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Stocking Choices For 25L Cold Water Tank

Hugop593

Seedling
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18 Jun 2022
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England
I have a 30 x 30 x 30cm (25litre) tank , medium planted with a internal sponge filter , I don’t have a heater , so was looking to see if anyone had any suggestions for small fish that would do well in these conditions and that are readily available , the tank is fully cycled and ready to go , so need some suggestion

Thanks so much
Hugo
 
Yes, rice fish are perfect. I also have Least Killis and TBH I find them a bit boring and inactive. My rice fish are constantly active and very friendly. They also breed easily.
 
IMO if by cold water you mean ambient room temp then in a tank that size, maybe just a couple of celestial Pearl danio and that’s it. If you’re home is a consistent temp all year round then you could possibly look at a Betta fish.
But you’re probably best with CPD.
 
What @seedoubleyou said.
Pico tanks are considered shrimp tanks.
So, you could stock it with either some cherry shrimp, one nerite snail and one fish, like a Betta.
An amano shrimp, one nerite snail and a couple of CPD.
Or maybe a colony of 5 Thai micro crabs and a couple of CPD.
 
I have chili rasbora and cherry shrimp in an unheated nano, but it's in my kitchen and doesn't typically get below 72F/22C. Chili rasbora have a reputation for being shy, but mine are quite bold in this setup and come to the front when they see me.

I think full grown white clouds are probably too active for such a small tank, especially when the dimensions are a cube.
 
I wouldn't personally keep a betta (as in betta splendens) in an unheated tank because they prefer the warmth and mid 20's c is ideal for them. They are pretty sickly fish now and cooler conditions doesn't help.

Another suggestion if it stays above 20c is the clown killifish, Epiplatys annulatus. They aren't the most active fish (but again I wouldn't want a really active species in such a small space) and can jump, but are fun. I like hara jardoni but they are very cryptic so not great for someone that wants to see their fish all the while but perfect for someone who doesn't mind the odd glimpse.
 
I'm always interested when people suggest these, but don;'t they have quite specific water requirements? That always put me off.

I'm not aware of clown killis needing a really specific environment, or not one that different to most fish we keep. They prefer soft and acidic water but i know of people that have kept them in hard water without any issues. They do better with lots of surface cover or dimmer lighting. Some of the less commercial killis do need a much tighter hold on water parameters which is why I think people like the challenge.
 
I’ve had a lot of 30cm setups, I still have the tanks now but I don’t think they’re big enough for fish anymore except as tanks to raise eggs to wrigglers.

Shrimps would be fine, at a push possibly a Betta but as @mort says, tank needs to be heated. Some bettas are prolific swimmers, and you don’t want one of them.
 
I’ve had a lot of 30cm setups, I still have the tanks now but I don’t think they’re big enough for fish anymore except as tanks to raise eggs to wrigglers.

Shrimps would be fine, at a push possibly a Betta but as @mort says, tank needs to be heated. Some bettas are prolific swimmers, and you don’t want one of them.

I second this - 25 litres is too small for fish in my humble opinion.
 
I would prefer something bigger for fish too, but more because it's tricky to keep the water conditions stable in such a small volume rather than swimming room. Take Boraras micros for example, fishbase lists it as reaching less than 15 mm in length and so the sides of your tank would be 20 body lengths, if we were to give a 30cm oscar a proportional amount of space that would mean a 6 m cube (216 000 liters). So if you are confident that you can maintain stable water conditions and go with a tiny species (like B micros, which should be fine as long as the temperature stays above 20C) I don't really see an ethical problem with that volume.
 
Yes an oscar was maybe not the perfect example, but there are active swimmers around that size as well (bala sharks for example) that still don't get put in over 200 cubic meters of water; also if we follow a 20times rule for white clouds then they would need an 80cm cube (based on them reaching about 4cm). There are some truly tiny species out there so I still think maintaining water quality is going to be more problematic than having enough swimming space, depending of course on hardscape and plant mass.
 
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