Fish for a ten gallon tank
- Thread starter Platyperson461
- Start date
yea you did rush too fast I would never listen to anyone at petco/petsmart most of them don't really have any clue of what they are talking about I saw a lady buying some guppies and neon tetras and the guy that worked there recommended a 5-6 inch catfish as a good mate for the tank ..... hmmmm.... your first step is to get that test kit and dont buy anymore fish for couple of weeks, place some plants and drift wood and perform weekly water changes. set the water a side for at least a day in buckets (at home dep or lowes are like 2 bucks and come in handy) , make sure its clean by that i mean you never poured any chemicals or anything into it and use it for your fish tank only! if any of your fish die bring them back to where you bought them with a water sample if your nitrites/amonia/ph or anything else is not right look for an alternative way out dont buy any chemicals to adjust your water they are not healthy for your fish go as much as you can the "natural way" . best of luck on your tank
dont overspend if you dont have the budget for it i mean its great to have a good quality test kit etc but those "tetra " test kits should be just fine for you they should run you about 12 bucks or so if you decide to go with the API save up for it and then buy it, your local petco or petsmart should perform your water test for free just complain that you bought fish from them and they act weird and you dont know what the problem is and that you have a water sample with they should help you out. what type of gravel sand are you using ? good thing for you to get next would be a fish tank vaccume . did you already had any experience with a fish tank or is it your first one?
Idk exactly the type of gravel but its like smaller rocks and pebbles. No experience with a tank I had a fish bowl wen I was like 4 but my mom mainly took care of it...I'm going to get the API testers since I'm not getting any new fish or anything anytime soon. How much does a vacuum cost and what does it help do? clean gravel?
Check eBay for gravel vacuum. I mail-ordered a ~$5 cheapy with a squeeze-bulb to get the siphon going. It works awesome. I've actually ordered several items from this outfit. I highly recommend them: Aquarium Siphon Gravel Cleaner Fish Safe Tank Vacuum Water Change | eBay
vaccume is the best way for your water changes as well as for keeping your tank clean, your filter will never collect everything some stuff will get stuck in the bottom of the tank, if you take out water by a glass or w/e you will be scouping out only " clean" water what you really want is that tube you put one end into a bucket other on the bottom of your tank and you move along your tank it will move your rocks up a bit but its ok dont worry it wont suck them out look up some videos on youtube or so to get a better picture. vaccume is a must otherwise your fish will be sitting in bunch of crap which will cause amonia to rise. for little bowl you dont really use those because they dont have any type of filtration so people just change the whole water so it always clean. in your case i would get the one that FereshyFresh posted or you can get one at petco at similar price but then you will be doing the sucking which might get a bit nasty 
go with the squeeze-bulb from ebay
go with the squeeze-bulb from ebaytangomango - It would be very helpful to put punctuation at the end of sentences. It is very hard to understand what you are saying.
If this tank is just being established and the OP is doing a fish-in cycle, I would suggest water changes daily rather than weekly if the fish are to survive. Why set aside water for at least a day? Unless the OP has strictly chlorine (which is getting rarer, as most will use chloramine) aging the water will not help. Since Platyperson461 has mentioned using a dechlorinator, the water should be added right after being treated.
Platyperson461 - what is the name of your dechlorinator? Some can be used to temporarily bind ammonia and nitrite while you are doing a fish-in cycle.
If this tank is just being established and the OP is doing a fish-in cycle, I would suggest water changes daily rather than weekly if the fish are to survive. Why set aside water for at least a day? Unless the OP has strictly chlorine (which is getting rarer, as most will use chloramine) aging the water will not help. Since Platyperson461 has mentioned using a dechlorinator, the water should be added right after being treated.
Platyperson461 - what is the name of your dechlorinator? Some can be used to temporarily bind ammonia and nitrite while you are doing a fish-in cycle.
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Is it a hang-on-back (HOB) filter? It should be fine. You don't need a bubbler, air stone, etc, unless you want it for looks or want an additional air-powered filter.
I'd concentrate on getting the tank cycled at this point. Measure the water parameters daily keep an eye on the fish and do daily water changes.
I'd concentrate on getting the tank cycled at this point. Measure the water parameters daily keep an eye on the fish and do daily water changes.