Opinion on Tank Size

[TMPoften]

Right now I have my O. Havanesis in a 12 gallon, he is about 2 - 2.5inches, I was wondering if he would work in a 6 gallon, the 12 is taking up a little too much space on my desk. Or is the 8gallon biocube a nice little all in one tank?

 

[rwhhunt]

I have my O. h in a biocube 8 and he is doing wonderful. I highly recommend this tank and setup especially with a havanensis! check out the other thread on O.H's recently started where I posted some of my tank pics...

 

[TMPoften]

sounds good, thanks for the response

 

[Gonodactylus]

Maximum size for O. h is around 66-70 mm - a hair over 2.5 inches. I could not recommend anything smaller than a 10 gal tank and even in this case, longevity will be less than in a larger system. I've kept well over a hundred O. h in the lab and they do well in 20 gal and up. Part of this is probably due to water quality and stability, but it also has to do with activity. O. h are generally found below 50 feet living in burrows that they construct on open, sandy plains. The typical breeding adult will have two or three burrows a meter or two apart. They frequently move from burrow to burrow and use the multiple burrows to escape. With a small footprint of a 5 or 8 gal tank, there just isn't much room to roam.

Also, watch the light intensity. These animals live at sufficient depth that they do not tolerate well bright, broad spectrum light. Bulbs in the blue part of the spectrum are best.

Roy

 

[TMPoften]

I have noticed he has multiple burrows in my tank, thank you for your response, I will look into replacing the bulbs to obtain a more blue tint.