7.5 Gallon Aquarium ideas

[KentFishFanUK]

So I have been stocking up on second hand tanks ready for my fish room (well fish shed).

So far I have four 7.5 Gallon tanks and one 15 Gallon tank.

So far I'm thinking a small colony of multi's for the 15 gallon.

For the 7.5 gallon tanks I am thinking a pair of peacock Gudgeons in one, two or three clown killifish in another. I was thinking 1 - 3 dwarf puffers in another but pretty much been talked out of that option until I get another larger tank for a group of 6. Possibly a pair of scarlet badis if I can find a female. I was thinking maybe a pair of GBRs but according to seriously fish they need a 60 cm tank as a minimum?

So yeah I have two 7.5 gallon tanks I'm looking for unique ideas for! 

One may end up as a hospital/quarantine tank unless my cheap plastic 2.5 gallon tank would suffice as a hospital? 

I also have a (free) 8ish gallon BIORB tank coming which will house a Betta in the kitchen and already have a 20 gallon community in the house with neon tetras, panda corydoras and some male endlers. So I think I'll stick to species tanks in the fish room. 

Any ideas?

[Colu]

I would go with Pygmy Cory's or celestial pearl danios

Edited July 9, 2021 by Colu

[Patrick_G]

I’m fascinated with blue eyed fish right now. I was at a LFS yesterday and they had Nano tanks set up with Blue Eyed Ricefish, Lampeye Kilifish and Blue Eyed Rainbows. They all look really cool! 
The same tanks housed about six different varieties of male Endlers. A mixed tank of those would be spectacular. 

[Patrick_G]

On 7/9/2021 at 6:55 AM, Colu said:

I would good with Pygmy Cory's or celestial pearl danios

I agree, the recipe for a nano tank should always start with Pygmy Corydoras! 

Edited July 9, 2021 by Patrick_G

[Guppysnail]

I use a 2.5 as a new guppy quarantine. Keeping it good params with a pair of juvenile guppy starting with fully seasoned nano sponge and meds trio after 3 days is twice daily 50percent water change redose proper med amount even dosing with prime to keep nitrite in check. It skyrockets ammonia stays more stable. Ive done it quite a few times always those results. However guppies come in starved and not great no matter where i get them so i do feed through the whole process. Just to give you an idea of a 2.5 as hospital 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Great size for celestial pearl danios and Neocaridina. Could do badis badis and maybe a dwarf rasbora like kubotai, chili or exclamations. 

[KentFishFanUK]

On 7/9/2021 at 3:13 PM, Guppysnail said:

I use a 2.5 as a new guppy quarantine. Keeping it good params with a pair of juvenile guppy starting with fully seasoned nano sponge and meds trio after 3 days is twice daily 50percent water change redose proper med amount even dosing with prime to keep nitrite in check. It skyrockets ammonia stays more stable. Ive done it quite a few times always those results. However guppies come in starved and not great no matter where i get them so i do feed through the whole process. Just to give you an idea of a 2.5 as hospital 

So a 2.5 works for you? I think I would use to dose meds and/or salt without killing plants as all my other tanks will have plants, I'll keep an extra sponge filter going in one of my regular tanks to use in the hospital and when. That was my plan anyway, I'm sure I'll find out it won't work for some reason haha

[Guppysnail]

On 7/9/2021 at 11:04 AM, KentFishFanUK said:

So a 2.5 works for you? I think I would use to dose meds and/or salt without killing plants as all my other tanks will have plants, I'll keep an extra sponge filter going in one of my regular tanks to use in the hospital and when. That was my plan anyway, I'm sure I'll find out it won't work for some reason haha

Yuppers.  I test morning afternoon evening. But I feed. No matter what sucking a gallon and a quarter out and redosing is super quick and easy. For larger fish I’ve recently purchased a big ugly tote because every time I buy an appropriate size tank it turns into everything but a hospital tank. 😂

[GameCzar]

I too am a fan of CPDs, so that's a great recommendation.   Also a 7.5 would make a great betta tank!

[KentFishFanUK]

On 7/9/2021 at 3:19 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

Great size for celestial pearl danios and Neocaridina. Could do badis badis and maybe a dwarf rasbora like kubotai, chili or exclamations. 

Kubotais and chillis are awesome but being so tiny and liking bigger groups I was thinking of saving them for bigger tanks and huge schools. CPDs might work nicely though. Badis badis was definitely one of the top contenders for me too.

And don't tell anyone but I don't really like shrimp or snails a whole lot 🤫 lol I know they seem almost universally loved on every forum I check out but just not really for me.

 

[KentFishFanUK]

On 7/9/2021 at 4:07 PM, Guppysnail said:

Yuppers.  I test morning afternoon evening. But I feed. No matter what sucking a gallon and a quarter out and redosing is super quick and easy. For larger fish I’ve recently purchased a big ugly tote because every time I buy an appropriate size tank it turns into everything but a hospital tank. 😂

Lol how big? I was thinking of a big ugly tote to use as an outdoor tub for rice fish

[KentFishFanUK]

On 7/9/2021 at 2:59 PM, Patrick_G said:

I’m fascinated with blue eyed fish right now. I was at a LFS yesterday and they had Nano tanks set up with Blue Eyed Ricefish, Lampeye Kilifish and Blue Eyed Rainbows. They all look really cool! 
The same tanks housed about six different varieties of male Endlers. A mixed tank of those would be spectacular. 

I was thinking of rice fish in an outdoor tub. By blue eyes rainbows do you mean like furcata rainbows? They look amazing but didn't think I could have them in such a small tank? Lampeyes are cool too.

