# fish for nano tank (2.5 gallons)



## colio (Dec 8, 2012)

My wife got a 2.5 gallon tank and put a cute little betta in it. But she feels it is a bit to empty. It is a cylinder tank and has a filter. but because of the light distortion we can't see him well when he is in the back, an not at all if he is on the side (relative to us). 

Shrimp are a possibility, though she is not as keen. Are there any small fish who would do OK in such a small environment? Just a couple of little guys. Any ideas are welcome. We'll be diligent in water change. 

Thanks! 

Edit: PS the nano tank has plants in it, to help keep the water stable.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I'm afraid there aren't any candidates I can think of for this. Perhaps someone else will have an idea. 

The Betta is the problem. They often do not get along with other fishes.. particularly if the other fish have any sort of showy fins. Say guppies, for example. They may attack another fish, of any kind, as if it is another male Betta. They can kill.. certainly do major damage. Even if they seem to get on at first with another fish, this might change without warning.

Spacewise, you might fit one other small fish in that size tank, and the unfortunate thing is that most of the small species, that I can think of, are schooling or shoaling types. So they need others of their kind for company and there isn't room for 3 more fish. 

Even a Cory needs company to be happy. Being a bottom dweller, it might not be bothered by the Betta, it's still going to be lonely. I can't think off hand of any fish that really does well alone besides a Betta.. and since the Betta is not very likely to be a real pal, the other fish would be alone, pretty much.

You might consider an African dwarf frog. I have heard of a few folks who keep one of these frogs and a Betta in the same tank.. and the frog has no fins to excite the Betta. No guarantee of compatibility, but I have heard of this combo a few times. Some research into the needs of the frog would be needed.

Shrimp have less bioload than fish, so in theory you'd be able to keep a few of the small ones, but they might not do so well with the frequent water changes needed to keep that size tank's water clean. And the round glass will distort them a lot, so you won't see much of them. I learned that when I tried making a tank from a 2 gallon round cookie jar ! Even with the filter you'll have to do frequent WCs, and shrimp prefer it a bit more stable. They also need something to hide under, and if they have babies, the Betta will most probably eat the babies. You'd need to add some rocks or wood for hiding places. If you try shrimp I'd stick with cherries. Least expense, and probably the hardiest of them all.

Bettas originally came from rather small, dirty puddles littered with fallen leaf litter. One male to a puddle, because they'd fight 'til only one was left. Used to be called Siamese Fighting fish because of the aggressive nature of the males. Because they are labyrinthine fish, they can use some oxygen from air, so they manage in these low oxygen environments. But they are raised very differently from that on the farms most of them come from now.


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

I unfortunatly disagree with the previous post. There are a great many fish that will do fine in your tank with the betta. I have never had them be aggresive except to other bettas. Your choices will be based on heater or not. It really should be heated. Cories you can go with habrosous or pygmyus. Danios you could get galaxy danios. There are several different raspboras to choose from. Beckfords pencil fish would be another choice. Most any of the small killifish species would be fine. Sparkling gouramis would work. The shrimp would work, but babies would not unless it was very well planted. Paradise fish would work for a little bigger fish. Featherfin rainbows, lampeyes and least killis would work. There are hundreds of choices, some may be harder to find then others but they are out there.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

some shrimp are probably your best option, they don't increase the bio load much and are great cleanerupers


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## colio (Dec 8, 2012)

I've actually got another betta in a 10 gallon with some neon tetras and shrimp (fire reds and amanos). Amazingly, my fire reds had babies who are surviving quite well (lots of plants, moss and shrimp caves, and a well fed betta). However, my understanding is that it can vary a lot by betta, and some are mild (my other one in the 10 gallon) and some are, ahem, less friendly. 

I am less certain about such a small tank, even if we found a suitably small tankmate which could deal with the microtank. The lack of space may bring out the bettas aggressive tendencies, so anything else would be added with care. But we are having second thoughts about the cylinder tank. It looks nice, but with the distortion we can often not see the beautiful betta. So we may get another, in which case it would be a 5 or 6 probably. In this case, with some plants, we might see if the betta would be OK with some tank mates.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Well, there you are, more choices than I could think of. And some Bettas will get along nicely with other fish.. just not all of them. Only one way to find out.

But I would disagree with the suggestion for Pencil fish. I keep them and they need a bit more space than a 2.5 G, in my opinion. Full grown they are not all that small. Compared to a Celestial Pearl, more than twice the size.

But the Celestial Pearl Danios might do ok. Bear in mind if you have more than one male, they may spar with each other, so it helps if there are lots of plants to break up sight lines. Probably better off with one male and two females. I keep them without a heater, but this is a very warm apartment. I'm usually more worried about keeping them cool than warm. I also kept Bettas without a heater. They don't really need tropical temperatures, though many sites say they do. This info was from a breeder who assured me they don't need tropical heat.

Pygmy cories I'd forgotten about.. shame on me. They are very small, so you could have 3 and they'd have the company they like. And they're very active, sweet little fish.


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## colio (Dec 8, 2012)

I'm actually inclined to agree with fishfur, that it is sketchy to keep much of anything else in such small tank, especially with the betta. The small size would probably bring out the aggressive side of the betta, and its a bit risky for me. If we get a 6 gallon or so instead we might add a couple of CPD (2 females and a male), or small number of cories, or something, but if we keep the 2.5, the betta can share with some shrimpies!


