Amnagrla

I need suggestions! I have a 10 gallon tank. It's cycled and I need to put fish in! lol

I want to do like an asain theme, blue gravel, asain decor.

What should I do for fish??

sirdarksol

With 10g, your number one asian choice is going to be bettas.
You could probably get away with three glassfish instead of a betta, though I have not seen how they deal with being in a small tank like that.
If you don't have a betta, you could add a few Amano or cherry shrimp (the betta would eat them.)

Barbrella

A betta or something like Cherry barbs or Rasboras, which all originate in Asia, would be a good choice for an Asian tank.

I dont' think you'll be happy with the blue gravel though. It's too unnatural looking and you want a serene feeling.

Here's a pic to give you ideas for a tank! Reeds, bamboo, Asian figurines...the statues look even better when covered with lush green algae.

Amnagrla

I was already thinking of cherry barbs or cardinal tetras but I didn't want to say anything to see what other people thought.

I see what you're saying with the blue. All I know is I want to get rid of the red I have. Same problem, too unnatural looking.

Where do you get bamboo?!

Barbrella

You can get artificial bamboo plants at the pet store, and they are very realistic looking.

Or, home centers sell bamboo poles to put in the garden, so you could take a look at those. Just make sure they're not treated with anything.

tkfury

http://www.dwarfpuffers.com/plants.htm

Its a Dwarf Pufferfish site but it does list a number of plant species as well as fish that would work for a Southeast Asia feel. The cherry barbs or cardinal tetras would look lovely. You don't really have to worry about losing them to the decor due to their coloring ^_~ Perhaps a school of harlequin rasboras?

I personal perfer black gravel for my semi-asian theme. I have seen someone use white and it was brilliant what with the lush green plants and, I believe it was a tall dragon decoration. Believe it was in the member tank board.

You can get live bamboo - its called Lucky Bamboo but its leaves must be kept out of the water (making it a little awkward with a hood but I can't say I've seen any pictures of tanks that have Lucky Bamboo with any hoods). As Barbrella said, many stores do sell fake plants. Believe the ones I've seen are either a single stalk or in groups of threes. A little pricy for my tastes but the safety bet. And again, as Barbrella said - home improvement stores usually sell bamboo poles. You may have to hollow it out and coat it with clear polyurethaine varnish to keep it from rotting. I've coated the pieces I've got but I have yet to add them to the tank. I've been told you may need to replace the bamboo over a peroid of time but if completely sealed it should last a great deal of time.

Barbrella

Actually, the plant sold as "Lucky Bamboo" is not bamboo at all, but specially pruned and rooted plants of the Dracaena family, a terrestrial plant.

As tkfury says, you cannot grow it in a tank that has a hood, and it will rot in time since it's alive and cannot survive submerged.

Dried bamboo is a better choice, especially if it can be sealed as mentioned.

Butterfly

As long as the "lucky Bamboo" leaves are out of the water it does fine and all the nodes under water will grow roots.
I grew one long one in the tank (sand substrate) and a small one in the filter. They grew in this tank over a year until we had to tear the tanks down to move. The pics aren't very good but maybe they will be ok.
carol

Attached Images

	bambo in kuhli tank.jpg (43.7 KB, 6 views)
	small bamboo from filter.jpg (19.8 KB, 4 views)
	looking at bamboo through hygro.jpg (45.2 KB, 7 views)

Barbrella

Yeah, they're sold as an aquaculture in pots of stones and water and lots of dracaenas are sold in petstores as water plants. As I said they'll live for a time if you can do as you did, and let them grow out of the tank (although they get leggy/pale due to lack of strong enough light).

I just prefer true aquatic plants!

Butterfly

Me too as you can see by that last pic. I just wanted to show with care this could be done
carol

angelfish220

Wild betta would be really cool if you could get your hands on one.

Amnagrla

Thank you so much for the suggestions....

I'm definitely going to look for some sort of bamboo thing - whether it's fake or sealed or something.

I really wish I could come up with a good combo of fish... a small shoal (maybe like 4) and one flashy fish. I just can't seem to make the numbers work....

angelfish220

I dont know if they're asian, but for a cool fish you could get is sparkling gouramis. They get about 1.5 inches long so go great in 10 gals, and arent very agressive so you can have 3-5 in a ten gal

Jim

OK, I keep recommending this book, and you need it too. It's called "Aquarium Designs inspired by nature" by Peter Hiscock, and it's a facinating work on bio-topes, and has at least 2 chapters on Asian bio-topes. My Mystic Swamp tank is technically a Southeast Asian Swamp bio-tope, and made for Betta and gouroumi. If you want a REAL asian tank, not just in looks, but also as far as water chemestry, etc, then find this book. It's worth it's weight in goldfish!!! lol

Jim

gouroumi are asian swamp fish, yes.

Amnagrla

Thanks. I just ordered it. Do you have any ideas for fish?

Jim

You ordered it that fast? wow, cool. I promise you won't be disappointed. But as for fish, I would wait until you get the book. Not only does it describe dozens of tanks for different world regions, it gives great descriptions of the plants and fish native to these regions. As much as I like to think I know about fish, I was amazed at a lot of things I never knew, and found all of it facinating. My advise, if you ant not just a tank, byut a beautiful home for your fish, is to wait, be patient, read this book as well as anything else you can find. Then plan carefully exactly how you want your tank to look. Trust me, it'll seem like a long wait, but the final result will be more than worth the wait.

Amnagrla

lol yep, now I can't wait for it to come.


I went to PetCo today just to look around, get some ideas for some asian decor (like a buddha or something). I bought new gravel. I'm going to do this whole transition over the next month so everything doesn't get crazy. I bought 3 different 5lb bags of natural brown. 1 bag of little rocks, 1 bag of the next size up, and 1 bag of the bigger ones. I'm pumped. I'm going to do the gravel change tomorrow.

I also started looking for some good looking bamboo-ish stuff. I tend to like to do a mixture, some fake plants, some real plants.

I'm still having trouble with the whole fish thing. I really REALLY want to do like 4 little fish and a betta or a gourami. I just can't think of a good combo! Ahh!!