# Coldwater Nano



## clockworkmonkey (May 7, 2012)

I want to buy a five or two gallon tank, but I can't keep a betta because I'm worried that a heater would overheat such a small tank. I could possibly put one in a five gallon, but not a two gallon.

What would be good in the two gallon? Are there any coldwater shrimp?


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## pantherspawn (Dec 21, 2011)

You can use a 10 watt heater in a 2 gallon with no problems.


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## VJM (Feb 9, 2013)

AFA sells a very nano heater that I have used successfully in a 3g and a 2.5g. Having said that, I really prefer 5g and over for bettas.


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## MummyDJ (Apr 18, 2013)

If you're set on not using a heater you can have snails which are pretty cool to watch.

You can have grass shrimp (aka, glass or ghost shrimp) commonly sold as feeders. Not very colourful and you would end up playing spot the shrimp about 10 times a day.


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## Couesfanatic (Sep 28, 2009)

Do you even need a heater in Georgia?


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## Grah the great (Jul 3, 2013)

*Pygmy sunfish and dario*

Pygmy sunfish would work if you could deal with their strict feeding requirements, and male pygmy sunfish look spectacular while breeding (my icon is a pygmy sunfish known as either _elassoma okefenokee _or _e. gilberti - _the two are nearly indistinguishable). At least some species of _Dario _could also work, although again you need to be ready to deal with the unique feeding requirements (I.E live food will be taken, frozen will likely be taken, but dry foods will rarely be taken). I'm assuming in both cases that the tank will go no lower than 60 degrees?


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## jpappy789 (Jul 28, 2013)

I would agree with the Elassoma, mine did ok at room temp. But I did have major issues feeding, mine could never adjust to frozen and I couldn't keep up with live food. Major mistake on my part as they are such cool fish.


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## clockworkmonkey (May 7, 2012)

I recently moved to Washington, actually. I just haven't updated my profile yet.

I wouldn't have needed one back in Georgia, but I'm pretty sure I'll need one up here.


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## Grah the great (Jul 3, 2013)

jpappy789 said:


> But I did have major issues feeding, mine could never adjust to frozen and I couldn't keep up with live food. Major mistake on my part as they are such cool fish.


It seems that the key is to get the frozen food to be taken by this fish is to get the food to fall slowly through the water column, judging from the answer I got to asking about the same thing on NANFA. You might want to contact a person named Erica Lyons on there about it - she once had a huge, breeding colony of pygmy sunfish that at various times subsisted on blackworms, frozen bloodworms (chopped due to size), and live grindal worms (microworms were used for the fry). 
I myself will likely not be keeping elassoma at the moment due to the fact that they breed much more easily if you have a seperate breeding tank and my parents would highly prefer it if I did not get another tank. But still they're a nice, easy fish to keep once you have the feeding down.


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## clockworkmonkey (May 7, 2012)

What about white cloud mountain minnows? I wouldn't mind a sunfish, but I've never seen any for sale.


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## MummyDJ (Apr 18, 2013)

But surely the recommended fish wouldn't work in a 2 or 5 gallon?


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## jpappy789 (Jul 28, 2013)

Grah the great said:


> It seems that the key is to get the frozen food to be taken by this fish is to get the food to fall slowly through the water column, judging from the answer I got to asking about the same thing on NANFA. You might want to contact a person named Erica Lyons on there about it - she once had a huge, breeding colony of pygmy sunfish that at various times subsisted on blackworms, frozen bloodworms (chopped due to size), and live grindal worms (microworms were used for the fry).
> I myself will likely not be keeping elassoma at the moment due to the fact that they breed much more easily if you have a seperate breeding tank and my parents would highly prefer it if I did not get another tank. But still they're a nice, easy fish to keep once you have the feeding down.


It's easier said than done. Tried grindals and they never took. By the time I found blackworms for a price that wouldn't destroy my wallet it was dead of winter and wasn't the risk shipping. I spoke with quite a few people on NANFA who were able to make the switch to frozen, mine just wouldn't for whatever reason. 



clockworkmonkey said:


> What about white cloud mountain minnows? I wouldn't mind a sunfish, but I've never seen any for sale.


Mine were from aquabid. Great seller...if only I could remember the name. If you're really interested I can look up some old emails.


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## Grah the great (Jul 3, 2013)

...They didn't take the grindals? That's odd...perhaps different species or even populations of pygmy sunfish are pickier than others? All I can say is that even for pygmy sunfish that sounds EXTREMELY picky. (By the way, Erica owned elassoma gilberti). I know from contact with Msjinkzd that dario hysignon is not as picky as the closely related dario dario (the scarlet badis), she even saying (on quote) that "dario hysignon...will sometimes take specific dried foods, namely Xtreme catfish scrapers"

On a side note, even wild pygmy sunfish were found to eat baby snails via stomach analysis, so a population of ramshorn or pond snails in the tank should be a valuable, sustainable secondary food source for grown and sub adult pygmy sunfish. If wild pygmy sunfish eat baby snails, why would pygmy sunfish in captivity pass them up?


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

How cold does the room get? Reason I ask is I use this heater in my 6 gallon and it works pretty well- Amazon.com: Aqueon AQE06194 Mini Heater for Aquarium, 10-watt: Pet Supplies

Temp is a consistent 76 degrees. It wouldn't be a good choice in an unheated room (actually my home is usually a bit cooler in the summer from AC but same idea) but if you room is heated it should be great. I would imagine it would work even better in a 2.5 gallon and its very small so it's easily hidden.


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## clockworkmonkey (May 7, 2012)

I don't know. We just moved here. I guess we'd be keeping it at about seventy degrees in the winter, although we may program it to be lower when we are both out of the house. It wouldn't be completely unheated, though.

I'm just worried about having too big of a heater for a two gallon. I think ten watts would be okay in a five, but I'm not sure about a tank smaller than that. Maybe I should wait and save up enough for the five.

I want to keep this at a really low cost, for now. I don't want to special order any fish, either, although the lfs said that if I time my orders with when their regular shipments come in, I don't have to pay the shipping. I really like the idea of some cherry shrimp or crystal red shrimp. I want to put Java Moss in there. 

I'd really prefer to have a betta, but I'd definitely need a heater for that. Since it's not included in the nanos I'm looking at, it would probably disturb the aesthetic of the tank, but it would be better than hurting the fish.

Thanks for the heater recommendation. Why do you suppose it got so many negative reviews?


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## idleivey (Feb 12, 2009)

I keep a ton of White Cloud Minnows (they keep reproducing) in a 5ish gallon tank. You could also do Scarlet Badis.


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