My brand new pico tank

[Tomoko Schum]

Hi y'all,

I found this little tank at Petco and I could not resist setting it up as a pico tank. It's just a one gallon tank with a 13W 50/50 compact fluorescent bulb. I just stole a few things from my established tanks to get this going.

This is a day two picture.

A closer picture:

A Sexy Shrimp:

Tomoko

 

[Nitroq2]

Very Nice Tomoko! I may get me one like that for my desk at work. How much was it if you dont mind?

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Hi Allen,

The tank was only $19.99. A local Petco store charged me just two dollars more than the online sale price (I was told that charging two extra dollars on top of the online price was Petco's rule.) The tank came with its own filter and a cute little 9W compact fluorescent fixture (7000K.) The fixture mounts kinda high up due to its design so I switched the original light with a 13W Galaxy Light.

Tomoko

 

[Nitroq2]

That explains the light

 

[Tomoko Schum]

The original kit looks like this:

Tomoko

 

[ThePhytoMan]

very very nice

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Thank you. I got this tank to put on my desk at work, but I may start another one like it for work and just keep this one at home.

Tomoko

 

[buzzbait00]

Kewl Tomoko!
Where did ya get the fixture and bulb?

 

[Tomoko Schum]

I got the Galaxy Light fixture from That Fish Place. I already had a bulb which I bought from AH Supply some time ago.

Tomoko

 

[Tomoko Schum]

I got the light fixture from That Pet Place. Drs. Foster & Smith sells the same light. I already had a 50/50 bulb on hand which I purchased from AH Supply sometime ago. I thought that Drs. Foster & Smith used to let you select the bulb type before buying the light fixture. I cannot find the option now. I wonder if their customer service can help you buy it with the light color temp.

Tomoko

 

[8BALL_99]

Looks good.. Becareful when cleaning it though..Those small Acrylic tanks are pretty easy to scratch..Thats what made me take my small eclipse system down..

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Cleaning is a bit of an issue for such a little tank for sure.

I had a hexagonal 2 gallon tank which this pico tank just replaced. I used a tiny magfloat to clean the acrylic surfaces and I kept it pretty scratch free. However, I could not clean every corners of the tank very well. I periodically took out this thin but large rock out of it to do a through cleaning. I could not reach into it with my hand to pick up something from the bottom without overflowing the tank.

So far I have been using a 12" tweezers to do most of the aquascaping.

I added a few colonista snails to help keep the glass clean. I may try to put a stomatela snail, too. The strombus grazer snails that NicoleC gave me may move in there, too, if they reproduce for me in another tank.

Tomoko

 

[andyjd]

I almost bought a Pirates of the Caribbean 1.5 Gallon Aquarium on Friday...i was worried about the lighting, perhaps i need to look again

What else could be kept in there ?

 

[Tomoko Schum]

A good question. I put a Green banded goby in there and he jumped out I had him in my 2 gallon hex tank for a few years and he was really a nice small guy. The 2 gallon hex tank was a lot deeper than this one. I need someone who is really tiny and does not swim around too much. Maybe a panda goby. Evidently some gobies cannot be kept together. The green banded goby killed a 1/2 inch long panda goby right away in the 2 gallon hex tank a year ago

Tomoko

 

[Nitroq2]

Looking at that could you not make a thin plexiglass lid? Maybe use a dremel for the edges and make it just a little large and leave a hole for your filter also do you have a heater in there?

 

[andyjd]

How about a Court Jester Goby?

 

[Tomoko Schum]

I suppose you could, but the heat is a real issue when you cover up such tiny tank with a 13W PC on it.

I might try a Trimma variety of gobies. Here's a small listing of tiny gobies at LiveAquaria:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=1850

I recall John Newby had a tiny red Trimma and a red head goby in the past.

Tomoko

 

[Tomoko Schum]

A Court Jester gets quite a bit larger than a green banded goby. I had them in my tanks before. A nice thing about Court Jester is that it eats hair algae well. If my pico tank starts to get hair algae, I might switch fish (whatever I end up with) temporarily with a Court Jester. A neon goby is another candidate, but I heard recently that neon gobies can be hard to come by for some reason.

In any event I need to stop scaring my fish. Every time I rework my rock work (to get at some corals to frag) in my 15 gallon tank, someone always tries to jump out

Tomoko

 

[Nitroq2]

As for what to keep in pico tanks, the small Citron clown and panda gobies don't travel much at all. They usually only leave the resting space to go out after food. Also they love to rest in xenia and make it a home. I think ethically these would be the most ideal fish for these tanks. But again keeping fish in these small tanks would be a personal preference I think. Most all fish loves to swim and has a huge appetite, but these guys don't swim much due to lack of a swim bladder and eat very little to maintain their weight. The sexy shrimp is a good fit as well. I think that the Bumble Bee snails with there colors and size would be a great addition. Also some of the mini/micro stars would are neat for this size.

 

[andyjd]

Thanks Allen I'll keep all that in mind....have to sort out the 40G first