# What to do with 3-5G tank



## NoahLikesFish (Mar 6, 2021)

I have a hex which is 5” side and 1’ tall Manufacturers say its 2,5 how big is it and what can I do. I was thinking a pico or a walstad method fry tank which I’d change to a puffer or dwarf gourami (chocolate licorice samurai sparkling) or maybe something else


----------



## NoahLikesFish (Mar 6, 2021)

I don’t want dwarf shrimp or wild bettas


----------



## redcherry70 (Apr 27, 2019)

Here's a short clip of my desktop 3-gallon low-tech planted tank:


----------



## NoahLikesFish (Mar 6, 2021)

I can’t see it


----------



## NoahLikesFish (Mar 6, 2021)

What lives in it?


----------



## NoahLikesFish (Mar 6, 2021)

Could I use a 3-5G as a grow out for fish for my 40g


----------



## NoahLikesFish (Mar 6, 2021)

Cause its easy to water change to remove hormones


----------



## NoahLikesFish (Mar 6, 2021)

I wanna get festivums cause they aren’t inbred like angelfish and don’t cost 50$ apeice for wild ones


----------



## Planted-Jungle (Mar 13, 2021)

You could add 
live bearing endlers, they breed like crazy so of you do choose to get them then I highly advise you to have all males.


----------



## NoahLikesFish (Mar 6, 2021)

I don’t wanna do endler they are pretty active and they are social and it isn’t a shallow tank


----------



## NoahLikesFish (Mar 6, 2021)

Maybe I should make a waterfall biotope with micro goby


----------



## NoahLikesFish (Mar 6, 2021)

Ugh micro gobies are like 15$ apiece and they are so tiny 🙄


----------



## NoahLikesFish (Mar 6, 2021)

I could be funny and make one of those million view aquaterrariums by cutting it with a jigsaw so it gets a l shape


----------



## NoahLikesFish (Mar 6, 2021)

My idea is to cut some tube so I can pull water from low then use the cheap 12gph hob and let the falling increase the momentum maybe I’ll do a mourning geck


----------



## NoahLikesFish (Mar 6, 2021)

North sengalo-tope


----------



## GenevieveRouge (Mar 23, 2021)

You can definitely do a pea puffer self sustained tank in that! I have one just like that and it's by far my favorite tank. Pea puffers are just the most entertaining to me, so smart! And so easy to keep! The pond snail colony makes them so I never have to feed them manually, they just hunt all the time for their food, its the best thing to watch and they love to hunt so it's they are living their best life. Got a different floating plants too so they have plant mazes to investigate.


----------



## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

What are your thoughts on a parasphromenus tank? They're licorice gouramis, but I prefer them to samurais and chocolates. They're rather ridiculously expensive, but you could breed them. 

You could certainly raise fry in the tank, but I don't think you could keep an adult festivum in there...

A puffer could also work as well.

If you're into herps, what about putting in a pair of thumbnail dart frogs? I bet they'd look really cool with a centerpiece bromeliad or amazon sword depending on species.


----------



## Aaronious (Oct 20, 2020)

Get a couple nano types, sparkling gourami should chill near the top with some floaters. They'll also cruise throughout the levels. Toss a few otos and a mystery snail. Depending on filter maybe a few CPD. Even without you should be good. Can even add a betta if you go with just sparkling gourami.


----------



## ElleDee (May 16, 2020)

Aaronious said:


> Get a couple nano types, sparkling gourami should chill near the top with some floaters. They'll also cruise throughout the levels. Toss a few otos and a mystery snail. Depending on filter maybe a few CPD. Even without you should be good. Can even add a betta if you go with just sparkling gourami.


This tank is under 3.5 gallons. No room for this stuff.


----------



## Aaronious (Oct 20, 2020)

ElleDee said:


> This tank is under 3.5 gallons. No room for this stuff.


meh, I have seen tanks that size with a betta, 4-5 sparlking gourami, a couple shrimp and snails. heavily planted. but it's been done.


----------



## ElleDee (May 16, 2020)

Aaronious said:


> meh, I have seen tanks that size with a betta, 4-5 sparlking gourami, a couple shrimp and snails. heavily planted. but it's been done.


Maybe someone somewhere has a tank like that, but I don't know how you could recommend it based on compatibility issues alone; mixing betta and gourami and betta and shrimp is risky business regardless of tank size. A betta may hunt shrimp, aggression could go either way with the betta and the gourami and you can't know how it's going to play out until they are all sharing space. Maybe the fish were too stressed out by the lack of space they didn't have the wherewithal to beat each other down.


----------



## Aaronious (Oct 20, 2020)

ElleDee said:


> Maybe someone somewhere has a tank like that, but I don't know how you could recommend it based on compatibility issues alone; mixing betta and gourami and betta and shrimp is risky business regardless of tank size. A betta may hunt shrimp, aggression could go either way with the betta and the gourami and you can't know how it's going to play out until they are all sharing space. Maybe the fish were too stressed out by the lack of space they didn't have the wherewithal to beat each other down.


No, this guy has 3 if not 4 different setups just like this. tank is no more than 5 gallons. betta in each. shrimp, snails, nano fish in a all tanks.

The order they go in is improtant for the shrimp and betta. Mostly he has amanos so they are larger. Plenty of plants/hardscape for everyone to getaway from the betta. the little nanos just need to be fast enough, the betta will eventually learn it's not gonna get them. outside of that, feed everyone well. His fish never look stressed. all have great color. occasionally the betta will flit towards a shrimp or fish but doesn't give chase.

