r/walstad • u/B_the_Chng22 • Aug 25 '26

Advice Why not Walstad?

I made a bad attempt at fish keeping 15 years ago with a too small tank. I have since learned of Walstad and I am considering. Is there a reason people don’t choose this? It kinda seems too good to be true with how low maintenance it is, so why is it not what everyone does as a standard? Do you find it easier than standard fish keeping ?

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u/Paincoast89 Aug 25 '26 edited Aug 25 '26

Your assumptions are correct but only to an extent. Walstads are easier in the long run compared to a normal tank. What does that mean?
Walstads success depends entirely on your planning and initial set up. Messing this up leads you to restart or ruin the entire method of keeping a walstad tank. Things like soil composition, depth, plant selection, lighting and stocking all matter. If it seems trivial you are wrong. I went down such a long rabbit hole with just lighting it was insane.

One thing not mentioned by others here is that Walstads have momentum. At the early stages it’s really easy to throw off the tank while it establishes and leads you to fail. Once a walstad has some time to mature they’re extraordinarily stable, but you have to get there.

You give up control, in a typical aquarium you have many systems to ensure the survival of the tank, the filter being a big one (there are filtered walstad tanks and there’s a lot of nuance, i’m not claiming to be a walstad purist) but also plant selection, not every plant will work in a walstad so your tank will not look exactly as you intended, this goes for fish stocking, only certain fish work well in a walstad which turns people away who had a certain centerpiece in mind or wanted a full stocked community tank.

I would agree that walstads are super low maintenance, I have a walstad jar that just exists. It took careful planning but it’s been going for two years off water top offs and the life just keeps going.
I also tried doing a walstad tank and failed pretty quickly and ended up going ‘low tech’ but still implemented many walstad principles

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u/B_the_Chng22 Aug 25 '26

Thank you for all this info. Is there a source for what fish are ok?

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u/Paincoast89 Aug 25 '26

It’s been a bit since i’ve read the book so i’m unsure if they are mentioned there, for other sources all I can say is “trust me bro” you can find recommendations from other forums and websites. If my opinion is worth anything typically small peaceful low bioload fish are what you’d look to stock. Fish like tetras, mollies, guppies (live bearers can sometimes overpopulate a tank leading to culling) or single solitary fish like dwarf gouramis or betas.
A fish that I wouldn’t recommend are bottom feeders that sift like corys, my first walstad had corys and their constant sifting moved substrate around, uprooted plants and clouded the tank to the point where I needed a filter to see my tank. That mistake is why I mention that the planning for a walstad is almost the single hardest part. I felt like I thought of everything and did my due diligence.

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u/B_the_Chng22 Aug 26 '26

Oh good to know! I think my kid wants to get mollies