I can tell that this is going to be bad already but I'm excited :D

So today I pulled the trigger and bought a five gallon along with some various supplies for my dorm room. I'm currently home leak testing the tank, but I have talked to both of my roommates before hand and we have all agreed that we would be alright with a fish tank. My dorm also permits fish in a tank up to a 20 gallon but five gallons was the limit we agreed on due to space constraints. I'm also not too sure if I'm allowed to have shrimp or not but I know fish is alright.

Currently what I have on hand is
-Aqueon 5-gallon tank
-1 Bottle Seachem Prime
-1 Pack HikarI Gold-Betta Pellets
-1 Jar HikarI Freeze Dried Bloodworms
-Small Siphon and bulb
-algae scraper
-Extra aquarium silicone
-2 small nets
-air line tubing

I've been running some walstad styled jars for the last four months with
Jar 1
-Lucky Bamboo
-Duckweed
-Ramshorn Snails
-Amazon Frogbit

Jar 2
-Duckweed
-Java Moss
-Dwarf Hair Grass
-Pond/Ramshorn Snails

Jar 3
-pond/ramshorn snails
-duckweed
-amazon frog bit
-a wig of hair algae lol

Anyways, I was hoping to do a walstad styled tank in my dorm. I don't really know what to buy from here on out, I know that I should get some clean potting soil, I have some really old garden soil but I don't trust that since it might have been around pesticides I know I also need to get some small gravel but I'm not really sure where to get it. I still know I need a filter (sponge or HOB?), a heater, aquascaping tools?, and a cover for the tank. The other thing I don't know about is light. I have some desk lamps and stuff and my desk is near a north facing window but my roommates sleep in late, some times until 2 so the curtains are usually closed during the bright hours of the day. I was thinking of upgrading one of my clip on lights with some more powerful bulbs but I don't know how feasible that idea is. I don't know whether to get rocks or wood or nothing at all for hard scape.

After getting all my physical supplies, I know I need to get plants. I live near Albany aquarium which I've heard many good things about but I'm not sure if it's the best place for plants or if ordering online/begging other hobbyists for cuttings is better. I don't know what types of plants I want, I'd probably use dwarf hair grass as a foreground plant since I have experience growing it and a stable supply of cuttings from my jar. I do like the look of hc Cuba as a foreground plant and since I plan on doing a walstad tank, I could do emerged growth but I'm afraid it might not work and be a waste of time and money especially since I have dwarf hair grass. I don't know much about mid ground plants, but I do want to try growing maybe moneywort, elodea, hornwort, guppy grass, rotala, ludwigia, or limnopholia. If you have had good success and can recommend other plants to me I would appreciate it very much. I do really love the way that aquatic mosses looks on rocks and driftwood but I don't know if they go well with walstad tanks or not. I also would prefer to plant all the plants at the same time, (unless I do a dry start) so I don't know how to go about acquiring and planting all at the same time. For floaters, I'm also not too sure if I should go with duckweed or the frog bit that I already have or look for a new type of floater. Duckweed is native to where I'm from so I don't feel horrible if it gets contaminated in various places. I also don't know if planting lucky bamboo emersed or my spider plant emerged is a good idea or not, just like how people put pathos in their aquarium.

I probably want to stock it with amphipods and ramshorns and whatever copepods/daphnia I can get from the local creek and lakes for now to get them established. I am worried that the amphipods will over run the tank but it would be nice to have them. My roommates would be thrilled to have three male guppies, since there's three of us, but I'd prefer a betta tbh. I'm not sure if guppies will eat amphipods but I'm pretty sure some Bettas will or will try

I also need to move the aquarium back home, around a forty minute drive and then leave it alone for two weeks during my family's winter vacation trip so if anyone can help me with advice on that I would appreciate it. I'm not sure if I should just wait to get everything going later and just start the cycle now and leave it in the dorms over break since power will be out.

I'm feeling really excited but also a little overwhelmed and lost at the same time(rip debit card) so I would love everyone's input!

 

Why not do some endlers? Theyd be hardier than guppies and bettas, and their smaller. Easier to not eat too many of your adult amphipods

Could do 3 endler males and a small school of 6 ember tetras or chilI rasboras...

Basically, go for nano?

 

Why not do some endlers? Theyd be hardier than guppies and bettas, and their smaller. Easier to not eat too many of your adult amphipods

Could do 3 endler males and a small school of 6 ember tetras or chilI rasboras...

Basically, go for nano?

I forgot about endler's thank you! I'm a little worried about having too many small fish since I don't love the look of the tinier fish and I'm worried they might not be as hardy and difficult to move. I definitely will consider endler's or endler's and guppy hybrids if they are available. I am more afraid of an infestation of amphipods than having all of them being eaten as I'd value the plant health more over their health since I can keep a separate colony of them.

