Office tank fish ideas??

So I'm going to ask if I can have a tank at work. Never worked somewhere I could have one before. I'm thinking a 5 or 10 gallon. I have both empty and ready to be filled. Picture shows where the tank would go. It measures 14 deep and 27 wide comfortably with no hang over. Which size of tank should I put in and what to put in it?? I was considering trying another planted tank with maybe a betta. But I'm open for all options sans salt water or brackish. Give some input, would love some ideas! Keep in mind I work monday-friday so these would be the days maintenance and feedings would occur.



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That is a modern looking piece of furniture so I think a Fluval Spec V would look good on it.
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Oh that is pretty nice. Maybe sell a couple of empty ones I have and get that.

 - on the SPEC V. Compact , all 1 unit. Looks easy to pack up and move quickly if needed. And looks real nice!

  - What about Strawberry Beta?

Ouch 80 on sale for it. Cheapest I can find. I have 2 empty 5's and an empty 10 I could use.

Eheim makes some nice nano tanks...ranging in size from small like 4G to 9G which is what I have.  I love my tank.

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i know its kind of a crummy pic (narrow hallway) but that tank is something i really loved, its an acrylic 6.6 bookshelf kit from petco. ordered an LED clip on light and toss bamboo sand and some swords along with a betta. highly reccomend it, never had issues with jumping, had a pair live their lives in there and breed together.

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Oh I'm going to petco today, maybe I'll look around at what they have. I like both of those tanks. Anyone have ideas what else I could put in with a betta? Shrimp? Any smaller fish? Neons maybe? I know that depends on the tank size. I don't over stock tanks. I have a 75 gallon it has 5 angels and 10 tetras and one zebra obliquiden lol. The obliquiden has a very deformed mouth, essentially born with no upper lip and the bottom lip grew up and over compensated. I took it in so it could live. She gets along pretty well in the tank. I'm sure I could add a lot more fish to the tank. But it seems happy as is so I leave it alone.

I wouldn't suggest putting a betta in the Fluval Spec V, the flow from the pump tossed my betta around like a rag doll. The neon tetras seem to enjoy the high flow.

Oh good to know! Thank you!

MorganEA wrote:I wouldn't suggest putting a betta in the Fluval Spec V, the flow from the pump tossed my betta around like a rag doll. The neon tetras seem to enjoy the high flow.

+1

So far I think keeping a current tank is a better option. No need to spend money on a tank when I can spend it on fish and plants. So now on to fish ideas??

I have a betta with five neons and a clown pleco in my planted ten gallon and they all get along well.

I'm definitely wanting a betta and to make it planted. I was also looking into some danio's. I like bright colors. Maybe a blue or tuquoise betta and celestial danio or maybe galaxy rasbora's?

Celestial pearl danios (= galaxy rasboras) might be too shy for what you want. They need a dark substrate to color up from plain boring brown. But then they blend in against the substrate! Mine always en up hiding in the plants near the substrate. They are beautiful... when you see them If you want a lot of color, a better option may be ember tetras. They have lots of red when healthy and swim towards the top of the tank.

I have two planted 5 gal tanks going on with bettas and dwarf rasboras (1 betta and 10 urophthalmoides, 1 betta and 8 boraras maculatus). I found this works best when the betta is regularly fed, so that it isn't hungry/angry enough to chase after the tank mates. If the betta starts killing fish over the weekend when it isn't paid attention to, you could go to a more peaceful anabantoid. Sparkling gouramis would do ok in a 5 gal with regular water changes. Make sure you avoid croaking gouramis as they will make a noise that may bug people at work! The plus of these gouramis is that you could keep a few of them in the same tank!

I plan on having black sand on top of the dirt for the plants. I'll definitely look into those other fish though. I've never heard of croaking gouramis! Lol but unless they are loud I have an office to myself.

They aren't loud, just a tiny little rattle that reminds you they are there. If you're not sharing your office, I'd totally recommend getting them in a 10gal tank!

I had gourami's before in my community tank. But they seemed to be too big for 10g? They were dwarfs. Are the sparkling gourami's different?

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Haha we've already talked. I really want a betta though and the filters are too strong on this one. That's a steal of a deal though!

