# 2.5 Gallon Options



## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

Good day all. Sadly, my Betta named Spot died over the weekend. I think it was just his time. I had him for about a year and a half and I estimate he was at least six months old when I bought him. I hadn't noticed any problems with him so I think it was just from natural causes. Anyway, I need to know what would be a good stock list for a 2.5 gallon tank. I was thinking about 6 Neon Tetras and some type of algae eater. Any suggestions?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

microrasboras, heterandia forrmosa, pygmy cories, clown killies or cherry shrimp (pick 1) and an apple snail for algae control. 

In a small tank, regular water changes become very important.

There are many really neat tiny fish available now if you can find them.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

emc7 said:


> microrasboras, heterandia forrmosa, pygmy cories, clown killies or cherry shrimp (pick 1) and an apple snail for algae control.
> 
> In a small tank, regular water changes become very important.
> 
> There are many really neat tiny fish available now if you can find them.


I appreciate it. Unfortunately, I don't have any of these fish in a store near me. I decided to go with a very small Chinese Algae Eater (1") and 7 Neon Tetras. If the algae eater gets too big I'll just move him to my 125 gallon at home and get another small one for my 2.5 gallon.


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

Anything that doesn't grow bigger than neon size and is peacful......Why Americans call them Betta's I will never know.....in England we call them fighters coz that's what they are.


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## hXcChic22 (Dec 26, 2009)

Cichlid Man said:


> Anything that doesn't grow bigger than neon size and is peacful......Why Americans call them Betta's I will never know.....in England we call them fighters coz that's what they are.


Their scientific name is Betta Splendens...


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

hXcChic22 said:


> Their scientific name is Betta Splendens...


Alright so from now on I'm gonna call neons "Paracheirodons" coz that's their scientific name.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

Cichlid Man said:


> Alright so from now on I'm gonna call neons "Paracheirodons" coz that's their scientific name.


No one likes a [email protected]


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

i do.............................


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

Ghost Knife said:


> No one likes a [email protected]


Well done. Writing [email protected] with an @ sign gets u way more kudos....conrats ur seen as way more cool now in front of your fishy friends.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

Cichlid Man said:


> Well done. Writing [email protected] with an @ sign gets u way more kudos....conrats ur seen as way more cool now in front of your fishy friends.


That had nothing to do with it. I just didn't want to get banned as you will if you type the word out, but thanks for jumping to conclusions.


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## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

As usual loha, you have made me laugh...


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## humdedum (Feb 18, 2009)

Actually one of those small killifish might be fun. You could even get some eggs shipped to you from aquabid or something, I think.


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

Ghost Knife said:


> That had nothing to do with it. I just didn't want to get banned as you will if you type the word out, but thanks for jumping to conclusions.


I just wrote ass...there....so who's gonna ban me?


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

It is slang and some including me find it offensive. Aren't 7 neons way overstock for a 2.5 gal?


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

Betta man said:


> It is slang and some including me find it offensive. Aren't 7 neons way overstock for a 2.5 gal?


Not to my knowledge.


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

I have heard 1 inch per gallon and I don't think it's true but 3 inches per gallon?


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## e048 (Dec 23, 2010)

i say let him do what he wants... poor fish


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

It's borderline, not 'way overstocked'. depends on the size of the fish (could be small neons), the filter and the water changes. It's more than I'd be comfortable with, but I like my tanks to be resilient to neglect. Anything smaller than a 5 with any significant amount of fish will need a lot of attention.


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## Chaos553 (Apr 2, 2007)

I would've done a bunch of Cherry Shrimps or if I could find them, Micro Rasboras since they look pretty stunning, not to mention they stay small. I'm not particularly fond of keeping a school of Tetras in anything less than a 20g, but it'll work since Neons stay small, not to mention it'll be clean because of your CAE. Mind posting up a pic?

Cichlid Man: There's really no reason to be flaming on a peaceful forum, or arguing for the fact of that matter. Just eat up what he said and drop it.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Going with only 2 or 3 neons would be bad for another reason.

Regular water changes should keep that tank stable, but a week or two of neglect and it could crash. I know OCD people who could keep 3x that many fish in that tank who would change water every day and grow plants besides, but I would kill them in 2 weeks. You know your own temperament and scheduling issues, so you should be able to figure out how much effort you are willing to give a tank. That micro-reef tanks on the LFS counter are how the store owner keeps from getting bored. 

Try harder to find the microfish, many fish clubs have them and some of the good LFS that cater to planted tank nuts and there is always aquabid.com.


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

I talked to a petco employee who knows fish and he said it was kinda overstocked, but not horrible... I have a 2 gal so that's why I was wondering...


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

Chaos553 said:


> I would've done a bunch of Cherry Shrimps or if I could find them, Micro Rasboras since they look pretty stunning, not to mention they stay small. I'm not particularly fond of keeping a school of Tetras in anything less than a 20g, but it'll work since Neons stay small, not to mention it'll be clean because of your CAE. Mind posting up a pic?
> 
> Cichlid Man: There's really no reason to be flaming on a peaceful forum, or arguing for the fact of that matter. Just eat up what he said and drop it.


I temporarily added another algae eater to get the algae under control. I did manage to get most of it off the glass.


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## newfiegirl01 (Jun 24, 2011)

I'm setting up the same setup tonight. 

I have had my tank filtering for 3 days now. It's ready for fish today and I'm picking up some neon tetras and a bottom feeder.