 

Good morning!

I can provide you with my experience...I'm sure other's will weigh in gratefully with more experience. For plants - a 5 gallon tank is suitable with dwarf anubias, java fern and most moss. Driftwood is, of course, a great bonus.

As for fish, in a 5 gallon, I'd only recommend one betta. They are gorgeous, easy, and each have their own personality. Although guppies are small, they do still need room to roam. As a guppy alternative, three to four male endlers could add some color and fun to your tank. In either situation a horned nerite snail is welcome (they don't breed unless in brackish water...plus they rock at algae and are cool looking. :-D )

In the end, a 10 gallon tank would provide more opportunities and be less stressful on any fish you adopted. ;-)

 

I forgot about endler's thank you! I'm a little worried about having too many small fish since I don't love the look of the tinier fish and I'm worried they might not be as hardy and difficult to move. I definitely will consider endler's or endler's and guppy hybrids if they are available. I am more afraid of an infestation of amphipods than having all of them being eaten as I'd value the plant health more over their health since I can keep a separate colony of them.

You beat me to the punch...I'm a very slow type.

Why not do some endlers? Theyd be hardier than guppies and bettas, and their smaller. Easier to not eat too many of your adult amphipods

Could do 3 endler males and a small school of 6 ember tetras or chilI rasboras...

Basically, go

Why not do some endlers? Theyd be hardier than guppies and bettas, and their smaller. Easier to not eat too many of your adult amphipods

Could do 3 endler males and a small school of 6 ember tetras or chilI rasboras...

Basically, go for nano?

You beat me to the punch by several minutes about the endlers...I'm a very slow typer. Love fish, hate technology.

 

Good morning!

I can provide you with my experience...I'm sure other's will weigh in gratefully with more experience. For plants - a 5 gallon tank is suitable with dwarf anubias, java fern and most moss. Driftwood is, of course, a great bonus.

As for fish, in a 5 gallon, I'd only recommend one betta. They are gorgeous, easy, and each have their own personality. Although guppies are small, they do still need room to roam. As a guppy alternative, three to four male endlers could add some color and fun to your tank. In either situation a horned nerite snail is welcome (they don't breed unless in brackish water...plus they rock at algae and are cool looking. :-D )

In the end, a 10 gallon tank would provide more opportunities and be less stressful on any fish you adopted. ;-)

I would dearly love to get a 10 gallon but my roommates would kick me out
Honestly I wouldn't mind doing ramshorn snails and plants if that's all that could fit in a five gallon happily but I wouldn't mind a nice Betta. Thank you for the plant suggestions! I really want to try to do a walstad tank so I don't know if the dwarf anubias would work well but I've heard that it's easy to grow. I have been cultivating java moss clippings and I have about a golf ball sized amount right now. I will do some more research on the fern. Thank you so much

 

Get a pair of killifish. Plenty of space. As long as you feed them they will entertain you

 

Quick advice on the daphnia/cyclops/etc. you are trying to grow in the 5 gallon - as soon as it is stocked your population is going to get wiped. I had a tiny guppy fry accidentally bagged when I bought some shrimp for my 7 gallon walstad shrimp tank. It had a hydra problem (that I didn't know how to solve without crashing the tank) and a large resident population of assorted tiny white critters.
My main 63 gallon now houses an enormous guppy the size of a betta, I have no more hydra or daphnia in my shrimp tank and only the resident seed shrimp population seem to be slowly recuperating (I removed oscar the rogue guppy about two months ago because I couldn't get him to stop eating all the shrimp food before the shrimp got to it). That shrimp tank is immensely densely planted btw.
Bonus: Oscar didn't eat any of the red cherry shrimp, not even the newborn shrimplets.

Point in case: 5 gallons is way too small for the micro life to be able to successfully hide from a predatory fish. Consider making a tiny refugium maybe for some adults to hide out and repopulate?

 

Get a pair of killifish. Plenty of space. As long as you feed them they will entertain you

Killifish are interesting! Do you have a recommendation on species?

 

So, one consideration is they jump! A good starter KillI is aphyosemion bitaeniatum.

 

Quick advice on the daphnia/cyclops/etc. you are trying to grow in the 5 gallon - as soon as it is stocked your population is going to get wiped. I had a tiny guppy fry accidentally bagged when I bought some shrimp for my 7 gallon walstad shrimp tank. It had a hydra problem (that I didn't know how to solve without crashing the tank) and a large resident population of assorted tiny white critters.
My main 63 gallon now houses an enormous guppy the size of a betta, I have no more hydra or daphnia in my shrimp tank and only the resident seed shrimp population seem to be slowly recuperating (I removed oscar the rogue guppy about two months ago because I couldn't get him to stop eating all the shrimp food before the shrimp got to it). That shrimp tank is immensely densely planted btw.
Bonus: Oscar didn't eat any of the red cherry shrimp, not even the newborn shrimplets.

