Pico tank owners… advice needed

[littlefoxx]

Time to chime in as I am working on small Pico's to make this easier.

I had a 0.7L Pico which was 10x10cm. A little yellow goby seemed happy but looked cramped in there.
This aquarium is 14x8cm, so a little bit bigger but not by much.

There is a calculator on here by Jay Hemdal around figuring out suitable sized fish for your aquarium. He does stay at the extremes of small and large you may have to rethink things, but I am using it for a general rule of thumb. The stated overall view is 8x the length + width.

Estimating the Need for Swimming Space for Aquarium Fishes

PNW 40oz:

14cm + 8cm = 22cm
22cm / 8 = 2.75cm maximum size

So we are straight into goby only territory. Next step is to look at the size of the fish using Fishbase.

Fishbase

Jay's original article states to use 80% of the size given due to the average in captivity.

I will help out a bit more by giving some of the options I have found in my growing list. This again is for my own Pico which I am developing. Currently that is My IKEA 1.7L Pico Aquarium

Panda Goby = 2.4cm
Paragobiodon lacunicolus

Colini Goby = 2.7cm
Tryssogobius colini

Flaming Prawn Goby ($$$) = 2.4cm
Discordipinna griessingeri

Yellow/Green Clown Goby = 2.8cm
Gobiodon okinawae

Now to deal with the elephant in the room. The lids do not look to seal the tank very well, and so salinity is going to be a massive issue to deal with. Water quality could go south very quickly too. I use macro algae to help with this concern, but the biggest 2 issues with small Pico's seems to be temperature & Salinity. 2 areas I am focusing on!

I now have my clown goby in my 1.7L IKEA jar and he looks happy and also looks comfortable. My salinity barely changes over a couple of weeks so far, and temperature is 25.1c +/-0.2c so temperature tolerance is very good. How good will it be with the heater provided? I can't tell you I am afraid.

I would get the tank running and make sure temperature and salinity are stable / controllable.

I have seen so many bad experiences with Pico's and the main reason for it seems to be the owners battle against these issues. Yes they stem from a small water volume but they are equally or more so to do with the fact that equipment is not designed by manufacturers for these small tanks. That is exactly why I am designing my own board, pump, heater and light combination. To empower your vision.

Wish you the best of luck. Anyone who has any questions on my experience so far, feel free to ask away on my thread or here if it is also helpful to the original poster!

- Paul

How often do you do water changes, and do you do 100% changes? Biota’s advertisement said thats what they recommend was 100% every week

 

[Polymate3D]

How often do you do water changes, and do you do 100% changes? Biota’s advertisement said thats what they recommend was 100% every week

I will be taking some new tests soon, but so far only a 50% water change in 18 days of running.

Earlier test shows nitrate at 20ppm and phosphate at 0.2ppm, so well within the numbers for the soft corals and goby. A small amount of chateo sits in the tank as a aid.

- Paul

 

[jman2u]

Hey all! Got my pico tank. For those of you who have one, what fish would you put in here? Obviously needs to be a tiny little one lol. Just cant seem to find what fish is the best option for the tank size. My tank for reference.

I've seen this tank with a green banded goby in it, posted on the PNW customs instagram account. The green banded stays quite small so I'd assume it'd be fine. If I had this tank I'd probably just put some small shrimp (sexies) and that's it.

 

[littlefoxx]

I will be taking some new tests soon, but so far only a 50% water change in 18 days of running.

Earlier test shows nitrate at 20ppm and phosphate at 0.2ppm, so well within the numbers for the soft corals and goby. A small amount of chateo sits in the tank as a aid.

- Paul

What all corals do you have??

 

[littlefoxx]

I've seen this tank with a green banded goby in it, posted on the PNW customs instagram account. The green banded stays quite small so I'd assume it'd be fine. If I had this tank I'd probably just put some small shrimp (sexies) and that's it.

Cool! Ill go take a look and see what people put in. And I do like the sexy shrimp, super cool. I do like rock flowers too

 

[Steven Garland]

1 Trimma or Eviota would be my suggestion if you MUST. Stay about an inch,but I do not say put one in there.

 

[Polymate3D]

What all corals do you have??

Currently a few frags.

GSP (Long Lash)
Corona Zoa
Gorgonian
and experimental is a new Hirsuta SPS coral in the middle. Only been in 3 days and was delivered, not locally bought so keeping an eye on it.

Light is a 30000K White LED running around 70 PAR at the base and around 100 PAR where the Hirsuta is.

I have previously kept a sexy shrimp in a tiny 0.7L Pico and it seemed right at home.

In this 1.7L the only other things are the white claw hermit crab and a asterina starfish.

- Paul

 

[hart24601]

I love picos but I don’t think fish belong in them. Aside from the question of should a fish be kept in an environment so restrictive, the nutrient load into the tiny volume is huge. Picos are easy but adding livestock that needs daily feeding increases the difficulty exponentially. Even inverts like shrimp make it harder as they will turn on coral when hungry.