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I know when I first got a Betta, I wanted to put something else in with it.. it just seemed so bare with just one fish. But I was quickly convinced they do best on their own. 
I am not saying you cannot keep them with other fish.. I'm only saying it's probably not the best idea with the majority of Bettas. Even female Bettas have been known to be pretty aggressive at times. 

I had two males for awhile, each in a 2.5 G tank. The tanks were side by side, but with about three inches between them. The fish would still flare at one another if they happened to be on the facing sides of their tanks and saw one another.


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## colio (Dec 8, 2012)

I have actually heard that bettas left entirely along don't always do as well long term, and they seem to do better if they occasionally see another betta (in an adjacent tank), or have some fishies around. Flaring isn't always bad, a little excitement. But like so much info, it is hard to know if it is solid, or just the opinion of some guy who made a site about betta care. 

To bad most of the shrimp my wife likes are very expensive! I don't want to get a $40 shrimp and find out our betta is only to quick to eat them!


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

I have a betta in a 5.5 gallon planted tank and he seems very happy, constantly bubbles around from him.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I for sure would not put an expensive shrimp in until you find out how interested mr. Betta is in shrimp !

If you can, get just a couple of Cherry shrimp, and see what happens. Make sure they have some plants or other type of hiding place to take refuge in if Betta comes to investigate. A wide, shallow rock 'cave' would be good - something a few inches wide/long, so shrimp can scoot under, but Betta hopefully won't fit under. I'd get a thin piece of shale [ flat grey or red shale at stores, grey shale also from construction sites, where the price is right ! ], and prop it just off the substrate with either another piece of shale or small pebbles. You just want room for a shrimp to be able to crawl right underneath it, but not for fish to swim under. Shrimp should be ok with maybe a quarter inch of height from the substrate at most. Tie on some moss.. nice mossy cave in time, feeding area for shrimp too.

I've seen the Bettas I had wriggle under an Almond leaf, almost as though it was a blanket on their bed, mind, that was in a bare bottom tank. Just don't leave any more space than is needed for the shrimp to get underneath.

If Betta leaves the shrimp alone, then you might consider something a bit more colourful. If any of the shrimp have babies, Betta may well dine on them. But some should survive, assuming Betta is well fed. The main problem is that for most fish, movement triggers their prey drive.. so seeing baby shrimp moving around might make them go after them, even if they aren't especially hungry. So removing babies if they show up might be a better option if you want more of them to survive.


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## zfarsh (Apr 7, 2011)

How about some snails!!!! The Betta wont bother them, and they wont bother the Betta. Remember each Betta is different in temperament.


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## colio (Dec 8, 2012)

zfarsh said:


> How about some snails!!!! The Betta wont bother them, and they wont bother the Betta. Remember each Betta is different in temperament.


I am cool with snails, and would add maybe some of the nicef fancier type. but to say my wife hates them is to be reduce all other uses of the word hate to mere "mild dislike". Which is to say, she is not at all keen on snails. I have MTS (which i introduced) and some ramshorns and pylium pond snails (which I consider pests) in my 35 gallon, and my wife is always after me to go on little snail killing rampages.

I like the MTS though, they do a congo line on the left side of my front glass every night at around 8, with a group from 5 to 15 climbing up, and all eventually falling off. I can only assume it is a snail religious ceremony or pilgrimage, as they do it every single night at nearly the same time, without fail.


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## zfarsh (Apr 7, 2011)

I am glad my wife likes the snails I bring at home. That said, she wont allow me to keep any live worms in the house, which I was going to use to feed some of my fish... oh well .

Maybe if you get one of the nicer looking ones, she wont mind. Try the Spixi one, Jackson sells them, maybe just bring one sample at home and see how your wife feels, if she doesn't like that... I guess no snails, as there are chances the apple type snails come out of the tanks (they are the prettiest snails every). 

well, good luck in any case


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I'm guessing then, that the mere suggestion of giant size MTS shaped orange bodied snails would probably result in divorce ? [ I speak of Igor's elephant snails.. they have other names, huge, very cool, but then, I like snails ]


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## colio (Dec 8, 2012)

Fishfur said:


> I'm guessing then, that the mere suggestion of giant size MTS shaped orange bodied snails would probably result in divorce ? [ I speak of Igor's elephant snails.. they have other names, huge, very cool, but then, I like snails ]


We've been to Igor's house, and seen his elephant snails. I love them. She... does not. And this one is her tank : ) now if I get another tank, or a nano, I can do what i want with it : P


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## zfarsh (Apr 7, 2011)

hmm, that might not be a bad idea Fishfur!!! The snail fishfur is referring to looks like it has a trump, like an elephant, and is orange color skin, and shell is long and brown. They don't reproduce quickly, 1 baby a month if there is a male and female. They are slow, cant say very active. Funny looking too. I like them, and maybe your wife will too, but they cost more than the other snails you have seen.

EDIT: ahhhh man, she doesn't like it??? oh well.


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## CatfishSoupFTW (Jul 21, 2011)

I was in your same situation once , when it came to fish to have in a small tank with a betta. I had a betta, both a male, and a female (separate occasions) in a 55 gallon community tank and it did fine. But in a smaller tank, only some snails I would say is fine. there are some real small fish like pea puffers, but those would eat the fins no doubt. ottocats are relatively small, but they can die easily. they are hardy, but only if they survive the initial bump. shrimp maybe. Like ammano. Stuff like Cherry shrimp could be okay... but can also end up as live food. XD Rasboras actually are very small, those can maybe be fine. 

the way I see it is, every bettas has its own personality. Trial and error really is your best bet, with practical decisions bare in mind. Just keep your choices limited, both in species and quantity.


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