The Eheim corner filter that comes with the Eheim tanks will not bother a betta. But a cheaper setup or let's say more cost effective would be a 10G tank with an HOB and a pop bottle cover...that's what I use for my tanks that I want low flow in. I still use the AquaClear filters but put the pop bottle cover on so the outflow is diverted and the flow is lessened. All my guys seem happy with this arrangement.

The problem I've had with betta and other fish is my betta wanted to eat the other fishes food (flake) and that's not good for them. Even if I feed him he still wanted to snack. That was a problem as flake and bettas don't mix. As well as choosing fish that go together you need to chose fish that eat the same. That's important too.

cichlid-gal wrote:The problem I've had with betta and other fish is my betta wanted to eat the other fishes food (flake) and that's not good for them.  Even if I feed him he still wanted to snack.  That was a problem as flake and bettas don't mix.  As well as choosing fish that go together you need to chose fish that eat the same.  That's important too.

Donna, have you tried any other non-flake food? I've been having luck with hikari fancy guppy pellets. Even the dwarf rasboras take to them, and the bettas seem to be doing ok on it (complemented with frozen food every few days). I wonder what shortKG will have to do for food considering this will be at work, assuming frozen foods are a no-go.

ShortyKiloGyrl wrote:I had gourami's before in my community tank. But they seemed to be too big for 10g? They were dwarfs. Are the sparkling gourami's different?

Dwarf gouramis (Trichogaster lalius) grow to over 3", and i agree a 10gal would be too small for them. Sparkling gouramis (Trichopsis pumila) grow to 1.5" and are the real dwarves. These guys should be happy in a 10gal. Croaking gouramis (Trichopsis vittata) are a bit larger than sparkling, reaching a max of 3", though I've run into conflicting info online about their size (some books had smaller sizes). They are much more slender than dwarf gouramis though, so the mileage may vary on them.

The winning factor that got me into sparklings (T. pumila) is that they have the look and swimming pattern of a small betta, but you can keep a big community of them. That, and they literally sparkle like twilight vampires.

Frozen foods would work fine. We have a fridge with a little ice box inside (old style) but I would prefer to stick why dry foods as pellets or flakes. I buy a lot of my food from ken's and maybe they have a good food I could look in to. I will definetly look into the sparkling gourami's. Not for their twilight sparkly-ness though, I'm more of a Team Jacob kind of girl haha!

Shorty... Wife wanted me to offer you her Fluval for free to you. If you can come pick it up its yours. She never ran the filter or placed a small branch in front of the stream to dull it down. If you want it, its yours for the cost of coming to get it.

Wholey crap, that would be amazing. But that is over 2 hours from me

Yeah... I didnt know if you ever came up this way but wanted to throw out the offer.

Shorty, if you want something "bigger" and fun to watch in the shrimp category, I heartily recommend picking up either a Bamboo or African Filter shrimp. The Africans especially seem to not need a ton of space. We have a pair, and they basically claimed a piece of driftwood as theirs and barely move from it.

Hmm also something to consider. I was definitely going to go planted with organic miracle grow and black sand substrate. I have a smaller piece of drift wood I need to boil the crap out of because it kept getting white fungus so I gave up and took it out of another tank. But never boiled it again. Its been out for well over 2 years but I still have it. I was thinking a betta or possibly sparkling gourami, a couple shrimp, and depending on if I get a betta or the gourami another small fish. I'm definitely getting ideas now!

i never liked bettas that much, so if it was my tank, i would definitely go with a school of micro raspbora or tetras. i guess i feel like bettas are always depressed; whenever i see them they aren't swimming around or looking for food, they just sit there like a lump. i guess that's just their nature and temperament, but they seem boring. if you like shrimp, maybe just get a colony of one species going, that could be interesting for the office. if you get a betta, try one of the zoomed 'beta exercise mirror,' cory at aquarium co-op demonstrated it for me and it's a hoot.

also keep in mind-if you haven't done dirt before-even with a cap of gravel, you will be stirring up lots of dirt into the water every time you move a plant which has rooted. i actually haven't done dirt, and this is the main reason. especially for a smaller tank, i would recommend root tabs or something else less messy, like flourite.

