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Hi! Apart from having a couple of gold fish when i was quite young i am quite new to this whole aquarium thing. I have a 10Litre tank approx 2.5 Gallons. I would like a hand on how to make sure the water is right and what kind of fish I can put in it. I want to steer away from Tropical fish as my partner already has a 4ft tank we are cycling for use in the next few weeks. In regards to this tank he wants to put an Australian Barramundi in it. Are there any special requirements to doing this? ie water temp, ph etc?

Hi Alilou!

Unfortunately this size tank is very limiting, really you have a fairly small pool of fish to choose from, and even smaller if you don't want tropicals. I'm going to be a real downer here and say barra are not a good choice for this tank, even tiny small ones. They grow very quickly and eat a lot. The more they eat, the more waste they produce, the larger the tank/water/filter volume that you need to deal with that. Even if you cycle the 10L, it wouldn't stay stable with a baby barra in there. You'd constantly be fighting to keep the ammonia and nitrite under control and it'd just take all the fun out of it for you guys and the fish. To keep a barramundi for any serious length of time you are going to need something about 2-3x as large as your husband's tank. (You could boot his fish out and get a teeny weeny baby one, but you would need to upgrade that tank quick smart or plan a BBQ in the very near future because it would outgrow it very quickly. On top of smaller tanks - and for a fish this potential size a 4' is a very small tank- not being able to easily cope with the waste of such a big fish, standard 4' is about 18" wide and barra max out at about 2m. They aren't slow about getting there either! Even if the fish was not particularly energetic, just the act of turning around would quickly become and issue. Also, the strength of the glass on a 4' is fairly sad, and a 5-10kg fish launching at speed is likely to make a bit of a mess. Barra well and truly fall into the "tankbuster" category, and even in a 6x2x2', which would be absolute minimum IMO, they seem to look grouchy and cramped. )

That being said, I'm a bit fan of small tanks I know a lot of people don't like them and they do behave differently to larger ones in the way that you manage and stock them, but they can be loads of fun.
Potential inhabitants could be:
Killifish
Microrasboras
Shrimp
a betta (Siamese fighting fish)
smaller species of snails
fry from things that'll eventually go in the 4' tank

Most things that are small enough are also tropical, but depending on where you are (I'm guessing AU since you said 4' instead of 55gal? ) there are probably a few tiny local species that you could find that'd handle not having a heater.
Do you have a filter for this tank or are you planning on trying to go without? If you go without you need less fish and more plants to keep it stable. I'd really recommend something like a sponge filter or a UGF for that size tank as they help keep things stable. In larger tanks they aren't particularly efficient or easy to maintain but in smaller tanks I find them to be pretty effective.



For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Hi,
I don't know of any fish save small tetras, "A" male
fighting fish, or a couple of small guppies, or some
enders, or some small shrimp, that will fit comfortably
in a 2.5G tank. I know of nothing that is native to the
US that would fit. Nano tanks are simply too small for
most fish.

While I'm at it, that 4 foot tank will be like a prison
cell for the Barramundi! Like putting a 6ft 4 inch 250 lb
man in a 7 foot by 3 foot space.

http://www.nativefish.asn.au/barramundi.html

You need a far, far larger tank than that for that kind
of fish to keep it humanely.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

small nano tanks are great and fun, when cared for properly. When looking into stockinnk you need to use the one inch per gallon rule (not too loosley) so you would be able to have a betta, a couple of guppies, possibly a small native goby, small tetra or rasbors, and etc. unless you can find a native species that stay under 3 inches you are at a loss and will be forced to go invertebrate only, fry only, or plant only. good plants for smaller tanks are glosso, mosses, aponogetons depending on variety), marimo, simw crypts, ludwigias, etc... you can plant it with clippings from your larger tank...! if you get plants be sure to have apropriate plant enhancing and growing light bulbs and wattage. also filtration in a must. if you are buying a kit they usually come with a UGF or a small powerfilter... this should do just fine for you...

GOOD LUCK!

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Ok, I will just look around some local shops for my small tank. About my partners 4ft tank, if a Barramundi is not suitable, then can you guys give me some suggestions of a predatory fish that would be? It would be much appreciated, a native fish would also be nice (Aus), it doesn't really matter though.
Thanks!

hmmmmmmm predatory:
oscar
pirhana (if available)
any number of cichlids
i dont know about natives though...

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Yeah, he was looking at, and is really keen on getting a female Jaguar Cichlid, a male would be too big he said? Only that fish and 2 catfish, do you think that would be suitable. The only reason he doesn't want an Oscar is because everyone else we know has one...he's got to be abit different....men! Haha.

depending on the size of jaguar cichlids you might not be able to get any catfish (depends on how big and active the cats are)...

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Well, we've been told that a female Jag can get to 12 inches, but will take a while to get there, 5 or so yrs. 10 inches is more like what everyone else ends up with. He wants one of those, start it out small though, like 1.5 inches or so, start the catfish at the same time. As long as the catfish are too big for the jags mouth we've heard that they can live together. So to answer you're question, a 10 inch Jag (eventually) and 1 or maybe 2 sleepy inactive catfish at maybe 3 or 4-5 inches?

you would probably want some larger than 6 inch catfish...

but that is a good plant are you going to have lots of drift wood, rocks, cave etc? catfish NEED these...

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Yes, he really wanted vegetation, but apparently Jag like to dig and pull stuff out! So a couple of pieces of driftwood, some rocks, a cave and a cool Roman decoration thingy that we saw (it will act like a cave too!) Maybe he can get in some fake plants, to brighten it up? And, as you said, some bigger than 6 inch Cats (fish). Do you think this sounds ok, and better than our ill researched Barramundi?