My micro fish community/tank

Size: 1.5 gal.
inhabitants: 2 of my endler guppies I have raised from the second they where born (they are 7 months old, both less than an inch)
and 1 ghost shrimp (he loves his wood he likes to climb to the surface of the water and eat) might get another ghost shrimp depending on how things go
Cycled? yes, I cycled this tank about 24 hours, normally would cycle up to a month but all of the materials in this tank come from and already cycled tank
Plants: windelov java fern (I plan on getting duck weed and maybe 2 marimo moss balls as well possible anubias nanas)
I might possibly get one more ghost shrimp just to help with leftovers (this is a big might considering the size of the tank)

Size: 1.5 gal.
inhabitants: 2 of my endler guppies I have raised from the second they where born (they are 7 months old, both less than an inch)
and 1 ghost shrimp (he loves his wood he likes to climb to the surface of the water and eat) might get another ghost shrimp depending on how things go
Cycled? yes, I cycled this tank about 24 hours, normally would cycle up to a month but all of the materials in this tank come from and already cycled tank
Plants: windelov java fern (I plan on getting duck weed and maybe 2 marimo moss balls as well possible anubias nanas)
I might possibly get one more ghost shrimp just to help with leftovers (this is a big might considering the size of the tank)

and the waters goldenish color is from the tank it came from, just tannins from the wood, water quality is great

 

I know nothing about this style of set up. Do you use a filter, or just the plant?

 

I have a feeling you're going to have some problems with your cycle, and personally I wouldn't keep any fish in a bowl that size. Maybe a shrimp or pest snails if I was attempting a micro settup, but not fish. 1.5 gallons is such a small body of water, I reckon even some of the most experienced members on this forum would have extreme difficulty avoiding cycle swings and crashes in this settup. I don't feel there is enough surface area in this tank to maintain an appropriate amount of bacteria, and tanks like these usually only work when they're heavily heavily planted to account for excess bioload the bacteria just can't compensate for.

I really hope this works for you, especially for the animals' sake, but if you really want to maximize your chances of success with a tank like this and keep your animals happy and healthy, I would recommend looking into walstad method aquariums. There are a few specific conditions that need be met in order for something like this to work with little to no hiccups along the way, but it's well worth looking into if you're serious about trying this kind of tank. Best of luck to you.

 

Size: 1.5 gal.
inhabitants: 2 of my endler guppies I have raised from the second they where born (they are 7 months old, both less than an inch)
and 1 ghost shrimp (he loves his wood he likes to climb to the surface of the water and eat) might get another ghost shrimp depending on how things go
Cycled? yes, I cycled this tank about 24 hours, normally would cycle up to a month but all of the materials in this tank come from and already cycled tank
Plants: windelov java fern (I plan on getting duck weed and maybe 2 marimo moss balls as well possible anubias nanas)
I might possibly get one more ghost shrimp just to help with leftovers (this is a big might considering the size of the tank)
View attachment 845688

and the waters goldenish color is from the tank it came from, just tannins from the wood, water quality is great

looks good! not sure about putting endlers in it, but if you can do it successfully, then go for it!

 

I know nothing about this style of set up. Do you use a filter, or just the plant?

i dont use a filter I do weekly changes at least once or twice a week

 

i dont use a filter I do weekly changes at least once or twice a week

what percent of the water do u siphon out each week, not to be rude or anything.

 

looks good! not sure about putting endlers in it, but if you can do it successfully, then go for it!

thank you!!

 

i plan on adding more plants soon


one of my endler guppies


his brother



casper (my ghost shrimp) chillin





casper doing shrimp things (he loves this wood and climbing on it)


for plants i am thinking
christmas moss
1 or 2 marimo moss balls
duck weed
Vallisneria
anubias nanas petite
(open to ideas this is just the plan)

 

There's a guy on YT channel called Random Bits who does all small guppy tanks like that. You might want to look him up. Cheers!

 

There's a guy on YT channel called Random Bits who does all small guppy tanks like that. You might want to look him up. Cheers!

will do!!!

 

I don't get why people say it is harder to keep a small tank cycled. Doens't really make sense to me. I think people just mean it is harder to keep water parameters in check. I have doubts about the swim space of that tank but it looks very nice. I would add many more plants personally.

 

I don't get why people say it is harder to keep a small tank cycled. Doens't really make sense to me. I think people just mean it is harder to keep water parameters in check. I have doubts about the swim space of that tank but it looks very nice. I would add many more plants personally.

I am planning on adding more plants

 

The Random Bits guy uses a 4 body length rule of thumb for tank size I think. You'll need to rely on your plants to a large degree to manage water quality, so a fast growing stem plant is probably needed as your main plant. He uses a lot of guppy grass and a few of the other fast growing floaters in his little tanks.

I've never done smaller than 10G myself - at least since the fishbowl I had as a kid - but I enjoy seeing people try stuff outside the box. The internet vastly increased the info and experience we can all draw from, but sometimes gets a little too locked into *the way* everything must be done. I'll enjoy watching your progress!

