stocking my 10 gal

Aug 4, 2010
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#1
hello everyone. I just got my first 10 gallon and am currently cycling it. I'm used to having bettas and have a few 2.5 to 6 gal tanks for em. this is my first 10 gallon and first non betta tank. I understand 10 gal is not the best when doing community fish since its so small but I don't have the space nor funds for anything bigger right now. I would like to have a mix of zebra danios and Cory catfish. My question is how many of each can i get away with in a 10 gallon?
 

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
Oct 15, 2009
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Northern Arizona
#2
Welcome to MFT! Yay for another betta person! :D

You could do probably six zebra danios and four cories if you went with the smaller varieties of cories (albinos, peppereds, pygmies, pandas). I have two panda cories in my 18gal tall tank and it has the same footprint (base dimensions) as a 10gal and they have plenty of space.
 

lauraf

Superstar Fish
Jan 1, 2010
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Vancouver, British Columbia
#4
Welcome aquamansfish!
Always nice to hear from someone new to this forum who already understands that the tank needs to be cycled and that proper stocking levels are important!
I agree with bassbonediva about the danios/cories. And the AqAdvisor website is a great tool for trying out different mixes and numbers of fish for your tank - click here: AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor
We'd love to see pics when you are ready to show them. Have you decorated the tank? Are you thinking of trying some live plants?
 

TAL

Large Fish
Sep 7, 2008
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#5
Hi. I am TAL.

Danios should be checked for drugs. Hyper fish. Fun to watch.

Cories are awesome. I have three in my 38g. They only swim in half the bottom of the tank which is three feet wide and I dunno 12-18 deep..... So you your ten would be cool.

I have to make some breakfast now. Life cereal? Yea...that's what I'm feeling like.
 

Aug 4, 2010
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#7
wow this community rocks. fast and friendly. My tank is themed specifically for the danios. florescent gravel one glow in the dark plant a couple fake funky colored plants and attinic lighting to bring out the glow. for you betta lovers who posted. I have had 7 bettas in my life. crown,delta,halfmoon,femail veil, veil male, plakat and female crown tail. the one still with me are the plakat (zod) and the female crown (katana) the rest have passed due to old age a wee bit back. I am currently looking for a dragon plakat but don't really have room for one yet so am just looking for a good deal then ill make space.

also as another question for feeding the danios i plan on feeding them every other day but should i feed once or twice during those days.
 

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
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Northern Arizona
#9
I would only feed them once on the day you feed them, but make sure you feed them as much as they'll eat in 3 minutes or so. I feed my fish about once every other day (especially my bettas) and everyone is healthy and happy.

Currently I have ten bettas (eight males and two females), one of which is my son's. I have two halfmoons (my absolute fave!), two crowntails and the rest are veiltails.
 

Aug 4, 2010
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#10
Welcome aquamansfish!
Always nice to hear from someone new to this forum who already understands that the tank needs to be cycled and that proper stocking levels are important!
I agree with bassbonediva about the danios/cories. And the AqAdvisor website is a great tool for trying out different mixes and numbers of fish for your tank - click here: AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor
We'd love to see pics when you are ready to show them. Have you decorated the tank? Are you thinking of trying some live plants?
I'm a bit confused. the site you sent me to basicly said for myset up I could only really have either just 4 glo danios or like 3 and 1 cory. those posted have said more but is possible but with the numbers suggested like 6 and 4 or close to that site says no. I have a 10 gal with a tetra whisper 10I
 

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
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Northern Arizona
#11
AqAdvisor does tend to be a little conservative, as well as I've noticed that it doesn't quite have the right bio-loads for most of the bottom dwellers like cories. It counts otocinclus catfish as having the same bio-load as something like a platy, but it actually has a miniscule bio-load.
Not sure what cory you input, but I just put in 6 glo fish and four pygmy cories and it gave me a 95% stocking level. Even with four panda cories (which are slightly bigger than pygmies), you're at 101% stocked, which isn't *that* bad. By the time I get done, my 55gal is going to be about 110% stocked (I'm running a filter rated for 100gals on it, though).

The only thing I'd do, if you can, would be to get a bigger filter. You always want a filter that is rated for a bigger tank because then it doesn't have to work is hard and neither do you. Something like an AquaTech 10-20 or even a Whisper 20i would be just about right.
 

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bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
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Northern Arizona
#13
YAY for finding pygmy cories locally! I asked one of my LFSs if they could special order them and they were like "pygmy what?" lol

Anyway, you could get by with the filter you have to cycle the tank and then you could add the cories. Once you can afford the better filter, get it and run it on the tank for a while (or stick the media from the current filter into the new filter, along with the regular media for the filter) and then get your danios.