In my opinion and experience, the Paradise fish is a better choice for the small tank and will thrive in your two gallon tank if properly set up and maintained. Here's an article I wrote on keeping them happy and healthy in a small planted tank. You can find Paradise fish in aquariums stores in the US, Europe, and even the Middle East. The Low Budget Natural Fishbowl It does not take much time, money, or skill to create an affordable and beautiful, ecological, low maintenance aquatic world you can enjoy for years. While some fish traditionally sold for fish bowls do not thrive in them, there is one kind that most definitely does, macropodus opercularis, or, the Paradise fish, one of the first fish ever kept in home aquariums. Bettas, often sold in tiny bowls or vases with plant bulbs, require warm temperatures and do better in heated tanks. Goldfish, also frequently sent home with bowls, require large amounts water to thrive. The ones in stores are tiny babies these fish are meant to grow quite large and need a tank of 30 gallons, each, to do well. Paradise fish are a much better choice for a natural fish bowl or small tank. They are extremely hardy and long lived and they do not require any special care or conditions. Like Bettas, they can breathe air through a special labyrinth organ and so do not require an aerated tank. They prefer cooler water and so do not require a heater. They also do well living singly. Males, like male Bettas, will fight if kept together in close quarters. Mostly males, because they are more colorful that the females, with bright bands of turquoise and orange, are what you are likely to find in the pet store. The fish keeperÂs goal is not to have fish that merely survive, but rather that thrive. Here is how to provide a healthy home for an easy to keep, colorful, and intelligent little fish. These recommendations are based on my own set ups that have done well for years. You do not need to have ever owned a fish before to succeed with a Paradise fish if you start with a young, healthy fish (look for a small one, under two inches from tip to end of tail and ask to see it fed) and follow these recommendations. Shopping List: Large fishbowl or glass container (preferably 2 gallons or more in capacity) Small amount of bagged potting soil Small bag of aquarium gravel (natural, smaller sized, dark in color) One or two live aquarium plants that do well in cool water -- a bunch of Elodea or a Java fern will work; get small plants as they will grow quickly in this set up Spring water or tap water aged for three days and treated with water conditioners to remove chlorine and other chemicals that can kill fish. In the US, I found it easiest to just keep several gallons of spring water on hand. Also, in case of emergency, a gallon container of spring water with the top cut away makes a readymade holding tank for a fish. 1 Paradise fish Small canister of tropical fish food flakes Optional: Small net to catch fish Frozen food and/or freeze dried bloodworms to vary diet Decoration  keep a natural look with a stone or two (to be safe, use those sold in pet stores), or a very small piece of driftwood from the aquarium store, pre-soaked for a week or two in a bucket of water to remove tannins and water log it so it won't float, will look fabulous, especially if you attach the java fern to it by tying it with a bit of dark thread. Soon the fern will attach itself to the wood and you can remove the thread. Set up: 1. Clean bowl with salt and warm water, rinse well, and dry. Never use soap! 2. Line bottom with an inch of potting soil. 3. Remove plants from metal bands or pots and place on one side of bowl to create a backdrop effect and leave swimming room in front. Tall plants in back, smaller ones in front if you have more than one. 4. Add a one inch layer of gravel over soil and around base of plants. 5. Place a bowl or cup upside down on gravel and pour bottled water slowly onto it to fill bowl without disturbing the substrate. Fill about 4/5 of the way, stopping at the wide part of the bowl because more surface space means more oxygen for the fish. Pour very, very slowly so the gravel is not displaced, allowing the potting soil to mix with the open water. Even if you are very careful, the water will still be a little murky when you are finished, but this will settle in a day or two to crystal clear. 6. Add fish, following pet store instructions for acclimating a fish to a new tank (float bag, add small amounts of tank water to bag periodically, etc.) 7. Place bowl near sunny window for natural light to maximize plant growth Maintenance: Every day, remove one cup of water and replace with one cup of fresh water (bottled or treated) and top off evaporated water as well. This takes less than one minute and assures a healthy environment for both the fish and the plant. You do not have to do large water changes if you keep up with this every day. Do not just top off, however. Removing some of the old water will remove toxic nitrates and help keep the water clean. You donÂt want to remove too much, however, because the it contains also contains beneficial nutrients and bacteria. Some people feed their fish every day and others prefer to feed every other day. I feed mine as mauch as they can eat in 20 seconds, usually a couple of large flakes, a couple times a day. With the daily one cup water changes, this works well. Be forewarned: if food is sinking to the bottom, uneaten, you are overfeeding. The fish can easily miss a day or two without a problem -- underfed is actually healthier for the fish than overfed -- but if you will be away for longer that a few days, find