Review on Emlymoly Mini Smart Ecological Fish Tank Desktop Aquarium with Self-Circulating System, Creative Landscaping for Home Living Room Office, 1.05 Gallon (Fish Tank - A) - No Water Change Required by Brittney Weaver

On paper, this might sound like a good 1-gallon aquarium to start with (actually only good for a cockatiel) that includes everything You need start: light, filter, background, cover. It comes with all of that, but it's actually a very bad tank for most things. First, the filter isn't really "standard". You need to buy small filter cubes and put them in; There are several in the kit but changing them is an incredible pain. Second, the tank is round. Well it's obvious in the pictures but it means you won't be able to properly attach most standard fixings to it. Third lighting. They have LEDs in the base, which is cool, but ideally you put gravel in (the tank doesn't say sand because of the LEDs), which means you won't see them. They also have lights on top, which is good, but they don't distribute light colors well. We have a few live plants in our aquarium and have noticed uneven growth as a result. The fourth is space. 1 gallon is a really small aquarium and if you buy a 1 gallon cube your fish can use all the space. There isn't much in this tank - the background crosses about 1/3 of the tank so you're actually wasting a lot of space. Of course there is a volume of water, but your fish cannot explore 1/3 of its volume. Fifth is the price. It's $100! That's a lot of money that you usually pay for the round form factor. Buying a 1 gallon cube and a decent filter and light will probably be cheaper. Well, there are three things I really like about this tank. First, it has a built-in hose for water at the bottom. changes. You just place the tank next to the sink (very easy as it only weighs about 10 pounds when full) and use the drain hose to drain some of the water. We made this with our rooster fish in the tank and they are perfectly happy for about a minute until we add some extra water. Secondly, the fact that the tank is round means it acts like a magnifying glass - we can all see our Betta very well (and he seems to be able to see us very well too). Third, the round footprint is handy for finding tank placements that wouldn't otherwise work with a cube. In general, if you want to start with a small 1 gallon tank, I would recommend just buying a standard cube and all the other standard stuff. It will likely be cheaper and your fish will have more room to explore.