# fish(or things) for a 2.5 gallon (Cichlid Man's thread of the week)



## Pac-Man

what do you think i could put in my spare 2.5??? i know the choices are endless( :roll: ) but I was thinking maybe a lone apple snail or something. anybody got any other suggestions???


----------



## firetrie

you could put an old boot or small toy tire in it. 



Ok for real tho

have you considered an anphib (newt,frog,fiddler crab) you know something close to the water but still a little land friendly....


----------



## Pac-Man

*Re: fish(or things) for a 2.5 gallon*

hmm..i considered an adf but a newt??? isnt that a bit small for the newt??? and the fiddler crab fit in there???


----------



## laura

YOu could maybe go for a planted tank and a betta it owuld look prety and be easy to have a planted. my apple snail doesnt eat my plants so thats a possibilty


----------



## Lexus

*Re: fish(or things) for a 2.5 gallon*

my vote is a betta


----------



## micbailey

What plants are good with a betta?


----------



## buddah101

Cynops Orientalis, Caudat (Japanese fire~bellied newt) would be fine in there for about a year. maybe even a pair as long as you upgrade in the future. How about some of those flagtail rummy~nose tetras or fancy guppies? They would look nice. You could do an atrarium with plants, moss and stuff like that and have a small pool in there for something like a tree frog or newt. HTH


----------



## Pac-Man

*Re: fish(or things) for a 2.5 gallon*

no betta. would a tree frog really fit in a 2.5???


----------



## firetrie

I have Three one gallon tanks that I keep my crabs and frogs in. I thought about a newt but I really would rather stick with what I got. Two ones with a pair of crabs each and two frogs in the other one.

So I think a 2.5 would be ok....


----------



## osteoporoosi

*Re: fish(or things) for a 2.5 gallon*

Colourful apple snails and cherry shrimps.


----------



## Guppy123

What about a couple neons and a couple ghost shrimps?


----------



## John

Pac-Man said:


> would a tree frog really fit in a 2.5???


It depends what species, but I would think that most tree frogs prefer arboreal tanks.


----------



## Hamm35924

if you get a tree frog, be warned, you better be ready for a long commitment, they live for a bout ten years, and you will have to ffed them crickets and stuff.


----------



## fish_doc

You could always try Shrimp.


----------



## Cichlid Man

*Fish keeping*

Here's the deal. No matter what type of fish, crab, lobster, toad, whatever. No matter what it is, it will live in a small tank, but it won't thrive. I've kept so many fish over the years and found that it's just not worth, for me, to keep anything in a small tank. I've got the space, even a small space in the corner, why not have a couple of 20g tanks or even better a one 55g tank so you can put in real comitment to what ever you're keeping. You can make it look nicer, aquascape it better by having more peices of bogwood, more java ferns, more peices of lavea rock, in the extreme even having two types of substrate in the same tank, gravel for the the bacteria in the undergravel filter and sand for the geophagous earth-eaters to forage in at feeding time and to lay their eggs, and it was a success and I maintained it for many years.
I had a tank full of bog wood, and put a dozon of woodcatfish in there, and even though I hardly ever saw them, it made me feel as if that was what fish keeping was all about, actually having fish and knowing that they are thriving and after a year or so, I actually had some eggs from them. Now thats something to be proud of.
Now I'm not saying that you need to go out their and spend hundreds of $'s on a luxtury 150g tank with an antique pine hood and cabinet packed with the latest penguin turbo external tripple power filteration and fish to match. A 2.5g tank is fine, go and buy one if you want, but for me and I'm sure for many other fish keepers it's just not worth it when you can look in the local paper and purchase a 55g gallon tank with all equipment for 40 bucks and do exactly what you want with it, and keep virtually what ever you like.
Go ahead and keep fish in a 2g tank but all I'm saying is that for yours and the fishes, salamanders, anocondas, iguanas whatevers benifit that you may as well go that lil' bit further and buy a setup that you know you can maintain easier for your fishes needs and overall get more enjoyment out of it by being a successful fish keeper.


----------



## Larry-T

A lot of small to medium size killifish will thrive and breed in a 2.5 gal tank. I have a number of pairs breeding in such tanks and they interact, glide in and out of the spawning mop, and provide regular eggs.


----------



## Cichlid Man

Great.  It's good to know that people can breed fish in extreme conditions.


----------



## TheOldSalt

Killies breed under extreme conditions all the time; it's just their way.
Some other teeny tiny fish from still waters might work, like Pygmy Sunfish ( Elassoma sp. ) or Pygmy killies ( Leptolucania ommata ), but good luck finding any. Actually, I know just the place, but they're overpriced.


----------



## blixem

Hence why a lot of killies only live a year or so before croaking, they are built for conditions like that. 

In a 2.5 gal tank I would put a single betta, and a snail... with plants. Killies if you know what you are doing with them. Other than that, a 2.5gal tank is just a place to keep plants imho.


----------



## judya

How about a quarantine tank/hospital tank - have it in reserve with a sponge filter and heater just in case...


----------



## euRasian32

sheesh, i know this one... a red tailed cat!

seriously tho, are we talking a basic rectangle or a hex?
a small piece of driftwood with moss and a fern
a DIY wetdry for a 10-20 gallon
a betta
a grasshopper
2 tadpoles


----------



## batray girl

My vote goes to the shrimp. I'd get a pair of bamboos (my personal fav.) and maybe a little albino cory.


----------



## Lexus

batray girl said:


> My vote goes to the shrimp. I'd get a pair of bamboos (my personal fav.) and maybe a little albino cory.


 Corydoras need a school of 6 or more but usually 3 works too.


----------



## batray girl

that's wierd. i've never heard that before. i've always just kept one. my brother has one in his tank that's getting pretty old. but i think i'll probably pick up 2 or 3 more to toss in for him. thanks for that tid bit, you might've just made an old fish a happy one


----------



## Larry-T

Actually, the killies that only live for a year are those adapted to living in temporary waters. Those who live in permanent conditions usually live as long as most fish in their size range. I had a pair of Epiplatys chaperi in a 2.5 for about three years before I sold them.


----------



## neon7

This is also something that can be done in a 2.5


----------



## Lydia

MalawianPro ought to like that, lol. I think TheOldSalt will hate you, though.


What about 1 dwarf puffer in your 2.5 gallon?


----------



## goldyfish

I say a...
arowana
OR
African Dwarf Frog





Just kidding about Arowana


----------



## fishboy

what about a Axolotls <if you can find 1


----------



## Lydia

how about an arrowana AND an African Dwarf Frog?



jk :lol:


----------



## Pac-Man

Im very surprised. And there are two reasons why.

1. I would never think that one of *MY *threads would get thread of the week! I usually never get picked for stuff like this! 

2. This thread is old....months old. I have no idea how you got to it....Did you guys just literally dig through the general thread archives and pull this one out? What page was it on? 165?

I'll give you guys an update on what my 2.5 is doing right now. Its sitting on a desk for use as a quarantine tank, in case my beta gets ill. Very exciting ending isn't it?


----------



## Lydia

It was brought back by Guppy123. I guess we need to start paying attention to the date the threads were posted. This has been happening alot lately, where someone looks back months ago and finds a thread and brings it back up with a reply, even though the problem is already solved. We should just make sure the date is current before we reply I guess (unless the person that posted it brought it back up). JMO


----------

