# Beginner planted 2.5 gallon?



## VincentK (Oct 6, 2009)

Well I decided to scrap my plans of making a 2.5 gallon cory tank as I discovered that I could not house cories in a tank that small, maybe when my 20 gallon becomes available. What I need advice on is making my 2.5 gallon a planted tank with no fish yet, maybe shrimp. What type of substrate should I use? Preferably one that is sold in most pet stores (PetSmart/PetCo). What types of plants should I get? Also preferably ones i can get in the pet stores, also, do they sell that stuff that looks like grass on the bottom of the tank? Once I put my substrate in and cycle it and then put my plants in, do I need to feed them or put some type of fertilizer in on a weekly basis? And I want to just add a couple shrimp into it, the kind with the fans on their claws (not sure what they're called) and what do I feed shrimp, because the only sinking pellets I have are shrimp pellets! (Cannibalism isn't good). This is the first time I even thought about making a planted tank, so please bear with me, thanks


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## StripesAndFins (Dec 31, 2008)

i would do java moss and a bunch of cherry shrimp. that would be a cool tank. good luck


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## VincentK (Oct 6, 2009)

where does one buy java moss? petco or petsmart sells them? and what substrate do i use?


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## <3~Pleco~<3 (Jan 31, 2009)

You can get java moss at pretty much any pet store.
You can hook it on to rocks and driftwood.


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## VincentK (Oct 6, 2009)

Can I put it on the bottom? Like to gravel or something?


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## StripesAndFins (Dec 31, 2008)

you could put some gravel in and then some driftwood/rocks with the java mossed tyed to it. or you could try and plant, don't know who that'd work. good luck


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## SouthernBelle23 (Mar 24, 2009)

You could just put it on the gravel. If it doesn't stay on the bottom, put a rock or 2 over it..it will eventually cover the rock.

And Petco or Petsmart should sell java moss.


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

Neither Petco or Petsmart sell the java moss in my area. They both sell plants though. 

As for the shrimp, I would suggest either cherry red shrimp (sometimes abbreviated RCS), or crystal red shrimp (sometimes abbreviated CRS). Both shrimp are about the same size. You will be able to keep a lot of them, even in a small aquarium. I keep 50 CRS in a 10 gallon tank, and there is more than enough room. 

Shrimps are herbivore scavengers. Feed them algae tablets, but break them into smaller pieces. My 50 shrimp get about 1/3 of a tablet each day. Having lots of plants is good for them too. If you get something like java moss, they will easily reproduce in it. 

A soft sand is good substrate for them. I use pool filter sand for mine. 

Shrimp also like cooler water (around 70F) and a slightly acidic to neutral pH (6.0 - 7.2).
Putting a piece of driftwood in the tank will help with pH.


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## VincentK (Oct 6, 2009)

So can I use gravel as substrate with most plants?


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## VincentK (Oct 6, 2009)

Oh, sand alright, sounds like i will use that, but i dont know where to get driftwood or what type of filter to use, since i dont want to suck up any sand or anything, but i know the fan shrimp need some kind of a current


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

You can find driftwood at almost any river. If you don't have a river nearby, then go to the pet store. Many stores sell driftwood. If you get river driftwood, make sure to clean it VERY well. I would boil it in water for a while. Boiling it will also make the wood sink, so you don't have to tie it down.

The shrimp will not be able to be housed with any sort of power filter. You will want a small sponge filter. You can bury the sponge in the sand, and it will just look like a tube coming out of the sand.


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## VincentK (Oct 6, 2009)

so i would put the sponge in the sand and it will be sucking in from the sponge? wouldnt that pull in sand also? and what kind of sponge filter, i dont understand, please elaborate. ;-)


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

Here is what a sponge filter looks like:








It is a triangular sponge with a plastic tube coming out of the top. You connect an air pump to it. The air goes in the tube and moves upwards, causing a vacuum behind it and pulling the water upwards as well. Since the only place to take water from is the sponge, the water moves through the sponge and up the tube. The sponge is cleaned when you change the water. 

Also, the holes in the sponge are too small for the sand to get through, and the sand will just act as another form of filter media, so its good to put them under the sand.


