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This summer I plan on using a plastic storage container to move some plants and fish outside.
I'm leaning towards a container that is about 25 gallons.
My main goal is to have the plants grow a lot. I'll be using Hornwort & Willow Moss. The fish that I put in there will be used strickly for producing nitrates and other wastes that plants use.
In that size container(25 gallons) would 1 White Cloud, 1 Zebra Danio and 1 Platy produce enough nitrates to support quality plant growth?

personallly i would go with a school of white clouds, as a school would be better than 1, and they handle a wider range of temps better. and to avoid mosquitos, i would go with some male mosquito eatters.

Well, thanks for your thoughts, but I won't be doing either of those.
This whole idea is to use what I already have, fish, plants, plastic container,...
I only have 1 WCMM and 1 ZD. They are both the sole survivers of their schools. And I don't plan on keeping either of these species once these two remaining fish are gone.

Would it be possible to maintain plant growth without fish in the container, by just adding different fish foods to the water? Or is there another way?

you can add a plant substrait to the base, i am not a plant expert, but i know that drfostersmith.com has under substraite, special plant iron rich gravel which will benefit your plants.

Why not add a few rosey red feeders? They're cheap, and U.S. natives so they can handle about anything you throw at them weather wise.

i wouldn't go with that, only b/c they all tend to be sick and the last thing you would want is sick fish in there with the fishes they have already.

Although I wouldn't mind using some rosey red minnows or even just regular fatheads, what would I do with them when winter comes around again?
I wouldn't have room in any of my tanks for them.
That's the main reason for using some of the fish that I already have.


I guess I'll just give it try, once the weather is right. This setup will be on a 3rd story deck, if that will make any differnce. The house will shield the container from morning until just after noon. The plants should still get enough light, plus algae should be at a minimum since the container will only recieve about 6 hours of direct light.

you should use peat granules to plant in, it will tint the water and you will see less algae. Use small baskets for your plants.

Why do you want to use fish to produce nitrates? Anyway you do it fish waste from 3 small fish will barely make a dent in the nutients needed for plant growth. You can add the fish if you want but the best way to achieve any niticable growth will be to use ferts or to use old water from an existing tank.

20 Gallon Long:
Aquaclear 300
2 Bolivian Rams, Mikrogeophagus altispinosus: Gumby and Pokey

"you should use peat granules to plant in, it will tint the water and you will see less algae. Use small baskets for your plants."

Well I'm not actually going to plant these plants. I will be floating the Hornwort. And if I actually use this, Willow Moss will just be dropped in and allowed to grow were it pleases.


"Why do you want to use fish to produce nitrates? Anyway you do it fish waste from 3 small fish will barely make a dent in the nutients needed for plant growth. You can add the fish if you want but the best way to achieve any niticable growth will be to use ferts or to use old water from an existing tank."

Well since I have the fish already I just figured I'd use them to produce the nitrates that the plants need.
Thanks for mentioning about using old water from other tanks. I was thinking about trying that, so now that you mentioned it, I'll have to do that.