New 3 Gallon Aquarium :)

JadaNae27

Sooooo.
I couldnt resist.
And my Hubby wanted his own tank
I went to Wal-mart and bought a 3 gallon.
And a few decorations.
He chose 4 Neon Tetras, 2 Ghost Shrimp, and 1 Male Guppy.
I also graciously gave him my 2 Spiral Horned Nerite Snails.
And hes temporarily holding my pregnant platy for me :)
And tomorrow we are going back to the store to get 2 more neon tetras.

It looks awesome!
I've decided that his tank, with only 4 decorations, looks ultimately better than my 10 gallon O_O
I am very jealous of his tank. . .
He calls it Tetrarium. . . I call it . . . I'm Jealous. lol.
But I shall be the one to take care of it.
So, tips and hints are welcome, as I have never owned such a small tank before.

marshallsea

I know this is the last thing you want to hear but you may be overcrowded already. Go to aqadvisor.com and put your info in their stocking calculator.Is this tank cycled?

DragonFyre14

Yeah, as marshallsea said, it's not something you really ever want to hear but I think you are seriously over stocked. a 3 gallon is usually big enough for a betta (some argue that it still isn't enough for them) or possibly 3 male guppies. It is my understanding that Neon Tetras are rather active fish and prefer a fair amount of space for them to swim in. Also they need groups of at least 5 or more. And I don't believe you have enough room to give them a proper school and keep all the fish in there happy and healthy. You have to keep in mind how much room in there is taken up by the substrate, decorations, plants, filter, and heater. I can imagine the fish have very little swimming space at the moment. please consider returning the fish or getting a larger tank.

JadaNae27

Okay, So, I used the site suggested, and it is way overstocked :( But, I do have a 10 gallon and I put in all the fish and crustaceons, if I move the 4 neons to my 10 gallon, The larger tank would be slightly overstocked, and the smaller one would be fine. I added more aeration to my 10 gallon to make up for the slight overstocking.

Another question I have, will the neons be okay in the group of 4? Or would it be safer to overstock my 10 gallon with 1 or 2 more neons?
Stock for the 10 gallon is 128 %
With the changes before adding the two neons.

DragonFyre14

I think the neons should be okay with a group of 4. however, if you think you can spare the time to do larger water changes, and clean the gravel more often I would suggest you get at least one more neon (with the tank being slightly overstocked you should already be doing water changes more often to keep up with all the waste being produced.) Sorry to burst your bubble. :( Try getting a larger tank if you can, I think it will be more fun for all involved.

JadaNae27

There is one other thing I am worried about, I just bought these fish today, and the neons are still very stressed, huddled in a little corner. When would be the best time to move them?

Freshcatch

It usually takes a few days to become accustomed to new surroundings. You should move them to a larger tank as soon as possible. I agree with the previous posts and you should relieve the overcrowding. If you really want a neon tetra tank, I would go with at least a 20 gallon long, which would give your fish room to swim from side to side, add 2 more for a total of 6, (they really do better in a group) and you would still have room for snails and bottom dwellers. You would not be overstocked then, as you wouldn't be half your total occupancy.

JadaNae27

Currently my 20 gallon is not cycled properly. But I did move the Neons over. I have decided to hope for the best and hope that they do allright with only 4 of them, and they will have much more room when the 20 gallon is cycled as I will remove the Gourami from the 10 gallon. To replace her, I will add one more Neon, It will still be slightly overstocked, but not so much to make everyone unhappy, As then, it will have only Platies and Neons with a few shrimp and snails. Stocking will be 129 % and I will do 3 1/4 water changes a week. The shrimp only have about 6 months left of life :/ Alas, they are over a half year old already. This will improve Tank Stocking by 5 %. Also when the 20 gallon is cycled, I will move over the apple snails and feed them much lettuce so they will leave alone my aquatic plants. Which will then place the overstocking at 112 %. I know its still slight overstocking, but that is very managable, in which I could do 1 3/8 water changes a week :) Takes a bit of time, but, I cant take these beautys back, Walmart would kill them :/ There is no cover in those tanks at all and even with the overstocking in my tank, they would be far better off.

cwmorrow

That would look good.