 

I don't get why people say it is harder to keep a small tank cycled. Doens't really make sense to me. I think people just mean it is harder to keep water parameters in check. I have doubts about the swim space of that tank but it looks very nice. I would add many more plants personally.

totally agree. Once, i somehow cycled a 1 gallon bowl for guppy fry by doing 25% WC´s every day.

 

I don't get why people say it is harder to keep a small tank cycled. Doens't really make sense to me. I think people just mean it is harder to keep water parameters in check. I have doubts about the swim space of that tank but it looks very nice. I would add many more plants personally.

You are correct. It's the larger volume of water that allows for more nitrates to be spread through the water column.

 

Sorry, plants cannot make up for the tank size issue.

That's fish jail imo. way too small for 1 fish let alone 2.

Perfect size if you do a shrimp tank, but anything else, it becomes a quality of life issue.

 

This is not a good set up for what you have going on. These fish need a much larger tank with a filter and heater. A bowl really can't be cycled just due to the nature that its a bowl. There are a few heavily planted LARGE bowls I've seen this done (i.e. 9 gallon bowls) but that is a much more complicated set up.

Then it comes down to the fish. This is an example of yes fish can sometimes survive non-ideal situations but they will not thrive in them. You can put a cow in a closet and yes it'll survive for a time but is it fair to the cow or giving the cow all its needs? No. As a fish keeper I have a goal: I don't just want to get my fish to SURVIVE I want them to THRIVE in the set up I create for them.

Once the fish are removed you can likely turn this into a shrimp only situation if you get a small sponge filter in there.

 

you might be able to do a dario dario in that type of setup. ive seen people successfully keep them in 2.5 gallon tanks, so i dont see why they wouldnt be good for the nano tank u have now.

 

so I have narrowed down to 1 singular endler guppy (my slightly smaller male) and I do water changes every other day as well as using both prime and stability by Seachem (in small doses ofc cuz the tank is small) I am also planning on putting some lava rock (cleaned first ofc) in because I have heard that it helps with the nitrogen cycle in the tank as well as keeping the water cleaner for the fish (might change the substrate in the tank to sand just to help the scape flow a bit smoother I will update in a bit. (my lava rocks have been soaking in hydrogen peroxide for about 24 hours now as well as being scrubbed clean I just need to rinse them really good now, they are all pretty small in size maybe 2 inches so i will see how much fits, with my little endler in mind of course) will update in a bit
Ps. Plan on getting some duck weed this weekend

 

Thank you for sharing your journey in the hobby Fishkeeper25 .

A quick and dirty snapshot of a couple of my tanks that do not necessarily meet all the requirements of traditional tropical fish keeping.

Two forty gallon tanks with a small handful of cold water rice fish filtered only by plants with a solar powered pump providing some water movement. Most of what looks like algae in the lower half is in fact a carpet of guppy grass.

While I also believe your 1.5 gallons is to small who am I to judge? A link on how rice fish have traditionally been kept.

A cold water species that would be more suitable for your unheated container?

 

Thank you for sharing your journey in the hobby Fishkeeper25 .

A quick and dirty snapshot of a couple of my tanks that do not necessarily meet all the requirements of traditional tropical fish keeping. View attachment 846202
Two forty gallon tanks with a small handful of cold water rice fish filtered only by plants with a solar powered pump providing some water movement. Most of what looks like algae in the lower half is in fact a carpet of guppy grass.

While I also believe your 1.5 gallons is to small who am I to judge? A link on how rice fish have traditionally been kept.

A cold water species that would be more suitable for your unheated container?

thank you for the input, I might look into rice fish I have heard of them but have never seen them in the fish store I usually go to but I will look next time I go to get water
I will say my house stays around 72-76 degrees fahrenheit and right now my water is at about 72 degrees fahrenheit, I looked a bit into rice fish and it seems they like to school that could possibly be a problem due to bioload and space. But i do sincerely appreciate the idea

 

update: Plan on changing my substrate to white sand (already been in a cycled tank and i've got plenty) and my rocks to these lava rocks (soaked in hydrogen peroxide to clean for 24 hours, rinsed thoroughly, left to dry 24 hours)
I also plan on getting some duck weed today, possibly some type of moss or anubias
will post pictures once i get it all together


Update:
just cleaned added a bit of prime and stability by seachem added some lava rocks and changed the substrate to already used sand (from my other tank)

 

Looking at the shape of the container you are currently using Fishkeeper25 it’s noticeable that there is not as much water exposed to air as say the traditional shaped bowls used for the medaka ( rice fish) in the video I posted on post #20. There will not be as much room for the floating plants on the surface ether which will limit the amount of Duckweed. Floating plants like duckweed are the key to having filtration but they will further lower the water area open to oxygen transfer.
Note the shape of these traditional vessels.

While this family have only been keeping fish using this method for twenty years we can all learn from those who have been doing this for thousands of years.

Walk in the path of those who have gone before.

 

Update: added duck weed my guppy is enjoying swimming through it comes up to the little portal I made to eat

 

I did end up taking the guppy out and putting him back in the 20 gallon and now I just have plants plus some tiny pest snails