someone to care for your fish in your absence. Better not to leave the entire canister of food with the caretaker, however. Just a pinch in a baggie is enough. This way, your fish is less likely to be overfed by accident. Overfeeding will pollute the water and undo all your effort to create a healthy natural environment for your fish. The plants will be well fed first by the nutrients in the soil and then by the fish waste. You will not need to fertilize them. Trim plants as necessary. They will sometimes grow very quickly in this sort of set up. My elodea was growing new shoots within days of being planted. Elodea can be broken off when it gets too long and the new section can be planted, thrown away, or given to a friend with a tank or bowl. To plant a new shoot, just remove the few bottom leaves and insert it into gravel and soil. Java Fern will grow new plants on runners. These can be left alone or plucked off and planted or given away. If algae should accumulate, it can be wiped off with a paper towel. The plants and water changes will likely prevent algae from forming. I have never seen algae in my small tanks, even though they receive a great deal of direct sunlight. Please note that with this set up, you would be wise *not* to vacuum the gravel or to dump out entire contents of bowl. The fish waste is necessary to the live plant and works with the potting soil to provide essential nutrients. The plant, in turn, helps keep the water healthy for the fish. The small daily water changes will more than suffice for keeping the water healthy. ThatÂs it! Enjoy! I have kept this sort of natural fishbowl in three different countries, on three different continents and have set up Paradise fish bowls for countless friends who have admired mine. Paradise fish are easy to find and easy to care for. They make delightful little pets and will charm you with their antics and desire to interact with you. They will soon recognize you and will feed from your hand even. The fish and plants absolutely thrive for many years. You can give your fish a larger home later if you like, but it is not required to maintain a healthy fish for years. My first Paradise fish, now age 8, is still going strong and the plants must be continually pruned so he has swimming room. One note of caution: Paradise fish do like to jump. I have never had one of mine land outside of the bowl but I have heard of that happening and mine have surprised me by jumping impatiently to take the food from my hand before I could let go of it. It is wise to cover the bowl with a bit of netting or a lace doily (something that lets air in and keeps fish in) and a rubber band to prevent accidents.

If you're really sure you want tankless (and you kinda seem to be), I'm not going to argue with you. I'll just say a couple of things and then I'll bow out. Disclaimer: I'm not an expert on these matters. They just interest me and I hope to be more energy independent in the future, so I read up on them. I always welcome corrections from knowledgeable folk. First point: IMO electric resistive heating of ANY kind basically just doesn't play nice with PV, off grid or on. The only time it really makes sense is when you're off grid and your system produces more energy during the day than you can store in your battery. This can also apply to some extent if you're intertied and your utility pays you wholesale or less when you sell your power, essentially penalizing you for conserving. Either way, dumping your excess PV energy into water heaters is one way to store it for later use. However, it should be obvious that to store that energy, you have to use traditional storage water heaters, not tankless. Second point: Peak demand matters. It matters to your electric utility, and it matters to your bill. You probably know more about CA rates than I do, but it appears to me that right now California is more into time of use (TOU) metering than peak demand metering. However, more and more utilities are adopting peak demand metering for residential customers (they've had it for business for ages). So even if you're not dealing with it now, it may well be in your future. Demand based metering watches your power (not just energy) usage. The higher it is, the more you pay for all your electricity. In one demand scheme, you pay a surcharge based on your peak power usage (in kilowatts), In another, the price they charge you for every kilowatt hour you use depends on your peak usage -- the higher your peak, even if it's only once in the month, the more you pay per kWh that month. Let me give you an example of the second scheme. Let's say your house's big energy hog right now is an electric range.. Most of the time, you just use one or two surface units at a time. So your peak demand is relatively low, and you pay (say) 14 cents per kWh most months. But when you cook Thanksgiving dinner, you have all the surface units going, plus the oven, and a microwave. On that one day, you have a much higher peak demand. Your utility takes note. And that month, you pay 20 cents per kWh for EVERY kWh you use all month. So even though that month's usage is only a little higher than usual, the final bill for the month is MUCH higher. Now imagine what could happen to your bill if you add an appliance that increases your peak demand every day of every month. Guess what: when it comes to peak demand, tankless electric water heaters are MONSTERS. Think about it. With its mild climate, California is a great place for heat pump storage water heaters. That's what I'd get if I were you. Not tankless, and definitely not electric tankless. And that's all I have to say about that.