just please don't do what my previous manager did with her office fish tank... 2.5 gallon tank, water half empty, 4 inch goldfish looking like a prisoner serving life without parole. it was depressing, but she got fired and someone else took the tank home, so at least i don't have to see it now

Oh no! That's horrible for a goldfish! I have 4 tanks right now and had 7 before I moved. Had fish all my life. I don't like the betta in a 1 gallon bowl thing either 5 gallon is the least I will keep on in. I had one in my 30 galon community for a few years. It grew a tumor and ended up dying. I currently have a dirted with sand substrate puffer brackish tank. I don't tend to move plants around a bunch. If I do, I'll remove fish and everything and start over with dirt and substrate to move plants. My current tanks are 10, 20, 30, and 75. If my boyfriend wouldn't strangle me I would have more. But he is talking about building some into the walls for me. That'd make me a happy girl!!

LuminousAphid wrote:i never liked bettas that much, so if it was my tank, i would definitely go with a school of micro raspbora or tetras. i guess i feel like bettas are always depressed; whenever i see them they aren't swimming around or looking for food, they just sit there like a lump. i guess that's just their nature and temperament, but they seem boring. if you like shrimp, maybe just get a colony of one species going, that could be interesting for the office. if you get a betta, try one of the zoomed 'beta exercise mirror,' cory at aquarium co-op demonstrated it for me and it's a hoot.

also keep in mind-if you haven't done dirt before-even with a cap of gravel, you will be stirring up lots of dirt into the water every time you move a plant which has rooted. i actually haven't done dirt, and this is the main reason. especially for a smaller tank, i would recommend root tabs or something else less messy, like flourite.

just please don't do what my previous manager did with her office fish tank... 2.5 gallon tank, water half empty, 4 inch goldfish looking like a prisoner serving life without parole. it was depressing, but she got fired and someone else took the tank home, so at least i don't have to see it now

ShortyKiloGyrl wrote:Oh no! That's horrible for a goldfish! I have 4 tanks right now and had 7 before I moved. Had fish all my life. I don't like the betta in a 1 gallon bowl thing either 5 gallon is the least I will keep on in. I had one in my 30 galon community for a few years. It grew a tumor and ended up dying. :(I currently have a dirted with sand substrate puffer brackish tank. I don't tend to move plants around a bunch. If I do, I'll remove fish and everything and start over with dirt and substrate to move plants. My current tanks are 10, 20, 30, and 75. If my boyfriend wouldn't strangle me I would have more. But he is talking about building some into the walls for me. That'd make me a happy girl!!

Personally i think even a 1galon is much better then the 1-3cup containers alot of betta keepers have them in. Also you can be creative. We took some 2" clear tubing and made "hallways" from 1gal to 1gal tanks. So if the betta's wanted they could go visit another fish bowl(usually had 2-4 females and 1 male. SOmething like this...

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My betta seems super happy in the 10 gallon. Always moving around, occasional flaring and every now and then a half-hearted chase with a neon. After watching our little guy "Wilson the 2nd, Esquire", I don't think I would keep one in a bowl.

Not to continue derailing the thread but happiest betta I ever had was "sprinkles" he lived with my guppies. He was always darting around inspecting the guppies and checking to see if he could fit the occasional fry in his mouth

Mine was happy flaring around with the angel and dwarf gourami's that were in the 30 gallon with it. I feel so bad with them in those little cups That tube idea is pretty awesome though.

Officially approved for a 5 gallon. Kind of excited. Now I'm really on the hunt for fish!

Would these work in a 5 gallon planted??
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I have not kept them, but I would think that would be ok, from the little I know about them... I seem to remember that they may be territorial after spawning though, so you might have problems with fighting in a smaller tank if it's heavily stocked. They are really nice looking in person though, very colorful, but the ones i saw were tiny

Size-wise hey may work on a 5gal, though I've seen 10 gallons recommended for them because of aggression. On the plus side, they like temperate water, so if your office is on HVAC all day long, and the temperature doesn't drop below 68, you shouldn't have to heat the tank either. I would try it out myself with a heavily planted tank and a backup plan in case they don't get aggressive.

Ironically I work for an HVAC business. But heat is turned down on the weekends when we leave, but isn't off. I would rather keep a heater going so temps didn't vary too much.

Decesions decesions.