You Have A 1.5 Gallon Tank & No Electrics

[Tolak]

I know exactly what I would do with it. Save it for the next club meeting, fill it with chips.

 

[tenohfive]

you could use fish if you use the Diana Walstad methosd in which the plants are the filters, removing any NH3 therefore skipping out some of the cycling process, everything is natural so no artificial ferts, just nutrients from fish waste & food. a soil substrate is used which has high CEC

Given the number of plants you're going to be able to fit into something that size - and no mention of how close to a light source it's going to be - is that practical? Using the Walstead method does require a well planted tank, and the amount of planting you'd require to act as a natural filter could well be more than will fit in the tank if I'm not much mistaken?

Personally I would either put some plants in there or stick it in a cupboard until you're in a position to run a filter in it.



I'm not going to get into the betta argument, I'm just going to express my opinion:


I wouldn't keep a live fish in a tank with no filter. It can be done, it has been done (by myself in the past) but its not something I'd repeat - I honestly don't think its fair and doesn't bring out the best in the fishes behaviour.

I'm assuming you're planning on using this tank as an ornament on a coffee table or somewhere it wouldn't be practical to run power cables to - if that is the case I'd suggest its somewhat selfish to take the chance for a piece of living decor.

 

[aaronnorth]

yes it could be a problem with plant mass vs tank size due to the more unstable conditions etc, surely though if you scaled the tank down, then you dont need as many plants to act as 'a bigger filter'. everything would scale down together if you get me!

it would be hard to do i agree,

 

[Joshy]

Well some of you will be happy to know (though some will not be bothered still) that i picked up a hagen elite mini filter and found a place for the tank where there is a plug socket just in reach. I'll be going with a betta i imagine. Was interesting to hear your views on it though.

Thanks again people.

 

[tenohfive]

You going to pop a heater in there as well?

 

[pippoodle]

Well some of you will be happy to know (though some will not be bothered still) that i picked up a hagen elite mini filter and found a place for the tank where there is a plug socket just in reach. I'll be going with a betta i imagine. Was interesting to hear your views on it though.

Thanks again people.

that will be good the elites work fine you will need a heater though and you should be able to get a mini one of either 25 or 50 watt on ebay (they are short ones especially for small tanks)
i dont know about a betta though - not up on them but i would rather keep some shrimp in there - you can keep amanos without a heater or if you want cherrys then get a heater

good luck

Sarah xx

 

[Neon.Tetra]

When the season comes around again, perhaps if you, or a friend or relative has a pond in the their garden (that gets frogs) could collect some frogspawn from it if they get any and give you it.

That way you could raise some tadpoles in it. But note: You might have to check whether you can take specific types of frogspawn from a pond as the species may be protected. In the UK a common frog shouldn't be an issue.

Then simply release them when they've grown. If you do things right they'll survive for longer instead of growing up and competing in the cruel realities of nature =]

 

[AdAndrews]

the question to ask...

if you have so little facilities for this tiny tank.... why bother...
bin it. lol

betta- its perfect for one- though i never really like theidea of keeping one- seems so lonely on its own

 

[Joshy]

Nah I will not be popping a heater in. This room is quite hot all the time it would not be needed. And yes the room temperature is stable and does not fluctuate by much at all.

Though I was considering just keeping amano shrimp, I think I am going to keep to a betta. How many amano shrimp would you recommend however, just incase I do change my mind?

Thanks for all the replies so far.