creative ideas for a 10g/15tall? tank

[rcl]

I currently have a 10g tank set up that has a strong bacteria colony, lid and lighting, substrate, and good heating; but my problem is I do not have any fish in it! I have a 120g FW tank and I am using it as a back-up quarantine for the moment (which is proving to be a big waste of time, I tried to capture some fish with Ich to isolate them in this, and quickly realized its impossible to catch healthy fish in a 120g tank ). After a couple weeks go by, unless a fish gets immobilized-sick in my larger tank, this 10g will be collecting dust. So, I am looking for a suggestion for something 'off the wall' to do with this tank. I also would not mind buying a 15g tall tank if somebody gives me an idea that'd be better suited for that, as all of the lid/etc would still fit that.

In my 120g i keep bloodfin? tetras, hatchetfish, zebra danios, angelfish, mollys, balas, plecs, pictus cats, clown loaches, and rasboras. I am looking for maybe an interesting fish to get and breed maybe, or just something weird I might be able to find that is fun to keep. Maybe I can breed minnows in it to go fishing with? or snails in it for my loaches to eat? maybe some kind of weird predator I have overlooked/forgotten about since it can't go with my other fish? I am not worried about something high maintainence or even expensive to set up, this will be a long-term project and probably the only other tank I will be able to own, so I want a GOOD idea!!

Thanks for any suggestions
Robert

 

[rollntider]

do what I am doing attempt to breed your favorite fish. of course I will try to get the wife to let me have one more 29 gallon tanks it will be straight up a cory/tetra tank

 

[sinistral]

The first thought off the top of my head is not an original one, although it is one that I've been thinking about with my vacant 10 gallon: African Dwarf Frogs!

My other thought that I know next-to-nothing about is a dwarf puffer species tank.

 

[drobbins27]

I agree with the dwarf puffers...read my mind

 

[vantgE]

look what he did it's cool i'm thinking of doing a small puffer tank

http/fish.orbust.net/forums/index.php?sh...showtopic=31174

 

[Opcn]

I'd go with minnows and snails the snails are a healthy food for your loaches and the minnows will help you get health food for yourself.

Opcn

 

[rcl]

Wow a lot of really cool ideas so far! This thing with putting water 'above' the tank by means of pipes seems totally awesome, but it looks like maybe fish don't actually swim there (they are too scared to perhaps!!). I'll be thinking about that for months to come though I bet.....

African dwarf frogs, these sound like they might be fun but I don't know if they'd be that interesting? I could maybe make a fun little diy project to make a lush environment for them to have fun in, so that's a good possibility.

As for the snails and minnows this would be such a cool idea, but I don't know and can't find information on breeding either of these. I know I can get minnows from an LBS (local bait store ) and I can get mystery snails from LFS, but I don't know if I could get them to breed or not. Anybody do this before?

I think dwarf puffers are really cool so maybe that's a good idea for a fish too.

What about planting a 10g aquarium, is that even possible?

Are there any small fish/inverts that burrow a lot? That might be an interesting thing to add too!


Loving the ideas,
Robert

 

[rollntider]

go to a LFS that has plants if it has small sanils in the tank with the plants just buy a few of the plants with in months you will have more snails than you know what to do with. I bought some plants now i have about 14 baby snails LOL.
I bought that skunk botia about 3 to 4 years ago(Actually the wife did) he mowed the snail pop down in 3 months, I had a bunch of snails I tell ya....I am trying to get them again LOL I had to move him ....

 

[White Whale]

Grow nice aquatic plants in the 10g. After a few months, you should have a forest of aquatic plants. Then you can put 3 or 5 assorted tetras and small fish in there just to give it a hint of 'life' peeking out at the world once in a while.

 

[rollntider]

Grow nice aquatic plants in the 10g. After a few months, you should have a forest of aquatic plants. Then you can put 3 or 5 assorted tetras and small fish in there just to give it a hint of 'life' peeking out at the world once in a while.

thats a cool idea a planted tank and it can be available if needed for quaretine or something

 

[juliethegr8t]

Just wanted to add the idea of rams. I don't know if you are interested in cichlids at all, but they're wonderful little fish, and you could definitely breed them. I recently got a pair of gold rams and I just adore them. They'd love a planted tank too - or a rocky one if you like that look! You've got lots of options, have fun with it!


OoOOo or I just thought - can you find croaking gouramis? If you could, they are GREAT fish, and you could have quite a few in there. They are very unique and super duper fun. (Plus they give you a chorus every once in a while... )

 

[rcl]

I like the idea of a planted tank, this seems like something really unique I could do with this tank! What kind of lighting would I need for this type of set-up? Right now I have a hood that has space for 2 small flouescent bulbs, right now they are blue/green. I imagine I would obviously have to get white light, but are the bulbs costly/need a special fixture?

A problem with this 10g tank is that my friend who gave it to me (and gave me substrate) mixed a bunch of pennies in with the substrate, so there is enough copper in the water to kill snails at this time. I know I can remove all of this substrate/copper, but I have a feeling this will have leeched into the sealant and may cause me continued problems or require a costly extraction. Does anybody think it would be over-cautious to buy a fresh new tank to do all of this in? If I do get a new tank, I think I would maybe get a 15g tall, and that could maybe open up some interesting options for me (10g of water and the rest elevated rocks, so I could maybe keep frogs and fish, along with a lot of plants?) Is there any additional concerns as far as lighting if I go with a 15g tall?

The croaking gouramis sound really interesting, but I have not seen these at any LFS. As far as cichlids, I'm not really a fan but thanks for the suggestion

Still open to any suggestions,
Robert

 

[sinistral]

Out of curiosity, what motivated your friend to mix the pennies with the substrate?

My suspicion is that getting a 15g will present the same issues that a 10g does. The hoods for 10/15g tanks I've seen in the store will accept 2 x 15W or 25W lights, which should be sufficient for growing low and medium light plants (going by the 2-3 watts per gallon rule). These bulbs aren't too expensive, as far as memory serves. I'd recommend you don't try what I did and put the tank in the sunlight thinking that the natural light will suffice for growing plants (it does, but it also suffices for growing algae, and natural sunlight heats up 10g of water something fierce). Of course, judging from the breadth of your experience you probably wouldn't attempt something so foolish as I had!

If you do think of African Dwarf Frogs, they don't spend time outside the water, so the rocks above the water line won't be all that functional for them (although it sounds really cool-looking...you could potentially set up a waterfall too, or at least a water trickle... ). I'm not familiar enough with other types of frogs like tree frogs to know about setting up a fish/frog tank.

 

[rcl]

My friend had the tank a long while ago and him and/or his brother thought it was cool to add pennies into the substrate I guess! I didn't know it was a big deal, or even that they were really there, until a month or two went by.. now I'm afraid even if I remove all this substrate the tank will still leech copper (hence thinking about a 15g!)

Now a question for the frog experts; I was under the impression that african dwarf frogs would live on land and water both? I guess I was wrong, are there other kinds of small frogs that will do this? Or what about crabs or other animals like this?

Robert

 

[Bol]

About your lights and plants...

Your two fluoro bulbs, are they full-length strip bulbs, or the smaller screw-in kind?

And, if you go with a tall tank, you'll need to take into account that light intensity drops off significantly with distance from the light source. That is, you will need more light in a taller tank to have the same effect.