I have been keeping a small tank for quarantining goldfish, but right now I have just the one goldfish in a 20 gallon tank and in the near future I would like another fish to keep him company. I want to achieve the best quarantining environment possible so I think I should get rid of the 7 gallon and get a 10 gallon.

I'm going to give the 7 gallon tank to the charity shop just down the road, but I'm afraid that someone will come along to buy it and overstock it with goldfish. So what I wanted to do was to make a small information leaflet to put in the tank, ready to read for whoever may buy it, using gathered information from here at Koko's. I know it is far too small for even ONE goldfish, so could anyone tell me what kinds of tropical fish could be kept in a 7 US gallon tank?

I'm not an expert, but I would say one betta or a school of guppies or small tetras. That's a great idea to put that information in the tank! I sure hope it goes to a responsible home! I hope this helps a little!

You can copy this if you want:

Hello,
I am glad you have shown intrest in fish keeping by buying this tank. Now the first thing to learn is to not listen to store information and next is to do your research. The first thing you want to do after buying this tank (7 gallons) is to decided what you want to put into it. A few fish you might consider is neons, bettas, cory cats, guppys, platys, swordtails, and shrimp. Stocking is a major concern that most new hobbiest don't pay attention to. A guidline to go by is 1" of fish per gallon. With this tank being 7 gallon, you could keep rougly 7 neons in there OR 4 neons and 3 corys OR 1 betta OR divide the tank and keep 2 bettas, OR 5 platys, OR 4 swordtails. Just mix and match to your preferance but be cautious and don't over stock. Remember, it is better to UNDERSTOCK than to OVERSTOCK. Now that you have an idea of the fish you want you can start deciding on your aquascaping. Decorate your tank to your liking but also consider the fish you stock. Next is to buy other supplies. Stress coat is an amazing product that will declorinate and help treat sick fish. Next is aquarium salt. You may also want to get your food and extra filter cartridges. Now that you have everything around fill the tank up half way and decorate. Add the stress coat but don't add fish yet!! Now you have to cycle the tank. I know you have probably never even heard of this but it is a huge key to succesful fish keeping. Cycling is the process of building up the beneficial bacteria in the tank. The thing to do is buy a test kit (liquid) and pick what method of cycling you want to do. One way is the fishless cycle. This is adding an ammonia source such as letting some food decay and testing it until your ammonia and nitrite levels are 0. Another way is to add bio-spira. This cycles it that day and you can add fish the next. The fishless may take a month or more. Another way and probably my favorite is to add a filter or filter cartridge from someone elses tank that is established. You can put the filter cartridge in your new filter and let it run with one or two fish. Then add about 2 fish per week until you get your desired stocking levels. Now you need to know of water changes. You do NOT wait until your water looks nasty to change and you don't even change it all. You can invest in a gravel vaccum or use a pitcher to take out roughly 25% of the water weekly and adding back fresh water that is declorinated. By doing this you will never have to completly empty and clean the tank. Now that you have read this you are ready to start keeping fish. Please follow this closely and if possible do research on all of these items.

Also remember, 1 in. per gallon is CUBIC Inches. This is why a 12 in. dojo loach can be kept in less than 12 gallons of water while a 12 in. Oscar will need MORE.

And also, if you dont want to have to filter, you can do a Walstad Natural Planted Tank.

http://thegab.org/Articles/WalstadTankDemo.html

http://thegab.org/Articles/WalstadTank.html

Well when I take it to the charity shop I just want to be sure that whoever buys it won't try and keep goldfish in there, it's not even big enough for longterm quarantine, let alone a fulltime home for one goldfish.

Is this a hex 7?

i have one..i have used to to seperate goldfish...comes in handy

I have no idea what a hex 7 is, it's just a very old fishtank that we've had for about 10 years and I measured it to find out how many US gallons it holds, which turns out to be 7. I just want a bigger tank for QT, because I'm planning on carrying out a longterm QT to avoid any upsets, I mean, I've lost four fish already!