Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am itching for a cool new pet, and I'm trying to decide what makes the most sense for me in my life right now. I love learning about animals (I am a zoology student), and I have a lot of experience with a lot of animals. I currently keep only two cats, and I'm ready to bring something new and exciting into my life, and I would love some help deciding.

Here are my thoughts so far:

I've ruled out birds and rodents because I have two cats and I live in an apartment.

I would like something that I can keep in a 10 or 20L gallon tank (not only because I don't have a lot of space, but also because I already own 10 and 20L gallon tanks). Obviously, that narrows down my options quite a bit as well.

Here are some animals that I've thought of:

A snake. I have always wanted a snake. If I go this route, I would like something that is small and tamable (if not friendly). Preferably something that eats fish or insects. Fish would be ideal, because I would love to breed fish in a separate tank to feed my snake.

Fish. I consider myself an intermediate fish owner. I have kept many freshwater aquariums, most of them successful, and I have learned from my mistakes. I have never tried saltwater, though. If I decide on fish, I would want to do something much more interesting than the basic schooling tetra tank. For example, breeding, cichlids, saltwater, etc. I love the idea of keeping a live culture of brine shrimp, daphnia, moina, or other suitable live foods to feed my fish.

Other aquarium-type critters: animals other than fish, such as turtles, frogs, newts, salamanders, crabs, lizards, or anything else you can think of. Please feel free to make suggestions!

Thanks in advance,
Amanda

There are few tame snakes that feed on fish or insects. Most piscivors are messy and have temperments ranging from unpredictable to nasty. Breeding enough fish in an aquarium to feed a snake is also a difficult and time consuming, if not impossible undertaking. Your options are also limited with fish,a 10 or twenty gallon tank is really not that big. I would not reccomend starting a saltwater tank in something this small, and there are few cichlids that you could breed in this type of tank. I would reccomend rummy-nose tetras for an aquarium, and perhaps a rosy boa or alligator lizard for a terrarium. Rummy nose may look unimpressive in dealer tanks, but with live foods and proper water conditions they are gems in the aquarium. They are a difficult fish to keep, and close to immposible to breed. With this species you should expect heavy die-offs with newly aquired fish. Rosy boas can be quite handlable and do well in small terraria. Although they do eat rodents captive bred specimens for the most part readily take prekilled or frozen prey. Alligator lizards are occasionaly handlable depending on the species and individual, and are an interesting lizard to observe in the planted woodland terrarium.

anoles! a great hardy smal lizard to keep in a 20 gal long u could comfortably fit 3or 4 they also live well with green tree frogs you could make a living vivarium they r like a small ecosystem i had a 20 long with 4 anloes an 3 greentree frogshad a small 1/3 space with water which i had a couple of guppys and the anoles even bred and the offspring grew up and lived great a lot of care is not necessary as in a living vivarium any tree frogs or anoles excrete is taken care of by the mini ecosytem.just feed crickets 2 days a weeka nd ur good. ive been keeping reptiles for 12 years anything from anoles to a 12 red tail boa. the vivarium is what i would suggest for a new reptile keeper. have fun