Point in case: 5 gallons is way too small for the micro life to be able to successfully hide from a predatory fish. Consider making a tiny refugium maybe for some adults to hide out and repopulate?

Oh my gosh, that's a really funny story. I don't mind setting up another small 1 gallon tank just to grow out micro-organisms to replenish the population but at that point, I could try to get a pea puffer. I wonder if putting lava rock or dragon stone in the aquarium would help with hiding/breeding. I also wonder if I could 3-D print a refugium for the critters. Maybe a HMF filter would be good as well. Thank you for the advice, I will look into options

 

This is one of mine

 

Maybe they wouldn't notice it's a 10 gallon It's only 4 inches longer....ha!

But glad you're ok with just ramshorns if you have to. A betta may or may not hurt ramshorns. If you could do shrimp, I recommend neocaridina shrimp. They are fun to watch and reproduce in the tank. I also once had clown killies in my 5.5g. That was an intersting time

I love that you've already done some Walstad jars and educated yourself. I do dirted tanks, not Walstad, but I've learned so much the past few years. I never thought it would be so easy to grow plants.

Some more plants for a 5 or 10 gallon dirted tank
Melon sword: They are smaller then Amazon sword and come in many colors and leaf patterns.
Dwarf sag and tenellus: Easy rooting carpetting plant. Propagates via runners. Dwarf sag has underground runners, tenellus has finer leaves.
Rotala rotundifolia: For the background. It grows very quickly, but easily and the stems stay smaller in diameter for me in my 5.5g.
Crypt wendtiI red or green: Another plant that stays relatively short in a 5g, but most likely would still be background.

 

 

Very interesting!!^^ The killies I kept (clown) weren't annual killifish, does anyone keep and breed annual killifish? mbkemp?

 

I do not have any annuals. I think I would like to try that someday. The whole pulling the eggs and storing them in damp peat until a point in time, along with watching them grow and then decline in a short time are obstacles in have not decided to pursue.
I think that aspect, the annual side keeps hobbyist from trying the others. Fascinating fish!

 

I'm still iffy on the killifish because I don't know if I can maintain a steady supply micro-organisms for them to eat. However, I will check the LFS near me to see if they have any healthy ones in stock. I do really like Bettas and I don't feel any argument against getting one aside from the five gallon being too small. I have an air pump, tubing and an air stone, would it be better to get a sponge filter or a hang on the back in terms of ease of use, effectiveness and noise.

 

Since you already have the supplies for a sponge filter, you should use one for sure, they are great. The only downside to them is that they can be noisy if you have a loud air pump.
A 5 gallon is a perfect size for a betta and they are perfect fish for a dorm, very hardy and low maintenance.

 

My killifish eat prepared food as well as live. They are carnivores do something simple like bug bites works well. The downside is you generally are not going to find them in a store. In order to have the fish you desire you have to buy them from a breeder and have them shipped

 

My killifish eat prepared food as well as live. They are carnivores do something simple like bug bites works well. The downside is you generally are not going to find them in a store. In order to have the fish you desire you have to buy them from a breeder and have them shipped

My LFS is pretty good, I think they could order killis if I ask them. I'm probably going to still stick with the Bettas for now since there's a local importer with Bettas from Thailand that are so gorgeous.

 

Since you already have the supplies for a sponge filter, you should use one for sure, they are great. The only downside to them is that they can be noisy if you have a loud air pump.
A 5 gallon is a perfect size for a betta and they are perfect fish for a dorm, very hardy and low maintenance.

Thank you for the advice! Do you know if there are anyways to quiet down an air pump since the one I have does make some noise which I think might be a problem. Also my air stone doesn't seem to work anymore so I'm not quite sure what to do about that.

 

Without knowing how big an air pump you have it might help to get a gang valve and open up another line to relieve back pressure. As far as your air stone goes it might just be better to get another one

 

Update 11/15/2019
I got all the supplies I feel like I need for now at least. I have 1 inch potting mix with 1 inch of black diamond blasting sand on top. The light is a mingdak hood and it's getting about 11 hours of light a day. I've been misting around twice a day to dry start dwarf hair grass. I'm not sure how satisfied I am with the hardscape but I'll keep it like this for now. I also purchased a marina s10 filter which I'm not quite sure what to put in there. I'm wondering if it's possible to make an amphipod/daphnia refugium from it in one of the chambers. I also want to root a spider plant in the filter potentially.