How to Keep a Small Aquarium Without Being Cruel to Fish
In a past life, I worked at a pet store, and one of the most heartbreaking things I saw every day was people who came in tow with a small child and asked for a goldfish to be put in a bowl. Goldfish are large, dirty fish and grow to 8-12 inches in length . Depending on how convincing I was, these people went home with either a sad child or a sad fish.
In fact, aquariums and tiny aquariums are not suitable for any of the fish. Stores sell them because people buy them, and people buy them because they want something to have on their table and look cute. But if you want to preserve your fish, you must learn what it really needs and build an aquarium that takes care of those needs.
Make at least five gallons
There are fish that can live well in a small aquarium. A little! But some, like cockerels, can do well here. The catch is that we’re not talking about a vase or a stone jug; Fish farming experts agree that the minimum size for proper grooming is about five gallons of an aquarium.
This size gives you plenty of room for many living or silk plants (plastic plants tear fins) and other gadgets that give the fish plenty of cover. You will also need a heater to keep the aquarium at a suitable temperature (room temperature is too low for males) and either a filter or a strict water change schedule. Here are the instructions for caring for cockerels .
If you want more than one fish, a five gallon tank can be a suitable home for several guppies. Here is a list of easy-to-care beginner species from r / Aquarium , including tetras, small catfish, shrimp and snails. However, not all of them will be happy in five gallons, especially those who need to live in groups. If you want more than one type of fish, you should probably just go ahead and get a 20 gallon tank that’s still “small” in the aquarium world.
No, they don’t “grow to the size of their aquarium.”
Many of the fish you see in stores are babies and will get bigger over the years. (To be honest, I think there is an ethical issue here with shops that sell bala sharks and plekos to people who don’t have huge aquariums at home yet, but that’s another story.) Definitely look at the adult size of any fish. you want to buy and expect it to reach that size.
One way people justify keeping fish in small containers, even after they know how big they will get, is to claim that they have heard that the fish “only grows to the size of their tank,” and therefore any size tank they put the fish in will go well. … If you’ve heard this, I am truly sorry to tell you that you have been lied to.
Sometimes there are fewer fish in captivity than in the wild if their growth is stunted by poor health or malnutrition , or if they simply die before reaching their adult size. There is some truth in this myth. If a large fish is healthy and cared for, it will grow .
Yes they need to be fed
This is another myth that exists to make people feel better about bowls that are too small, and is harmful to fish. Fish and plants do not constitute a “holistic ecosystem” in which they feed each other. If you put the cockerel in a vase with a plant, it still needs to be fed .
Not feeding your fish (or not feeding them enough) will make the tank or bowl a little cleaner, but you are not giving your pet the food it needs to stay healthy. Please feed your fish. While you are doing this, do not place the cockerels in the vases; they need access to the surface of the water and need more space than the vase provides.
Filter it right
Small tanks and bowls allow fish waste to build up, which can poison them. (Would you like to swim in your own urine all day?) A water change can help, but most aquariums should have a filter. The question of what you need and how to set it up is more complex than we can summarize here; you will want to do your research on what your chosen species needs. ( This guide is a good start.)
What to do with the aquarium
All these tips boil down to “planting fish in a real aquarium.” So what if you just want something small and cute on the table? Consider turning your aquarium into a tiny aqua park with plants.
Wabi-kusa are small balls of substrate from which tiny plants grow; you can place them in a small glass container such as an aquarium to make them look like an aquatic houseplant. Marimo, or moss balls , is another unusual aquatic plant that can be kept in an aquarium or vase.
If you want to take the aquatic houseplant idea a little further, look for nano aquariums, which are usually filled with tiny plants and sometimes (under the right conditions) small creatures such as dwarf shrimp. This way, you can create a cute little aquatic habitat in a small space. It just won’t look like a lonely goldfish in a bowl that’s too small.