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Anonymous
i came across a tom deco 2gal nano tank at the store today for $35 (half off). the tom's kits look cool, but i'm not sure it'll work. i want a freshwater tropical tank that can hold a couple tetras and temporarily house any of the larger fish from my ten gallon tank.

does anyone have experience with them or any other nano tank? my main concerns are temperature and high currents. i read somewhere that the filter will increase the temperature by a few degrees, but i don't know if that'll be warm enough. any ideas?
>> Anonymous
It won't work. Or, I wouldn't recommend it...

35 bucks for 2gal system seems a bit steep when you can find those 5gal acrylic setups for 10 bucks more.

2gal is far too small to keep tetras in. They're schooling fish and you want to buy them in groups of at least 4-6 so they can be happy. If you want to use it as some sort of hospital/isolation tank for any smaller fish you already own. Go for it.

The temperature issue? I have a 2.5 gal tank with a betta... without the heater and with the internal filter and 10watt fluorescent bulb, the temp doesn't really get over 75F. In the winter, it'll hover at 72-73.
>> Anonymous
>>320848
i'd actually prefer to have a small tank for a variety of reasons. the tom's kits look the best to me, but they seem designed to house living rock. that leads me to believe that it'd maintain a tropical temperature, but i don't see how.

what's your 2.5 setup like? i can get a 2.5 glass tank for 12 bucks, but it lacks the light, filter, and good looks of the kit. two things i can't have are low temperatures and air pumps, so i'm just looking for the cheapest, best looking, smallest housing for a tropical environment.
>> Anonymous
>>320875
those are nice little tanks, the lights are what makes them though 18W PC FTW. At my store we have a 3g nano reef with one. It would be a waste to not grow some little plants in there. It should be just fine for an oto cat and either a few neon/cardinal tetras or a couple guppies, Or look into the different kinds of micro rasboras, blue axelrodis and galaxys are nice and Boraras maculata are pretty common too, you could have 10 of them in that tank.

I wouldn't put anything larger than that in there.

Alternatively look in your local craigslist and newspaper classifieds, somebody everywhere is selling a whole tank set up for dirt ass cheap
>> Anonymous
>>320888
what would you recommend for environment, since you seem to be a pro? i'm thinking fine gravel, a single rock or some wood in the middle, and then all live plants. the problem is that i don't know anything about plants. what are small, easy plants that i should look into?

i think four cardinal tetras would be fine in there. if not, i'll move them to the 10gal. i've never had any rasboras, but some of those look like a fantastic idea. at the moment i have a pair of bettas, rainbow shark, and yoyo loach, all of whom live in the 10gal and would only be temporary inhabitants of the new tank in emergencies.
>> Anonymous
>>320894
your female betta could probably go in for a little while if it was already stocked more toward the light end of the spectrum. That is probably the only emergency waiting to happen, your male could go on a rampage if he is ready to fuck and your female is not. Your shark will eventually get too big to be cool in a 10g, sure he will probably live, but an elephant in a closet still looks fucked up.

I would get a little bit of java moss to grow on your wood, can't kill it, and some dwarf sagitarius to plant in the front, and a few cryptocorn wenditti to go in the back, all easy, most LFS should have them, the have no maintaince and will grow very easily in that tank with the nice CP light.

Be warned, make sure your store has some of the filter pads for the filter in stock, they are kinda specialty and dificult to find, also when that light bulb burns out I think you have to replace the ENTIRE light fixture, make sure they can get those and are not crazy fucking expensive. Lets assume you don't have to change the entire fixture, then make sure they can get the 9w or 18w PC bulb that goes in that size tank (forget which one in particular, I could google it but I'm lazy, sorry) otherwise you are paying $35 for a disposable tank.
>> Anonymous
>>320903
my tank obviously requires a lot of observation, but it's been ok so far. i'm not sure why, but the shark just isn't growing. he's clearly not full sized, but he hasn't grown a bit since i got him. the betta situation is pretty complex. suffice it to say that they're both still alive and sharing the tank, though there's been no breeding attempt that i've seen.

thanks for the plant suggestions. i'd like to try dwarf hairgrass since the tank is so small, but a little java moss on the exposed wood and a single cryptocoryne or sagitarius might make a good centerpiece.

i think i'll try it. fifty bucks should buy everything i need and at the very worst it'll make a quarantine tank. i'm still worried about the temperature fluxuation and high current, but i'll just have to watch closely and stock accordingly.