Basically you and the fish/shrimp are gonna have a bad time with picos. Of course there are exceptions but in general if coral only you can have an easy, fun system that can go decades.

 

[littlefoxx]

I love picos but I don’t think fish belong in them. Aside from the question of should a fish be kept in an environment so restrictive, the nutrient load into the tiny volume is huge. Picos are easy but adding livestock that needs daily feeding increases the difficulty exponentially. Even inverts like shrimp make it harder as they will turn on coral when hungry.

Basically you and the fish/shrimp are gonna have a bad time with picos. Of course there are exceptions but in general if coral only you can have an easy, fun system that can go decades.

Yeah I agree after setting it up. I just pulled some cycled water, sand and smashed some rock from my 300 gallon and moved some zoas in. Looking at it Im not going to put any livestock other than corals in. Not enough room for any fish or even sexy shrimps with rock and sand in.

 

[Polymate3D]

Yeah I agree after setting it up. I just pulled some cycled water, sand and smashed some rock from my 300 gallon and moved some zoas in. Looking at it Im not going to put any livestock other than corals in. Not enough room for any fish or even sexy shrimps with rock and sand in.

Great start!

For reference, here is how the space looks in my 1.7L with the yellow goby. Image was with some kenya trees which are now gone (sold)

Good luck with it moving forward!

- Paul

 

[JohnnyReef13]

Hello! I'd DEFINITELY go for a Sexy Shrimp. Sexy Shrimp are small but perfect for that tank!

 

[JohnnyReef13]

I think my fish store has that exact same tank...

 

[littlefoxx]

Hello! I'd DEFINITELY go for a Sexy Shrimp. Sexy Shrimp are small but perfect for that tank!

Yeah Im thinking it would be too crowded. Im probably just going to stick to corals and not put a fish or invert in there, just too small for them.

Great start!

For reference, here is how the space looks in my 1.7L with the yellow goby. Image was with some kenya trees which are now gone (sold)

Good luck with it moving forward!

- Paul

Thank you! Your pico seems like its got more water volume than the one I have. Im not dead set on a fish, would rather the fish be in the right tank and Ive got my 300 gallon at home with fish just wanted a little something on my desk at my new job! If anything Ive looked at those nano cleaner gobies but I think that might be pushing it with how its set up since the display is very small. Cool it has a sump but that doesnt help with space for a fish!

 

[Reefering1]

A snail is appropriate and will help keep things clean. Idk what type, but I would want the one with eyeballs, makes them so much more personable if they can look at you...

 

[littlefoxx]

A snail is appropriate and will help keep things clean. Idk what type, but I would want the one with eyeballs, makes them so much more personable if they can look at you...

Lol! Yeah I was also going to get a tiny hermit and just remove it when it gets large and move to my big tank and replace with a small one. Not sure if I will need a hermit though with no fish and no food. But I will for sure look at snails and see which one would be the best! The only fish I would consider is the neon cleaner thats super itty bitty but not sure about that yet.

 

[Reefering1]

If I'm thinking straight, and you start with some nutrients/ algea, the snail will eat algea and produce ammonia(sustaining some corals) and keep things clean. I agree salinity/temp will be most challenging. I might even try running a couple 1/4" lines to your other tank, and use a dosing pump/ gravity like a continuous water change system. Assuming you don't use copper in the 300. Would be effortless at that point

 

[Tamberav]

I would do Peterson cleaner shrimp instead of sexies.. something different and very cool. They will also use nems as a host.

It's pretty tiny for fish, survive and not thrive? Eviota gobies are probaly some of the smallest readily available. Biota breeds some.

I did 100% changes on my 5g pico, had SPS and LPS. No longer have it since I moved states.

 

[AydenLincoln]

Great start!

For reference, here is how the space looks in my 1.7L with the yellow goby. Image was with some kenya trees which are now gone (sold)

Good luck with it moving forward!

- Paul

What’s the beautiful purple thing?

 

[littlefoxx]

If I'm thinking straight, and you start with some nutrients/ algea, the snail will eat algea and produce ammonia(sustaining some corals) and keep things clean. I agree salinity/temp will be most challenging. I might even try running a couple 1/4" lines to your other tank, and use a dosing pump/ gravity like a continuous water change system. Assuming you don't use copper in the 300. Would be effortless at that point

Only issue is that this will be going to my work and wont be near my 300 gallon, I got it to put on my desk!

 

[IceNein]

This thread was quite the roller coaster. I'm glad you chose not to put any fish in it. I think it's easy to imagine stocking it with something small until you get it set up and actually look at it, like you did.

Are you going to keep its water separate, or are you going to use your main tank as a source of water for it? I always thought doing it that way would be a good way to keep the pico tank fed with nutrients since you don't have fish.