[Guppysnail]

On 7/9/2021 at 11:23 AM, KentFishFanUK said:

Lol how big? I was thinking of a big ugly tote to use as an outdoor tub for rice fish

5 gal bucket for size reference I tore the label off one. 

[Guppysnail]

On 7/9/2021 at 11:23 AM, KentFishFanUK said:

Lol how big? I was thinking of a big ugly tote to use as an outdoor tub for rice fish

Some folks on here do outdoor tubs. They use a specific tote that will not bow out. These will bow over time

[Patrick_G]

@KentFishFanUK,I think Blue Eyed Rainbows is the common name for certain Psudomugil Rainbows. My favorite is the Red Neon. I haven’t kept them but the ones I’ve seen are very small and the care sheets say they grow to <1.5”. 
pic from Pinterest 

[eatyourpeas]

A pair of sparkling gourami with a few neos could work too. Like @Patrick_G, I love blue-eyed fish! I have nano tanks and one of them is home to sparkling gourami. Another has The Biker Gang, a fun group of pygmy corydoras and more neos.

[KentFishFanUK]

On 7/9/2021 at 4:39 PM, Guppysnail said:

Some folks on here do outdoor tubs. They use a specific tote that will not bow out. These will bow over time

Thanks, where do I find one?

[KentFishFanUK]

On 7/9/2021 at 4:40 PM, Patrick_G said:

@KentFishFanUK,I think Blue Eyed Rainbows is the common name for certain Psudomugil Rainbows. My favorite is the Red Neon. I haven’t kept them but the ones I’ve seen are very small and the care sheets say they grow to <1.5”. 
pic from Pinterest 

Oh wow I love those, is a 7.5 gallon ok or do they need loads of room or a big group?

[Biotope Biologist]

On 7/9/2021 at 8:40 AM, Patrick_G said:

@KentFishFanUK,I think Blue Eyed Rainbows is the common name for certain Psudomugil Rainbows. My favorite is the Red Neon. I haven’t kept them but the ones I’ve seen are very small and the care sheets say they grow to <1.5”. 
pic from Pinterest 

I had a school of those when I was younger! Quite active little fish and considering I was inexperienced at the time I would say they are easy to care for. Had mine for 3.5 years idk how long their natural lifespan is.

 

If you are looking for a centerpiece fish OP and have access to them I always recommend some of the other species of Betta. Such as Betta albimarginata or Betta foerschi. They are a bit more timid than your Betta splendens but command attention. As always with bettas ask your LFS if they are bred or wild caught as some species are threatened in their native waters, and promoting exploitation of a vulnerable species goes against being a responsible steward.

[BriannesFishFam]

A few of my favorites to see,

Guppies

Shrimp

Ricefish (Platinum or Daisy Blues) 

Wild bettas

Multis or small shell dwellers

[KentFishFanUK]

On 7/9/2021 at 5:04 PM, eatyourpeas said:

A pair of sparkling gourami with a few neos could work too. Like @Patrick_G, I love blue-eyed fish! I have nano tanks and one of them is home to sparkling gourami. Another has The Biker Gang, a fun group of pygmy corydoras and more neos.

Good idea, I'm not a fan of regular gouramis but I like sparkling gouramis.

[Guppysnail]

On 7/9/2021 at 12:18 PM, KentFishFanUK said:

Thanks, where do I find one?

Type in outdoor tubs in the aq coop search bar and look at their threads I have no clue never did one

[Brackon]

I like harder to find fish but my perfect 7.5 gallon would be 6-10 Aspidoras pauciradiatus and then 8-16 Barboides gracilis. If you are really wanting species tanks then I would say getting a group of rosy loaches would be fun as they are super active. If you were to go ultra jungle and let plants get super dense I would say you could try some elassoma as they are very similar to Scarlet badis or red tiger dario as they are becoming more and more common and the few times I've seen them they always have a better male to female ratio than Scarlet badis. 

[Tom H]

I know this isn't super unique.... But a really good looking Betta in a 7.5 just looks 👌👌

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

On 7/9/2021 at 7:50 AM, KentFishFanUK said:

So I have been stocking up on second hand tanks ready for my fish room (well fish shed).

So far I have four 7.5 Gallon tanks and one 15 Gallon tank.

So far I'm thinking a small colony of multi's for the 15 gallon.

For the 7.5 gallon tanks I am thinking a pair of peacock Gudgeons in one, two or three clown killifish in another. I was thinking 1 - 3 dwarf puffers in another but pretty much been talked out of that option until I get another larger tank for a group of 6. Possibly a pair of scarlet badis if I can find a female. I was thinking maybe a pair of GBRs but according to seriously fish they need a 60 cm tank as a minimum?

So yeah I have two 7.5 gallon tanks I'm looking for unique ideas for! 

One may end up as a hospital/quarantine tank unless my cheap plastic 2.5 gallon tank would suffice as a hospital? 

I also have a (free) 8ish gallon BIORB tank coming which will house a Betta in the kitchen and already have a 20 gallon community in the house with neon tetras, panda corydoras and some male endlers. So I think I'll stick to species tanks in the fish room. 

Any ideas?

I would try GBRs in one of the 7.5 gallons so long as I could keep the water parameters stable. Dean has a video on them in a 10 gallon set up for a pair. My Bolivian ram pair in an approximately 7.5 gallon that is part of my rack sump system of approximately 80 gallons total. They appear to be prepping to spawn soon and dont seem to mind the dimensions to me.