PS, based on your comments about Sparkling Gourami you probable never had them. Think Honey Gourami but smaller and even less aggressive.


----------



## Aaronious (Oct 20, 2020)

small betta sorority?


----------



## ElleDee (May 16, 2020)

Aaronious said:


> No, this guy has 3 if not 4 different setups just like this. tank is no more than 5 gallons. betta in each. shrimp, snails, nano fish in a all tanks.
> 
> The order they go in is improtant for the shrimp and betta. Mostly he has amanos so they are larger. Plenty of plants/hardscape for everyone to getaway from the betta. the little nanos just need to be fast enough, the betta will eventually learn it's not gonna get them. outside of that, feed everyone well. His fish never look stressed. all have great color. occasionally the betta will flit towards a shrimp or fish but doesn't give chase.
> 
> PS, based on your comments about Sparkling Gourami you probable never had them. Think Honey Gourami but smaller and even less aggressive.


Sparkling gourami can absolutely be territorial. 

Look, I'm not the boss of you, that guy, the OP, or anyone else here. I've stated my take on the matter and I don't have anything else to add to this. The OP said they weren't interested in betta or shrimp anyway!


----------



## Aaronious (Oct 20, 2020)

ElleDee said:


> Sparkling gourami can absolutely be territorial.
> 
> Look, I'm not the boss of you, that guy, the OP, or anyone else here. I've stated my take on the matter and I don't have anything else to add to this. The OP said they weren't interested in betta or shrimp anyway!


for sure. I just meant the Gourami weren't going to do anything to anything in a tank with bettas, amanos and snails. 

Sorry if that came off... rude or something. 

Generally I agree with you. just saying that it's an option. also, I have noticed I see similar posts at the same time. I haven't mentioned nano fish an a few weeks but I feel like I have three times on different posts. Sometimes I get my lines crossed. I am also trying to copy my buddies set ups now. Might be why I again got a little... passionate. 

So just for fun/sharing, those Sparkling Gourami in his tank (just one with the Sparkling) are not that territorial. Though it is hard to sex them sometimes that small, so maybe he has a lot more females. Anyway, what I felt I noticed was that they tended to see the betta as the boss and may squabble but mostly kept eyes out for the betta while the cruised the tank.


----------



## ElleDee (May 16, 2020)

Ok, I get where you're coming from @Aaronious. I think when to get to a tank that small, every half gallon counts, every individual fish, and the overall tank dimensions make a big difference. The OP has a hex tank with a 10" long diagonal, so that's not a lot of horizontal swimming space - that's shorter than a standard 2.5 gal even though it's more water. 

There's a setup in this video that is somewhat similar to your original suggestion - it has a betta, three exclamation point rasboras, and a nerite or two (I can't tell exactly) in a little 3 gallon that is extra long and shallow. I'm sure people would still find this to be a tight arrangement, but the dimensions really help with the space issue. I think the biggest wildcard here is the betta's feeling about having tankmates, but that would also true in a 7 or 10 gallon tank.


----------



## Aaronious (Oct 20, 2020)

ElleDee said:


> Ok, I get where you're coming from @Aaronious. I think when to get to a tank that small, every half gallon counts, every individual fish, and the overall tank dimensions make a big difference. The OP has a hex tank with a 10" long diagonal, so that's not a lot of horizontal swimming space - that's shorter than a standard 2.5 gal even though it's more water.
> 
> There's a setup in this video that is somewhat similar to your original suggestion - it has a betta, three exclamation point rasboras, and a nerite or two (I can't tell exactly) in a little 3 gallon that is extra long and shallow. I'm sure people would still find this to be a tight arrangement, but the dimensions really help with the space issue. I think the biggest wildcard here is the betta's feeling about having tankmates, but that would also true in a 7 or 10 gallon tank.


yeah that thing is cool. In the video. So by buddy must have the 2.5 gallon cubes. or 2 gallon maybe? but it's smaller than that volume wise, definitely in the foot print. But he has just as much stuff crammed in there. 

OP, if you see this, probably don't do bettas, but apparently you already aren't. 

@ElleDee sorry again, and appreciate the back and forth and follow up that this community has. So thank you for that.


----------



## Discusluv (Dec 24, 2017)

Nano-fish that are not live-bearers are key. It will not be sustainable if you are not able to relocate the fry continuously.
Put a Betta in the mix and all bets are off. Its a crap-shoot. Maybe they will maybe they wont... anything.
The smaller a tank is- the more experience you need to keep that system healthy. Small issues turn into massive problems because the small water volume is not forgiving of missed water changes, contamination, water chemistry changes.
If you have many years of experience and know the species- I say go for it! Still on the learning curve- stick to plants and snails.


----------



## LCV (Jan 24, 2021)

redcherry70 said:


> Here's a short clip of my desktop 3-gallon low-tech planted tank:


That's very cute! A nice assortment of plantings, rocks, and critters in a tidy little tank. 💙


----------



## simplesue (Aug 18, 2010)

redcherry70 said:


> Here's a short clip of my desktop 3-gallon low-tech planted tank:


Wow, I'm inspired! Love that Nano Tank video, all the creatures looks relaxed and very at home in that beautiful planted environment!


----------