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

cool!!!!!!


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## PhsychoFish (Apr 10, 2011)

we have a 2.5 with a betta and snails... 7 neons seem like a lot, but they are small


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## PhsychoFish (Apr 10, 2011)

nevermind, i see the picture ^^;


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## Chaos553 (Apr 2, 2007)

Looks pretty cool, good job . For some reason when I think 2.5 gallon, I just think of a 2.5 hex rather than a regular tank, I don't know why, my mind plays tricks on me haha.

Do you plan on keeping the two CAEs in the tank or are you going to take one out when your algae problem stops persisting?


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

Chaos553 said:


> I would've done a bunch of Cherry Shrimps or if I could find them, Micro Rasboras since they look pretty stunning, not to mention they stay small. I'm not particularly fond of keeping a school of Tetras in anything less than a 20g, but it'll work since Neons stay small, not to mention it'll be clean because of your CAE. Mind posting up a pic?
> 
> Cichlid Man: There's really no reason to be flaming on a peaceful forum, or arguing for the fact of that matter. Just eat up what he said and drop it.


 Who's this guy and who says I'm flaming? there's no need to see an argument in a simple discussion is there.....and I've banned more members on here than posts you've made so you're obviously a newbie on here


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## chronoboy (Jan 17, 2011)

Somebody is full of themselves.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

Chaos553 said:


> Looks pretty cool, good job . For some reason when I think 2.5 gallon, I just think of a 2.5 hex rather than a regular tank, I don't know why, my mind plays tricks on me haha.
> 
> Do you plan on keeping the two CAEs in the tank or are you going to take one out when your algae problem stops persisting?


I appreciate it. 

Once the the algae situation gets better I'll probably move one of the CAEs to my 125 at home. Once the second one gets too big I'll move him home as well and just get another smaller one for the 2.5 when I start noticing algae again.


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## chronoboy (Jan 17, 2011)

You could do a snail, they do a good job on algae.


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

chronoboy said:


> Somebody is full of themselves.


 who the hell are you? passing judgement? you should be ashamed of yourself. Go learn a lil more about fish, mature a bit, become more of a man, then come back and say that. Don't think that you can chip in making comments like that joining in with the crowd because all of the mods on here will back me up.


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## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

Malaysian trumpet snails are also a good choice for algae control. And super cheap, too! If not free...


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## Chaos553 (Apr 2, 2007)

Cichlid Man said:


> Who's this guy and who says I'm flaming? there's no need to see an argument in a simple discussion is there.....and I've banned more members on here than posts you've made so you're obviously a newbie on here


Glad that just by the amount of posts I have considers me a newbie.

I figured you'd move the CAEs to a bigger tank once the algae was taken care of. Keep us updated, I've always been interested in smaller tanks since the maintenance load is pretty high.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

Chaos553 said:


> I figured you'd move the CAEs to a bigger tank once the algae was taken care of. Keep us updated, I've always been interested in smaller tanks since the maintenance load is pretty high.


It's not too bad. I do a 20-25% water change once a week, PH around 7.0, and the temp stay around 80.


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## CallieDaNerd (Jun 8, 2011)

I wouldnt expect up keep to be too terrible, after all neons dont poop too much...


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## Chaos553 (Apr 2, 2007)

CallieDaNerd said:


> I wouldnt expect up keep to be too terrible, after all neons dont poop too much...


I guess that's a good point haha . CAEs do sometimes though, so that's probably the only thing to look out for.


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

Do the neons all stay together or do they split apart?


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

Betta man said:


> Do the neons all stay together or do they split apart?


They all school together. Is that not normal? I kept Neons when I was a child and they always schooled together.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

Well, the 2 CAEs died over the weekend and I am at a loss as to why. All 7 of my Neons are doing just fine though. I think I am going to keep a close eye on the algae and just check scrape it off every few days.


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## CallieDaNerd (Jun 8, 2011)

I've had issues with CAEs in the past, they never seemed really a good idea for a tank of that size. Why not go with a couple of snails?? You can get some really pretty ones!


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

CallieDaNerd said:


> I've had issues with CAEs in the past, they never seemed really a good idea for a tank of that size. Why not go with a couple of snails?? You can get some really pretty ones!


Yeah, I'll just keep looking for some.


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## Chaos553 (Apr 2, 2007)

Or if you can't find them, just use the "gift card trick" that everyone seems to use with algae on the side of your tank, except snails would benefit the whole tank rather than just the sides.


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

When I was young, I had neons and they always died. We had a 20 with a heater a filter... They swam apart though...


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## humdedum (Feb 18, 2009)

Betta man said:


> When I was young, I had neons and they always died. We had a 20 with a heater a filter... They swam apart though...


Doesn't your state have hard water? They probably school tighter when they feel threatened. When relaxed, they might spread out a bit more.


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

humdedum said:


> Doesn't your state have hard water? They probably school tighter when they feel threatened. When relaxed, they might spread out a bit more.


 When I went and got my water tested, it was soft...


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## Fishy Freak (Jun 1, 2011)

Betta man said:


> When I was young, I had neons and they always died. We had a 20 with a heater a filter... They swam apart though...


Hard water would have been my guess too, the water where I used to live was so hard neons would die in it all the time, I'm so happy i moved and now have a happy tank with neons I love them so!!


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

My neons ALWAYS died. We had a filter and heater, but they died... I want to do neons and corys in my 2 gal now...


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