Cratylus how does this sound like for a fish competition for the 15 gal Flex? Under our over stocked? See any problems with temp/pH?

-3 male guppies
-3 platys (all one gender)
-6 neon tetras
-8-12 ghost or cherry shrimp

Hey, I know you didn't ask me specifically but platy and guppies are all live breeders. If you have all males and no females, it's a battle royale until the alpha male is left. If you don't want fry, you have to go with all female. Best of luck!
 
Hey, I know you didn't ask me specifically but platy and guppies are all live breeders. If you have all males and no females, it's a battle royale until the alpha male is left. If you don't want fry, you have to go with all female. Best of luck!
Ah thanks. Yep, the same gender thing was to not have any fry. I'll make a note for female instead of male.
 
Before I answer you, @bcort , let me ask you a question. What are your goals for this tank? Your answer to that question will help me to answer your previous questions.

And @Randolphkeys is right. Go with all females with livebearers or you will have a bloodbath on your hands in that small of a tank.
 
And @Randolphkeys is right. Go with all females with livebearers or you will have a bloodbath in your hands in that small of a tank.

After my first year doing this, I learned you are better off just keeping the natural order of nature and having one male and a few female. Yes they will have fry from time to time and the fish will eat their young. The alternative is confused females who don't do much and die young or too many males who fight each other. The fry are only going to avoid being eaten with human intervention.
 
Before I answer you, @bcort , let me ask you a question. What are your goals for this tank? Your answer to that question will help me to answer your previous questions.

And @Randolphkeys is right. Go with all females with livebearers or you will have a bloodbath on your hands in that small of a tank.
Healthy plants and fish with minimal maintenance. I don't much care about "aquascaping" besides the tank not being overgrown and being able to see the fish.

I think I could do a 33%-50% water change weekly, give a squirt of thrive, and a couple ml's of Excel.
 
Healthy plants and fish with minimal maintenance. I don't much care about "aquascaping" besides the tank not being overgrown and being able to see the fish.

I think I could do a 33%-50% water change weekly, give a squirt of thrive, and a couple ml's of Excel.
@Cratylus thoughts? I know the tetra don't have the same ph range as the other two, though I've read a stable pH is more important than the actual recommendation.

I really like the idea of a school of tetra swimming around, but I've had issues finding other fish that would fit (besides a single Betta).
 
The shrimp should be fine with the guppies and tetras. I've heard that platies can be a little overly "inquisitive" at times with bottom-dwellers like shrimp and catfish, but I haven't kept enough of them over the years to see that happen myself. Swings in pH are generally an indication of poor maintenance habits. Tetras prefer a pH lower than 7 but they are highly adaptable. Platies and guppies prefer a pH slightly higher than 7. But again, they are highly tolerant. If you want each fish to display its best and be its healthiest, you would ideally want to house them in separate tanks that mimic their individual natural environments. However, housing them in the same tank shouldn't be a problem. The shrimp will require you to be very disciplined with maintaining the water quality. Weekly water changes will be mandatory.
 
The shrimp should be fine with the guppies and tetras. I've heard that platies can be a little overly "inquisitive" at times with bottom-dwellers like shrimp and catfish, but I haven't kept enough of them over the years to see that happen myself. Swings in pH are generally an indication of poor maintenance habits. Tetras prefer a pH lower than 7 but they are highly adaptable. Platies and guppies prefer a pH slightly higher than 7. But again, they are highly tolerant. If you want each fish to display its best and be its healthiest, you would ideally want to house them in separate tanks that mimic their individual natural environments. However, housing them in the same tank shouldn't be a problem. The shrimp will require you to be very disciplined with maintaining the water quality. Weekly water changes will be mandatory.

I like your avatar. Yeah shrimp is cool.
 
@Cratylus
Looking to grow a fish and feed it to a size where I can eat it. Want 0 maintanence. Would entertain doing this in a puddle but don’t want to walk outside to deal w the fish in a puddle.

Smallest tank possible for largest fish possible. Ratio is key.

Would like to incorporate garlic and butter into its diet so that I can taste garlic butter when eating.

Please advise.
 
@Cratylus
Looking to grow a fish and feed it to a size where I can eat it. Want 0 maintanence. Would entertain doing this in a puddle but don’t want to walk outside to deal w the fish in a puddle.

Smallest tank possible for largest fish possible. Ratio is key.

Would like to incorporate garlic and butter into its diet so that I can taste garlic butter when eating.

Please advise.
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