Putting Together an Office Desktop Tank

Biokabe · Oct 14, 2020

For years, I've been toying with the idea of setting up a desktop tank for my office at work. My co-workers have always been supportive of it, but I've never quite pulled the trigger on it. I think I'd like to move forward with it, but I had some questions for anyone who has done something similar in the past.

1) What are some good tank options for a desktop aquarium? I'm thinking something between 8-20 gallons, preferably some kind of AIO. I want it to be as inobtrusive as possible, so it needs to be able to sit on the table next to my desk and be as self-contained as possible.

2) How do you deal with top-off and water changes? I won't have a mixing station here, and I'm not sure that I want to have an ATO reservoir in addition to the tank. Just bring in the water from home?

3) Will my fish be OK only getting fed during the weekdays? Obviously that'll depend somewhat on what fish I keep, which leads into:

4) What are some good stocking plans for a tank like this? I'm looking for something a little bit more instantly dramatic, rather than an acro-dominated tanks. Clown + LPS/softie is the obvious road, but are there any other stocking themes that can work in the footprint of a smaller tank?

ichthyogeek · Oct 15, 2020

1) In the case of all nanos, the larger, the better. How much table space do you have? Is there space under it for holding the fish food/equipment (5 gallon bucket, etc), or will you have to put that somewhere else? The smaller the tank, the less stable it will be, but the easier/quicker it will take to do water changes...

2) With my college tank, I would have a 5 gallon reservoir jug (the kind they sell at LFSs), and use airtubing to get the water into .5-1 gallon plastic jugs (the kind used for orange juice/milk, properly washed), and use those for adding in top off water. You kind of just...have to do the water changes. Best to just have a jug of premade water in case you need it, and then use it for water changes at the end of the week. (say, Thursday: you do your water change that day, go home, refill it with water, and then bring it back on Friday)

3) Depends on the fish. Dwarf seahorses are probably a nogo, as are any syngnathid or high energy fish that needs 3+ feedings/day. Clownfish and fish that will do well on a feeding/day schedule are probably best. You can also invest in an autofeeder....

4) https://www.liveaquaria.com/category/2124/nano-fish?c=15+2124&r= . Personally, I think something like a yellowtail damsel/sixline wrasse and/or a shrimp goby with a shrimp would be cool. Can you elaborate on what you mean by "instantly dramatic"?