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## VincentK (Oct 6, 2009)

The type of shrimp i want to get need a current, as they are fan shrimp, so that kind of filter will not work (light current as a 2.5 gallon is small)


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## VincentK (Oct 6, 2009)

and uh, what do the plants need to survive? (like food and stuff)


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## VincentK (Oct 6, 2009)

well, i went out and got a few plants and fish, not shrimp  the shrimp i was looking at were actually bamboo shrimp and cost a fortune (6.99 each), i decided to go to my local pet supplies plus, and picked up a banana plant, and two amazon sword plants. I also got 2 small fish that i'm not sure what they are, they're the kind that stick to walls with their mouths and they're about an inch long but skinny, and im pretty sure theyre not cories. i think theyre a type of catfish, at the store they were in all the tanks and im not sure what type they were, they might have been upside down catfish, but they werent upside down (but there weren't any other catfish-like fish in there (the upside down catfish were marked as 5.99 but i wasnt sure so i asked how much they cost, so the guy just said 1.99 each) the banana plant is kind of just floating there and i tried to plant the amazon swords as best i could but a few roots are still sticking up. (btw i used gravel as substrate)


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## VincentK (Oct 6, 2009)

This is one of the two fish i got, any idea what it is? I put in a couple sinking shrimp pellets, but is that what it eats? or does it eat those algae wafers?


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

That is an oto cat. It will eat the algae off the walls. It will probably not eat the shrimp pellets. These guys just stick to walls and plants. They will not get much bigger than they are.

A warning though, don't just buy small fish at the store without knowing what they are. All large fish start off as little baby fish. For example, you can buy feeder goldfish and put them in a 2.5 gallon tank when you buy them, but in a few weeks you will have fish that are too big for your little aquarium.

And plants need light to survive. Most plants will use the waste the fish give off as food. Plants also need Carbon Dioxide, but a CO2 diffuser would be too strong for your tank, and would end up making it really acidic.


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## VincentK (Oct 6, 2009)

Yeah, I normally wouldn't just go on an impulse buy, but this would be the last time i would be able to get to a petstore for a few weeks, so should i just give them algae wafers and take the pellets out? because no algae has started to grow yet on the side of my tank.


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

That would probably be good. And fortunately for you, you bought a fish that will fit your aquarium.


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## VincentK (Oct 6, 2009)

Yeah, and the even luckier thing is, i probably saved 10 dollars because they listed it as 7 each but they guy didnt know and i got em 2 each (i got 2), oh yeah, i also have a fluorescent light (i think) it exactly like the ones they sell, with two little light bulb bars), how much algae wafer should i give the 2? half a wafer? theyre hikari or something japanese


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## VincentK (Oct 6, 2009)

Here's my tank after i put everything in you can see the two amazon swords up front, and the banana plant is in the back


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## VincentK (Oct 6, 2009)

Well, one of the fish has died when i came home today, i got them two days ago saturday, and it died today monday, the other one is doing fine and i want to wait and see if its just the fish or its the water before i get more, if the other does not die, should i get 1 or 2 more oto cats? (I know they like to be kept in groups of 3+) or get some other small fish like neon tetras or something?


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## StripesAndFins (Dec 31, 2008)

i think neons are too active for this size tank. you could maybe get a betta?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Do you have any kind of filter?


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## Plecostomus (Jul 31, 2006)

There might not be enough algea in such a tank to sustain otos. You could get some white cloud minnows for your tank, or other types of shrimp. I think your tank would look better if you bought a small decorative arch.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

ottos are great and they stay small, but I wouldn't put them in an uncycled/new tank as they are sensitive to water quality


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## VincentK (Oct 6, 2009)

I have a filter, its a submersible and i put it under my gravel, i put some algae wafer in there, i had cycled the tank for about 1 and a half weeks before putting the plants and fish in, i can't put a better because the flow of the filter is too strong for it, it's pointed upwards, so it may not be, if you look in picture you can see the filter on the right side of my tank


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## Mew_chan (Jan 28, 2009)

Your tank is probably not cycled... it can take months to fully cycle a tank properly.

I would recommend buying some sort of cycle booster like Stresszyme (I use stress zyme and I swear my tanks are cycled within 2 weeks) or stability or cycle. Some people say these products don't work but I have used these when cycling 3 tanks and they were all done in 2 weeks or less... I used it in my first tank where I made a similar mistake and fully stocked my tank in one go and I think it saved my fish because I lost none.

I would say to wait leave the otto cat in there on its own and DO NOT get any more fish for a while... you might want to get some test kits for ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite.

You should really read this post insted of asking more.. ahem questions because they have pretty much all been answered here:
important-read-before-posting-if-your-fish-dying-your-new-tank


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