# Nano-Tanks



## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

Anybody here live in a small apartment, go to college, or just not have a lot of money to spare but love fish tanks? Well I have a solution for you, the Nano-Tank!! Contrary to what you will hear in other places, nano-tanks can be a fun and easy option for those who either don't have a lot of room or money. You can put them on your desk, on your book shelf, on a coffee table, pretty much anywhere you want. The perfect nano-tank can completely change a room and have a great calming effect on those around it.

*Size*
A nano-tank is any tank below 10 gallons, there are a lot of cheap kits made by companies such as Eclipse that you can find in any pet store or chain. They come in different shapes or sizes whether you like octagon tanks, bow-front tanks, and even corner tanks. 

*Set-up*
The great thing about nano-tanks is that you can set-up and decorate them without breaking your bank account. For most all nano-tanks, a 5 pound bag of either gravel or sand will be all you need for substrate. Depending on what fish you want, a heater is optional, this is really the only expense you can't get around, as most smaller heaters are still going to be around 15-18 dollars, once you pick that up, make sure your keeping your tank around 80 degrees. After those things, most of the kits come with a filter and a light so your set to start cycling.
As far as decorating goes, get creative! Put a tiny castle in there and create you own little fantasy tank. Get some fake plants and make a little jungle. Get some easy live plants and make a mini biotope! The possibilities are endless!

*Live plants*
So you have decided to use live plants in your tank but you don't know what will work with your standard lights? Here are some very nice options that will work perfectly in your little tank:
Java Fern, Lace Fern
Christmas Moss
Java Moss
Wendtii (Green and Red)
Barteri Nana
Dwarf Sagittaria
Anubias Nana
Tiger Lotus (Green and Red)
Crypt Walkerii
Crypt Wendtii
All of these plants will do fine in low level light and without much attention besides pruning when overgrown.

*Tank Ideas*
Ok so by now you have obviously decided you want a cute little nano-tank as part of your collection! Well here are some ideas:
Microrasbora Tank:
5 or 6 Galaxy Rasboras 
2 or 3 otocats
Some Java Moss in front attached to some wood and Red Tiger Lotus in back

Cherry Shrimp tank:
10-12 Cherry Shrimp
5 Neon/Cardinal tetras
Java Moss in front, Dwarf Sagittaria in back

Bumble Bee Goby tank:
8 Bumble Bee Gobies
4 HET Rasboras
Sand substrate, Barteri nana in front, Red Wendtii in back

Danio Tank:
5 or 6 of your choice Danio
3 or 4 Pygmy cories
Anubias Nana all over bottom

Glo-Fish Tank:
5 or 6 assorted color GLo-fish
Any Retro Decorations and multi-colored gravel!!

African Dwarf Frog Tank:
2 Frogs
2 Amano Shrimp
LOTS OF WOOD and Christmas moss, could also throw some Java Fern in the back if you like

Threadfin Rainbow Tank:
5 or 6 Threadfin Rainbows
2 or 3 Kuhli Loaches
Piece of wood with moss on it, Wendtii Crypt in back

**All combinations can be mixed an matched**

*Set Backs*
As with any tank, there are things you need to look out for to keep things running smoothly. 
Being small tanks, Nano-tanks are prone to quick changes in temperature in accordance to the air around it, good thing is, a heater will keep this from happening, but you must make sure your heater is always working!
Also with a smaller volume of water, it is much easier for a disease to wipe out you whole tank so it is IMPERATIVE you keep Melafix and Pimafix or other disease preventers around you at all times.

*Perks*
Smaller tank, smaller water changes
Cheap
Chemicals such as Aqua plus, Cycle, Melafix, you need less of for them to be effective
Easier to transport (such as between dorm room and home)

Well now get out there and start your very own nano-tank!!

P.S.
Feel free to add to any of this!


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Killie. Clown killies are teeny and cute. (You may need to keep frozen food in the fridge for them).


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## Toshogu (Apr 24, 2009)

bump and sticky


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## Sea-Agg2009 (Aug 2, 2008)

Addition: 
Badis tank. 
3 or 4 Badis (Scarlet Badis are my favorite)
Red Cherry Shrimp (numbers are hard to give... lol)
Bogwood with christmas or java mass. 


The threadfin rainbow setup reminded me about this. The threadfin rainbows and badis are really good tank mates for people who don't like keeping different kinds of food. Badis and threadfins both like small food, like mysis and newly hatched brine shrimp, or crushed up flake food.


