For people who can't afford, or don't have room for, a large aquarium, very small aquariums can look quite appealing. Who wouldn't love the look of a one-gallon desktop aquarium brimming with active, happy, healthy fish? Owing to misadvertisements from the manufacturers, often showing an unrealistic number of fish in these tiny tanks, many new fishkeepers believe that they can keep an entire school of fish in a one-gallon aquarium.
Unfortunately, the options for stocking a one-gallon aquarium are limited at best and nonexistant at worst. There are only three truly viable options for stocking a one-gallon aquarium that will survive and thrive for more than a few months.
A Single Male Betta
It is not recommended that bettas be kept in tanks smaller than three to five gallons, but they can still live in very small tanks. The reason that bettas are so popular in very small tanks is that they are equipped with a lung-like gill adaptation, called a labyrinth organ, that enables them to breathe air. This helps them to survive in very poor and polluted water.
However, surviving is not the same thing as thriving. While a betta can indeed thrive in a one-gallon tank, it requires careful maintenance, including the introduction of a filter, live plants, and-- unless your home's temperature never drops below the mid-seventies-- a heater. With very frequent water changes, sparse feedings, and a properly maintained aquatic ecosystem, the betta is one of the few species of fish fully capable of remaining healthy in a one-gallon tank.
Ghost Shrimp
A one-gallon aquarium stocked with a few ghost shrimp will actually look wonderful on a desktop or small stand. The addition of ghost shrimp to a small aquarium is delightful, and the antics of these peculiar creatures are fun to watch. A balanced ecosystem with live plants two or three ghost shrimp can thrive indefinitely.
Unfortunately, the options for stocking a one-gallon aquarium are limited at best and nonexistant at worst. There are only three truly viable options for stocking a one-gallon aquarium that will survive and thrive for more than a few months.
A Single Male Betta
It is not recommended that bettas be kept in tanks smaller than three to five gallons, but they can still live in very small tanks. The reason that bettas are so popular in very small tanks is that they are equipped with a lung-like gill adaptation, called a labyrinth organ, that enables them to breathe air. This helps them to survive in very poor and polluted water.
However, surviving is not the same thing as thriving. While a betta can indeed thrive in a one-gallon tank, it requires careful maintenance, including the introduction of a filter, live plants, and-- unless your home's temperature never drops below the mid-seventies-- a heater. With very frequent water changes, sparse feedings, and a properly maintained aquatic ecosystem, the betta is one of the few species of fish fully capable of remaining healthy in a one-gallon tank.
Ghost Shrimp
A one-gallon aquarium stocked with a few ghost shrimp will actually look wonderful on a desktop or small stand. The addition of ghost shrimp to a small aquarium is delightful, and the antics of these peculiar creatures are fun to watch. A balanced ecosystem with live plants two or three ghost shrimp can thrive indefinitely.
Comments
This really piqued my interest. I'd love to have an aquarium. :-)
Interesting article and comments too!
Magragdoll
(Guest)
(Guest)
02/03/2009
your information sprinkled with some interesting facts nicely done. You article would be so nice with an accommodating photo of your descriptions. My imagination is going wild~ Thanks
Small Animals or Reptiles
(Guest)
(Guest)
02/03/2009
Small fish tanks have lots of uses. I have raised baby birds and rehabilitated injured birds in small aquariums. Spiders, baby reptiles and snakes like it when you fixed them up a cute little home with lots of hiding places. My daughter has five fish tanks for all the frogs, turtles and lizards she finds outside. This gives her something to do in the spring through the fall. She has fun and gets educated also.I use little fish tanks to start out my vegies and other flowers. They can be great starter beds for bait if you like to fish. Worms, mealworms and crickets are fun to try to get to reproduce.
There's something fishy in a good way about this article.
There's something fishy in a good way about this article.
Good tips. Congratulations on being featured on the front page of AC! Happy Valentine's Day!
Even with a filter, regular partial water changes are required to maintain water purity and keep your fish healthy and happy.
Priscilla: I've bred bettas before, and I have occcasionally kept them in pint jars for short periods of time while they were being transited. But it's like keeping a dog in a crate while you move them to the other end of town: it's a carrier, not a home.
There was a depressing little store on the edge of Silver Spring that used to keep bettas in pint jars, supposedly to keep them from fighting...but I would have thought those fish looked sickly enough to make people want to put them in decent tanks. One inch of fish to one gallon of water I always heard. Even those who don't believe fish think or feel have to know that overcrowding them is wasteful.
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