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2 gal. planted jar


righttirefire

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righttirefire

This is totally off topic.

I have a 2 gallon jar with a "paradise" fish, gourmi, a Cory cat, julii, and a one eyes oto cat. Nothing special for plants just a couple spear plants. The plan was low maintaince. It's a pain in my ass. My 20 gal reef is so much easier. I'm thinking 5 gallon. Easy peasy, any suggestions

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Few problems. A gourami, even a dwarf gourami, is too big for a 2 gallon tank. Even a betta should be held in a 2.5 gallon tank minimum (some exceptions for breeders but for a permanent tank, 2.5 gallons should be the minimum). Cory cats are also schooling fish and prefer to be in schools of 6-8 minimum. Obviously, that won't work in that size tank. Julii catfish are a type of cory cat so I'm not sure if you were referring to two different species but personally I've never heard of any cory cat that is not a schooling fish. The otos aren't bad and don't need much space since they aren't all that active. They mostly just swim from plant to plant and just kind of sit there. They aren't the hardiest as I believe most are still wild caught so don't be surprised if you lose some. In a tank that small, I would do inverts only. Some nice red cherry shrimp would do well in a tank that size but I would leave the fish out. For smaller tanks (but still larger than 2 gallons), I would look at some of the nano fish such as harlequin rasboras and some smaller species of tetras. With tetras, I would also pay attention to the activity levels of the species. For example, tetras swim a lot and cover a lot of ground so you should look at a tank with a larger footprint.

 

In regards to making a low-maintenance planted tank, look up Walstad tanks. They're based off of a book by Diana Walstad called "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium." The whole idea is to have pretty much zero maintenance. Obviously with plants, they need to get nutrients from somewhere. I prefer to go with a simple dirt (Miracle Gro Organic) with a sand/gravel cap layer. I prefer sand since it is easier to plant in. The only other nutrients that you would be adding to the tank is from the food you feed the livestock. I have a 10 gallon Walstad tank with red cherry shrimp and bolivian ram so the plants get nutrients from the dirt, algae wafers, and pellets. I would rather have the ram in the big tank but he has issues with depth perception and it takes him too long to eat and he was starving in the main freshwater tank.

 

When it comes to maintenance, it's all about keeping the nutrients down like always. Heavily planted tanks are an absolute must. One of the best ways to get nutrients out of the water column is with floating plants. Duckweed is one of the very best even though it can be a pain to mess with. The reason floating plants are so useful is that they reach out of the water. This is called the "aerial advantage" according to Walstad's book and it has to do with access to CO2. CO2 is not very abundant in the water column itself and with a large amount of plants, it will quickly be the limiting variable. If the plant is on the surface of the water, it can draw CO2 directly from the air where it is far more abundant. The issue with duckweed is that it is a pain to mess with if you have to stick your hands in there. There are some other options such as water lettuce and frogbit. I'm sure there are more that i can't remember right now as well. These vary in size and the larger ones are much less of a hassle than duckweed.

 

In my 10 gallon, I only do a waterchange maybe once a month but that's more for the looks. The dirt and driftwood release tannins into the water and it makes it a lot darker and harder to see into the tank. Doing a quick 5 gallon water change takes 5-10 minutes and the whole tank looks brighter. In regards to nutrients, I haven't even tested this tank in over a year and everything is doing well. Every month or so I have to go in and trim the plants as they make it hard for the fish to swim around.

 

Some easy plants would be dwarf sag, pygmy chain sword, blood stargrass (needs higher light), ludwigias (multiple different species), crypts, anubias, etc. In that size tank, I would be careful with the stem plants as some like broad leaf ludwigia (one of the most common) take up quite a bit of room. They are easy to grow but each stem will take up 2" or so and it can be difficult to get a dense look to the tank. You mentioned "spear" plants and I'm assuming you are referring to "sword" plants. I tried looking up "spear" plants and couldn't find anything. I would be careful with these as well simply because of how large they can get. An Amazon sword can easily get to 24" long. I have a marble queen radican sword in my 40 gallon (22" tall) that is growing out of the tank. My best bet would be looking at some of the smaller crypts and anubias species. For something a bit taller for the background you can get some dwarf sag which tends to get around 4-6" depending on the light (it may grow much taller in lower light).

 

Short Version:

- 2 gallons is too small for fish - invert tank (snails and cherry shrimp) would be awesome but aim for 10 gallons.

- Cory cats are schooling fish and should be in schools of 6-8 at least

- Be careful with dwarf gourami as they can be very territorial but this varies from fish to fish

- Get a good substrate (no plain gravel/sand) - I recommend dirt but I would also recommend some aquasoils if you're wanting to splurge

- Need a lot of plants!!! Some floating ones help a lot with removing nutrients

- Plant choice - smaller plants that don't need a lot of requirements (check out crypts, anubias, dwarf sag, and avoid large swords that will outgrow the tank quickly)

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A 2 gallon jar is really hard to work with for any kind of livestock. It would work fine for just plants. After you put in an inch or two of substrate, plants, equipment, and leave an inch or two of space between the rim and the water you would probably will only have 1 gallon of actual water. To get water movement you would be limited to foam bubbler. In less than 2 gallons of actual water, any of the small filters / pumps would be too violent for the plants. It would also be too much flow for livestock to swim against.

 

Small freshwater tanks with livestock is very sensitive to water chemistry changes, just like small reef tanks, and they take a lot more work than normal once you are regularly feeding things as you need a way to export the waste products.

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