New 10 Gal. Biotope

[Urge4Surge]

Hi everybody! *SUPERSMIL

How are you doing? I'm brand new to this forum. Right now I am starting a brand new 10 gallon biotope fish tank, but am not sure about how many fish it can hold.

I was really intrested in a northern Madagascar biotope. Or if anyone has an idea for other cool habitats.

What fish would fit in the tank? What plants?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Leopardess]

I suggest you look up some more information about what fish are native to the area and which ones you like. We can help you decide but you have to do the initial research

When you find fish you like, ask us what we think or how many we'd stock.

Look up the plants at somewhere like http://www.tropica.com/default.asp and use their advanced search feature. What plants you can have is dictated by how many wpg you have, what substrate you can provide, if Co2 will be present and what water column fertilization you plan on.

Have you read up on what it means to cycle a tank? Look it up in the beginner's section if not, its very important and must be done before you can add fish.

Good luck and ask questions

PS - Here are some valuable resources:

Northern Madagascar biotope information:
http://fish.mongabay.com/biotope_madagascar.htm

Madagascar's freshwater species list:
http://www.mongabay.com/fish/data/Madagascar.htm

 

[Urge4Surge]

Thanks for the reply. I used the same website to find the madagascar biotope and do some research. But after reading all the conditions, I kinda hit a wall... Most fish there are too big for a 10 Gal. setup.

I was thinking one of the killfish, the Paretroplus petiti, and Bedotia geayi, Bedotia marojejy. How does that sound? Would these be available at the LFS?

For the substrate I want to use very fine sand.

Sorry if it sounded like I wanted to have you guys do all the work. I was just looking for some creative ideas that people have and got over the years of fishkeeping.

 

[Urge4Surge]

so appearantly the Paretroplus petiti is now called the Paretroplus dambabe... weird

 

[Leopardess]

Oh, thats okay surge. We just get a lot of newbies here who don't want to do anything - it can be hard to distinguish on someone's first post Sorry

Well, lets see. The Bedotia geayi is not a viable option. It reaches 6" in length and must be kept in schools (I have them, they're great but need more like 45g). The others I don't know about first hand, but I suspect the other bedotia gets too large as well. Those are all likely to be very hard to find, except maybe the killifish depending on the kind. The B. geayi were quite difficult to find and I've never seen them since in the area.

ROUGHLY, you'd go for 10" of fish. That doesn't mean you could have two 5" fish, but something like ten 1" fish would be closer to what you'd want. That rule is quite horrible and I don't suggest you ever (!) use it to stock, but that may give you some idea as to what to expect. That level would decrease depending on aggression and other circumstances.

Very fine sand is fine (Play sand, like for sand boxes, at Home Depot would work. Check the label to make sure it doesn't have additives), but planted tanks often require a more nutrient rich substrate. Something like Flourite or Schultz or EcoComplete. Some plants will grow alright in sand, but it won't be optimal.

You will need to upgrade the lighting that comes on a tank. You would want anywhere from two watts per gallon of water to 3.6ish, depending on how much you want to work.

 

[Urge4Surge]

Weird, Fishbase said that the Bedotia geayi only gets to 9cm or 3 1/2 inches. then 6'' is way to big. How many do you have in your school? Maybe when I move out and get my own house... *twirlysmi I can get them in a big tank.

Most of the Madagascar fish are HUGE!!! I found some small ones tho.

I think the killfish, or a goby (Rippled coralgoby, speckled goby) and some small fish.

Can you have some nutrient substrate at the botom and then sand on top? Because for the biotope it needs sand (mainly for the Cichlids??)

Or do you guys think I should pick a different region?

 

[Leopardess]

Nah, they can get 6". That will be adult males, 4-5" will be more common, but you have to plan for 6". Mongabay lists them at 6" as well. Even 3" will be too big for a 10g, especially for such an active swimmer.

I have 6 in my school (in the 125g), but that was all they had. I will get more when I can, probably two more males.

You can have sand on top, but it will eventually shift and mix. I didn't mean to imply that you can't have sand, just that growth may not be optimal. But it should still grow alright. Im trying to find you a picture of a tank with sand. It turned out quite well

10g is very hard to work with - it gets harder when you limit yourself to a certain region.

EDIT: Here:

http://aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/showthread.php?t=3856&page=3&pp=10

Look at the bottom. That tank uses sand and river rocks. Not too shabby once things got into balance.