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## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

OHHH yes I totally forgot about Badis Badis, they are a wonderful nano-fish as well, good addition! 
Don't have any experience with clown killis though but if they work they work!


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I've been raising F. gardneri in a 5 gallon tank for a while. Great fish. Got a pair of clown killies (annulatus) at ACA (yes, the cichlid convention, lol). They are adorable. The male is about 1.5" and the female < 1". They do great in heavily planted, little tanks. The males slurped up a blackworm that was longer than he is. I'll try to get some pics, but I'll have to play with the macro filters, sigh. 

10 gallon tanks are usually about the cheapest tank to set up. And they are generally more stable than the little tanks. But the clown killies have me considering a tank on my computer desk. I can see the appeal of having a tiny tank at eye-level, that you can carry to the sink for a water change.
The petstores are starting to carry the little fish now. My LFS will sell my young gardneri. But the pictures of 20 large fish on the box with the little plastic tank still bother me and I keep seeing post on craigslist with 2 gallon nano tanks with 10 goldfish in them. Do your homework, if you have a teeny tank, get fish that stay teeny. <<sorry, end of digression.


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## Sea-Agg2009 (Aug 2, 2008)

emc7 said:


> that you can carry to the sink for a water change.


Carry to the sink?!?! Just use a drinking glass... A standard cup you drink out of is probably 5% or so in a 3 gallon tank. You can dechlorinate your water in an old 2 liter bottle.


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## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

And now we know 2 ways to do a water change on a nano-tank! Take notes people!! Its easy as pie


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## Plecostomus (Jul 31, 2006)

I wouldn't put Kuhli loaches or Danios in a tank smaller than 10 gallons, but other than that looks great. I'm taking care of a friend's nano tank while he is away and it has 3 white cloud minnows in it.


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## Spgrooms (Jul 25, 2009)

emc7 said:


> I've been raising F. gardneri in a 5 gallon tank for a while.


How did you get ahold of some of those F. Gardneri? I just looked them up because I was thinking about buying a 2.5Gal tank for my desk while I am at college and it seems like that fish would be perfect, not to mention that it looks beautiful!


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I got mine from a breeder in my fish club. But you can buy killie eggs online and hatch them yourself or get fish UPS in a breather bag. If you online order fish, you should do it before it gets too cold. Where in IN? There are lots of active clubs there. http://www.michianaaquariumsociety.org/html/ and http://www.circlecityaqclub.org/ to name a few. My clown killies came from http://www.alloddballaquatics.com/. Aquabid.com is a great source, too. They will be cheaper if you find them locally and don't have to pay for shipping.


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

I was the happy recipient of several very large pickle jars from a local restaurant. They make good nano tanks too with a small stick on filter. I kept a few gambusia in one, and bettas in the others. Worked ok as long as I kept the room about 72 degrees in the winter and definately ok in the summer.
You can also buy small stick on heaters for nano tanks.


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## Spgrooms (Jul 25, 2009)

I'm in Rochester, That's not far from South Bend, but as I will be moving to college soon I will be further away, those are some great sites and thanks for refering me to the clubs, I was thinking I would get a 2.5Gal, sand for substrate with maybe java moss(depending on the lighting) I was wondering how much light java moss needs to live, and I was also wondering if the Gardneri would take ghost shrimp for food?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I think adult shrimp are a bit big for them, but if you keep shrimp in the tank, they will eat young shrimp. I haven't really tried them together. Mine get flake, really small cichlid fry pellets, live microworms, frozen daphnia, frozen glass worms and bloodworms, live blackworms and brine shrimp (occasionally). You don't have to feed them that well, they are considered really easy. 

Java moss needs some light, but not a lot. I have it growing in tanks with room light (fluorescents and sunlight), rather than tank light. You're right, its good for killies, they will lay eggs in it in lieu of yarn mops and the fry can graze on it.


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## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

Well now you have about as in depth a Killi nano-tank description as you can get!


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

lol, we hijacked your thread. But you're right. Shrimp, killies, java moss, sponge filter, maybe some sand, maybe some java fern, maybe heater if room is cold (like they turn the heat off over breaks) call it a tank.


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## Spgrooms (Jul 25, 2009)

cool cool, thanks! hehe


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Oh, one more must for a killie tank, no matter how small. A lid, even if just plastic wrap. They jump.


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