fish(or things) for a 2.5 gallon (Cichlid Man's thread of the week)

[Pac-Man]

what do you think i could put in my spare 2.5??? i know the choices are endless( ) but I was thinking maybe a lone apple snail or something. anybody got any other suggestions???

[firetrie]

you could put an old boot or small toy tire in it.



Ok for real tho

have you considered an anphib (newt,frog,fiddler crab) you know something close to the water but still a little land friendly....

[Pac-Man]

hmm..i considered an adf but a newt??? isnt that a bit small for the newt??? and the fiddler crab fit in there???

[laura]

YOu could maybe go for a planted tank and a betta it owuld look prety and be easy to have a planted. my apple snail doesnt eat my plants so thats a possibilty

[Lexus]

my vote is a betta

[micbailey]

What plants are good with a betta?

[buddah101]

Cynops Orientalis, Caudat (Japanese fire~bellied newt) would be fine in there for about a year. maybe even a pair as long as you upgrade in the future. How about some of those flagtail rummy~nose tetras or fancy guppies? They would look nice. You could do an atrarium with plants, moss and stuff like that and have a small pool in there for something like a tree frog or newt. HTH

[Pac-Man]

no betta. would a tree frog really fit in a 2.5???

[firetrie]

I have Three one gallon tanks that I keep my crabs and frogs in. I thought about a newt but I really would rather stick with what I got. Two ones with a pair of crabs each and two frogs in the other one.

So I think a 2.5 would be ok....

[osteoporoosi]

Colourful apple snails and cherry shrimps.

[Guppy123]

What about a couple neons and a couple ghost shrimps?

[John]

Originally Posted by Pac-Man

would a tree frog really fit in a 2.5???

It depends what species, but I would think that most tree frogs prefer arboreal tanks.

[Hamm35924]

if you get a tree frog, be warned, you better be ready for a long commitment, they live for a bout ten years, and you will have to ffed them crickets and stuff.

[fish_doc]

You could always try Shrimp.

[Cichlid Man]

Here's the deal. No matter what type of fish, crab, lobster, toad, whatever. No matter what it is, it will live in a small tank, but it won't thrive. I've kept so many fish over the years and found that it's just not worth, for me, to keep anything in a small tank. I've got the space, even a small space in the corner, why not have a couple of 20g tanks or even better a one 55g tank so you can put in real comitment to what ever you're keeping. You can make it look nicer, aquascape it better by having more peices of bogwood, more java ferns, more peices of lavea rock, in the extreme even having two types of substrate in the same tank, gravel for the the bacteria in the undergravel filter and sand for the geophagous earth-eaters to forage in at feeding time and to lay their eggs, and it was a success and I maintained it for many years.
I had a tank full of bog wood, and put a dozon of woodcatfish in there, and even though I hardly ever saw them, it made me feel as if that was what fish keeping was all about, actually having fish and knowing that they are thriving and after a year or so, I actually had some eggs from them. Now thats something to be proud of.
Now I'm not saying that you need to go out their and spend hundreds of $'s on a luxtury 150g tank with an antique pine hood and cabinet packed with the latest penguin turbo external tripple power filteration and fish to match. A 2.5g tank is fine, go and buy one if you want, but for me and I'm sure for many other fish keepers it's just not worth it when you can look in the local paper and purchase a 55g gallon tank with all equipment for 40 bucks and do exactly what you want with it, and keep virtually what ever you like.
Go ahead and keep fish in a 2g tank but all I'm saying is that for yours and the fishes, salamanders, anocondas, iguanas whatevers benifit that you may as well go that lil' bit further and buy a setup that you know you can maintain easier for your fishes needs and overall get more enjoyment out of it by being a successful fish keeper.

[Larry-T]

A lot of small to medium size killifish will thrive and breed in a 2.5 gal tank. I have a number of pairs breeding in such tanks and they interact, glide in and out of the spawning mop, and provide regular eggs.

[Cichlid Man]

Great. It's good to know that people can breed fish in extreme conditions.

[TheOldSalt]

Killies breed under extreme conditions all the time; it's just their way.
Some other teeny tiny fish from still waters might work, like Pygmy Sunfish ( Elassoma sp. ) or Pygmy killies ( Leptolucania ommata ), but good luck finding any. Actually, I know just the place, but they're overpriced.

[blixem]

Hence why a lot of killies only live a year or so before croaking, they are built for conditions like that.

In a 2.5 gal tank I would put a single betta, and a snail... with plants. Killies if you know what you are doing with them. Other than that, a 2.5gal tank is just a place to keep plants imho.

[judya]

How about a quarantine tank/hospital tank - have it in reserve with a sponge filter and heater just in case...