New 10g stock question

heathernoll

heathernoll

Small Fish
#1
Mar 18, 2005
22
0
0
38
Southwest Kansas
www.digiverve.com
#1
Hey all! I'm new to the forums and I had a couple of questions about a tank I'm getting ready to set up.

First of all, I'm pretty familiar with fish, but I'm no expert. I grew up with numerous setups, but haven't had anything to do with fish since I moved out of my parents house about a year ago. I'm currently living in an apartment with my boyfriend of 3 1/2 years and he's decided to let me set up a tank. I want to set up a nice 10g tank to get back into the flow of things before I set up my 55g and I was wondering what kind of stock I could have with the following fish in mind:

Dwarf Gourami
Fancy Guppy
Neon Tetra
Amano Shrimp
ADF
Oto and/or Albino Cory

I could do without the ADF and amano shrimp if I had to, but I've never had either before, so I thought it might be something new and interesting.

The tank will be somewhat planted as well, which I've never done -- I've always had fake plants, and I was also wondering what kind of filtration and lighting would be best for my setup.

Any other advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for any comments!
 

Last edited:
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Rebgen

Small Fish
#2
Feb 4, 2005
36
0
0
Central Iowa
#2
You should get lots of good replies...while you're aiting I'll take a stab at some of your question.

1) Lighting: Since you mention this will be a planted tank you'll want to determine what plants you want and what their light requirements will be. There are plenty of low light plants to choose from if you want to avoid more expensive high-light set-ups. Check this site out for some ideas. http://www.plantgeek.net/article_viewer.php?id=17

One of my tanks is an Eclipse 12 and it has several of those plant s growing well with 1.25 WPG and no CO2 supplemented.

2) Filtration: You have lots of options. For a 10 gal. I'd recommend one of the Emperor, Penguin, or Aqua Clear brands. They are consistantly rated well and are very affordable at places like Big Al's, etc. I'm partial to bio-wheels due to their ability to provide a hight biofiltration capacity.

3) Stocking: Everything you mentioned sounds like it'd be fine to put into your 10 gal. I'd advise against putting ADF's into your 55 gal. when you set that up. They don't find food very well and may starve to death in a larger set-up. I have to target feed mine a couple of times a week to make sure they're getting som food.

Finally, if you're not already familiar with how to properly cycle a tank prior to stocking it with fish, please do yourself a BIG favor and do some searches and read up on it. Buy a good freashwater test kit (Aquarium Pharmaceuticals makes an excellent one) and you'll be well on your way.

Good luck and let us know how it's going.
 

R

Rebgen

Small Fish
#5
Feb 4, 2005
36
0
0
Central Iowa
#5
A very rough rule of thumb is 1" per gallon of water, but that rule is highly variable based on other factors such as live plants, how messy the fish tends to be, and shape of the fish. Rummy nose tetras adult length is 2.5" so more than four would be a potential problem. When you consider a couple of oto cats and/or an ADF you quickly run out of space.

In my 12 gal. I fudge a little and have been okay. I have 5 Sunburst platy fry (1 month old), 2 otocinclus, 2 ADF's, and some common pond snails. The tank is moderately planted with java frens, anubias, crypts, and ludwigia repens. I do 25% PWC every 5-7 days and haven't had any problems.

Have fun with your 10 gal. and realize you'll have more flexibility in stocking options when you set-up your 55 gal. In the meantime consider doing a search for other threads relating to 10 gal. stocking options and you'll have plenty of reading for a while.
 

FroggyFox

FroggyFox

Forum Manager
Moderator
#6
May 16, 2003
8,589
10
38
42
Colorado
#6
Personally I wouldn't set up a 10 first. Unless for some reason you want a 10 running in your house with a 55 around too. Reason I say this is because usually the bigger the tank the easier it is to take care of and the more "forgiving" it is with water chemistry etc. Plus, the amount of money you'll spend setting up a 10 for plants with new lighting etc...you might as well take that money and put it towards lighting for the 55 instead. Thats my take on it anyway. Plus in total (tank, equipment etc) thats another 100 or 200 bucks that you can put towards the 55 instead of spending it on the 10 and then having to save up and spend more on the 55. Most things you buy for the 10, you wouldn't be able to use on the 55.

BUT In answer to your question if you decide to go ahead with the 10...I'd say you could get the dwarf gourami, 3 or 4 cories (they like to school, need at least 3) and an adf. I wouldn't get neons for a new tank...and I dont think I'd put neons and a gourami in a 10G together because they'd get in each other's way. At least the cories are fun to watch and occupy a different level of the tank than the gourami. Either that, or you could go with a school of cardinals or other small tetras and the cories. I dont think you need an otto in the tank...if you start getting algae down the road you could add one, but he'd probably starve to death in a new tank.

Another fish you might take a look at would be harlequin rasboras. I think they're gorgeous and lots of fun to watch, but you want to have at least 5 of them together as they're pretty shy.

You could also think about stocking your 55 and decide which fish to put in the 10 depending on that. Either get fish that you intend to keep in the 10, stay small, will get along with each othehr nicely etc. OR maybe just a school of cardinals that you plan on moving to the 55 and taking the 10 down or using it as a quarentine/fry grow out tank etc.

And...great advice from Rebgen...if you dont know what a cycle is...or familiar with how to set up a tank without exposing your fish to high levels of ammonia and nitrite...take a look through the sticky threads at the top of the beginner forum for our "tips" on how to set up a new tank...and of course if you have questions on any of it feel free to ask :)
 

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