I'm going to respond to you since no one has. I've lived in SW Florida for 20 yrs and have gone thru many hurricanes. This last one, Irene took our power and water out. We get water form the local water co on the island and after a while the water stopped as well. They use brackish well water and do a reverse osmosis. When their power went out, so did our water. We always packe the refrigerator with food, canned goods anything before the hurricane and cool it a notch or so down. The fuller it is, the longer things stay cool. We run a generator with gasoline. we would run it here and there to keep the freezers going and concerve fuel. Not knowing how long we would be without power and without power the gas pumps don't work. All generators will handle X number of items, if you plug too many things in, they can't handle it. Howevere, as it generates electricity, there could be excess power just being wasted. So you learn what it can handle. I know a neighbor down the street from us had a propane tank that was connected so when the power went out, it automatically kicked in and in a safe way (it can be unsafe and can kill the electrical workers working on fixing downed lines). Your electrician should know how to wire things up. We hook up our generator and turn the main power off. It's safe for anyone working on restoring the lines but we don't know when the power actually comes back. We listen the the stillness know that the neighbors has automatically shut off:)) A 250 gal propane tank is HUGE. I would guess you could run on that for a very long time. If when it happens, take a reading of the tank, run what you want for a day and take another reading. It should give you a rough idea of the useage per hr or per day. While you may want to run your well pump, it's also a very good idea to have large containers of water handy. We have those large blue plastic containers for water and the red ones for gasoline. Water is the most precious and is missed the most during difficult times. It's also ideal to have a gas cook top or rangetop that can be lit with a match. I hope this helps you a bit in planning for the worst. Hurricane season is not far away. Semper Paratus as my latin teacher said. "always ready." Inga

You might also consider pressed metal wall art. If you like music, you could focus on that theme: https://www.ebay.com/itm/164052298799 https://www.ebay.com/itm/TrebleClef-Black-Musical-Note-Music-Metal-Wall-Art-Decor/153839029144?_trkparms=aid%3D1110001%26algo%3DSPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D225085%26meid%3Dd4be207d83a54d30b922d5c0faa0c77d%26pid%3D100623%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D153580763612%26itm%3D153839029144%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1 https://www.ebay.com/itm/MUSIC-MUSICAL-SMALL-VERSION-WOOD-HEART-NOTES-TREBLE-CLEF-WALL-ART-DECOR/333137467780?_trkparms=aid%3D1110001%26algo%3DSPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D225085%26meid%3D3bd6740fe0b540afb31fdbe05a838fa1%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D12%26mehot%3Dpf%26sd%3D153839029144%26itm%3D333137467780%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851 You could also add wood related items, including an actual guitar or any musical instrument or even music related art made from wood. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sing-Word-With-Treble-Clef-Laser-Cut-Wood-Wall-Art-Decor-Music/333342757798?_trkparms=aid%3D1110001%26algo%3DSPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D225085%26meid%3D5bc81f7047ee44c59138591ae6535dfd%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D6%26rkt%3D12%26mehot%3Dpf%26sd%3D333137467780%26itm%3D333342757798%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851 Or add pictures or posters (framed or unframed), even abstract art with that same theme. https://www.bing.com/shop?q=pressed+metal+wall+art+music+&FORM=SHOPPA&originIGUID=A06FB88FF1364E6A9BB53EE23FB0BD95  You could choose the beach or the mountains or race cars or sports or even outer space as your theme. What interests your family?