12 Litre (~3 Gallon) Tank Advice

[Iron]

We recently bought a 12 litre/3 gallon tank from a shop on advice we could put neon's/guppies in it. The tank was chosen as we're limited to space, I know it's small and we'd like a lot larger but after asking a LFS it seemed we'd be good to go with this size of tank.

So, we went with 8 neon tetras an got some plants etc. We lost one tetra, though not sure what killed it, but the others seem fine and vivid and don't seem to be displaying stress (from what I've read).

Problem is after more research we've found that the tank may be far too small due to the behaviour of the neons. So, are there any suitable fish that could happily exist in this size of tank?

I'd appreciate any constructive advice.

Many thanks.

 

[doresy]

Ok so what filter system do you have and I'm asuming you have a heater?

I am also asuming you didn't follow any 'cycling' research?

 

[stang1]

As Doresy says, has it been cycled and do you have a heater and filter?

 

[sic0198]

It is too little for guppies and neons. But a male Betta would be fine in thereas well as some shrimp.

 

[DarkEntity]

3gall, make a nice flower vase for someone thats about it

 

[Iron]

It has a heater and corner air-pump filter using filter wool. Plenty of gravel and 3 live plants. It didn't go through the full cycle, due to a bit of mixed advice, it was left to condition for a day using the tetra water conditioner stuff that helps promote the bacteria needed dropped into filtered tap water.

As we have people local to us that can take the neons to a larger home swapping and re-conditioning the tank isn't a large problem, we just want to make sure we put something that will be relatively happy in there!

 

[flyhawk]

i also think a betta the only thing that would fit.

 

[doresy]

If you really can't stretch to a bigger tank then your options are seriously limited.

I am not one to give out advice on Betta fish as I have only just started out in that field myself but that does seem the only way.....just!

Do you fancy doing the fishless cycle method first if your filter can cycle? Do you know the filter model?

 

[LauraFrog]

If you have an air driven filter, you have a lot of options as to what you can put in it. There's no point having a filter at all if you're just going to stuff it with wool, it really doesn't do that much. The purpose of a filter is to remove harmful organic waste (ammonia and nitrites) from your water. You probably know that ammonia is produced by rotting plants, rotting food and rotting fish waste. It's highly toxic to fish even in low concentrations, and can build up very fast in a tank that size. Bacteria that grow in biological filtration media - ie ceramic tubes - remove the ammonia and turn it into nitrite and then nitrate.

Go back to the LFS and buy some biological filter media. Porous ceramic tubes are the best. Chuck a few of those in the filter, and some activated carbon, and then replace whatever filter wool will fit. It's best to fishless cycle your tank. If you don't, and you buy a betta as soon as you see one you like, do very frequent (60% daily) water changes and the tank will cycle. Keep adding the water conditioner; do it daily until water test results show up 0.

I agree that your best option for that tank is a betta. You could keep one male or one, possibly two females. Keeping two females is usually not advisable because one becomes dominant and sometimes kills the other; besides, males are prettier. I have kept guppies in even smaller tanks, but I was keeping hardy feral guppies that had been living wild for several generations. The domesticated guppies you can buy at the LFS are ornamental strains. They are virtually all highly inbred with very low resistance to disease. The ultimate beginner's fish has been transformed into something only advanced aquarists would bother to attempt keeping, it's really sad. But I won't hijack your thread with a rant about guppies

 

[Honeythorn]

To be honest you'd do better to keep just shrimp in a 3 gallon.

Plant it up with lots of Java moss if you want an easy plant, and maybe if you can get hold of a piece of bogwood small enough you could attach some to that so it grows up to the surface. That would look very pleasing and could house approx 3 shrimp such as cherry or Amanos. You'd have to make sure the tank was well cycled and mature before adding them though. Shrimp can be a bit sensetive to water conditions.

 

[Osian]

I did basically the same as you with poor advice from the lfs, my small tank is 14 liters and i have a single male betta in it and he seems to be doing well. He's quite active and as soon as he sees anyone he's at the front of the tank. my whole familly has taken to him. As a bigginer i'd recomend a betta, good sized fish that's quite cute really.

 

[Iron]

Thanks for the help guys, it's really useful info.

I remember having guppies as a lad but that was over 20 years ago now.

As we no doubt explore this hobby more I'll be using these forums for advice!