ruthiesmom

Ok 2 weeks ago the rest of my fish died and now I am cycling the tank the right way without fish. We are not using ammonia but we dropped the piece of raw shrimp in and are just waiting it out. With my busy hectic life and a very active 3 yr old ammonia was not the right option.
Any way we are starting to think about what we would like to stock the tank with. My daughter keeps asking me for nemo (clownfish). I know he is saltwater,is there a freshwater fish that look close to nemo. Or what are some neat colorful fish that are active and busy to keep her attention. As of right now we only we have 10 gallon. I have 20 gallon but, I am not starting to mess with that till I can keep a 10 gal. without killing everything.
Any thoughts would be great.
Thanks
Tina

Fishies-for-me

Did you know the bigger the tank the easier it is to keep stable??. I don't know of any freshwater fish that look like a "nemo" but guppies are great for little kids as they are not shy . They will come right to the tank glass and beg everytime some one is there to look. My nephew loves mine the best out of my 6 tanks. I think platies and mollies will do this to. Bettas are nice to for kids as they also have a personality and will come to the glass and say hello....um...where's the food??...lol. You could do a divided 10 gal and put in 2 of those. Neon tetras are real bright and flashy. Good luck.

ruthiesmom

I know about thebigger tank issue but still need to get a few mor things also before it will be ready. I would rather avoid the betta for now, I would like a community tank and the betta may not work with all the other fish. We had guppies last go round and am not real crazy about tetras. I was thinking maybe about a few drawf gouramis, are they a community fish and do they need buddies for schooling?
Tina

Amanda

Dwarf gouramis are cousins of bettas, and do well by themselves (as far as with other gouramis). You could have one gourami & a trio of guppies. That would be colorful & active.

Fishies-for-me

dwarf gouramies are good with other fish but if I am correct not so good with each other. ( males anyhow will fight).. I have harliquin rasboras and they are a real nice little fish that like to school and are not to shy...albino cories are also not to shy...at least the 6 I have arn't..lol They are quite commical as well. I call them little fin puppies as they remind me of a litter of pups playing. hmmm maybe some others will have some ideas...good luck.

agabr123

yeah, especially in a 10 gallon definitely just ONE dwarf gourami. if you had another male they would fight, if you had another female, you'd need two more to keep aggression down so he could divide his time between them.

TennThunder

Dwarf gouramis are pretty fish, but they are very shy. If you buy them, plan on seeing them hide in your plants and seeing them only when it'd feeding time.

Mike19

Not necessarily true, i have two DG when i first got them one was very shy but now you cant make them hide if you wanted to haha.

Pearl Gouramis are really nice can be orange looking not a clown fish but yeah haha

dancerhas

Tiger Barbs are very active schooling fish that look somewhat like clownfish. They even are available in albino which is white on orange instead of black on orange. A 10 gallon is too small for a school of them (and they must be kept in a school) but they might enjoy a home in your 20 gal. Definitely not recommended as a community fish though...they are known to be nippy, so it may be best to keep them in a species tank.

TennThunder

Every DG I have seen acts that way, maybe they act different where you come from, but in the US, how a lot act. BTW, please quit always responding to my posts, thanks.

Mike19

It was just my opinion, I respectably had to disagree. I don't know everything just speaking from my experience of having two. if you got offended then im sorry but i didn't criticize you and call you a liar. its a forum sometimes people will agree and disagree i have had many disagree with me that dose not mean im going to tell them to stop.

Mike

TennThunder

No offense, I just didn't appreciate the tone of some of your responses to what I say, so just please focus on other people's comments and not mine.

Lucy

Please, everyone be respectful of each other's opinions when sharing their experience with different types of fish.

How one person's fish behaves may differ greatly from another's experience with the same species, regardless of where they're from.
It's in the OP's best interest to know this.

Fishies-for-me

glo fish are bright and active.....they school and are very pretty

agabr123

as someone else suggested, guppies are very colorful and active. in your 10 gallon, I'd suggest something similar to a set up I have, three male guppies (they breed like rabbits, unless you want lots of baby guppies on your hands, dont get any females ) and three cory cats, i'd suggest pygmy (dwarf) cories in just a 10 gallon. cory cats would be great for your daughter to watch too, they "wall dance" and scavenge around, so cute!

Matt

Many fish will get little kids attention

-Matt

ruthiesmom

Thanks for all the input and thoughts, I think when I get the fish this time I am making a trip about 45 min each way to a LFS that has had a fantastic reputation for the fish and knowledge for 35+yrs of experience and 250 aquarmines to pick from. So maybe I will just look and browse and see if something jumps out at us.
tina

sirdarksol

Something to think about when making trips like that (though difficult to do in this case since it's 45 minutes) is that it's best to go to the store, see if anything jumps out at you, go home, do research, and then come back to make a final purchase. That way, you get the best of both worlds; a visual idea of what you want and how it will work in your aquarium combined with research to verify that the fish will work in your aquarium.

agabr123

completely agree with sirdarksol, research research research, better to do the research first and then have fish that you know you can keep (you'll get attached and your daughter will too!) rather than having a fish that you'll have to return. for the 10 gallon, a guideline to keep in mind but not a rule to live and die by is an inch of adult sized fish per gallon, so for example, if you want mollies, they get to about three inches, so i'd say you could get three of them.

Shawnie

although I agree research, do it here first then write it all down and bring the list with you because I know I wouldnt want to drive 45 min to see what they have then come back and ask for help then go back again...gas is cheap but not that cheap for 45 min LOL...I think some platies will be cool..some mickey mouse ones will keep the nemo orange black theme..unless shes a totally smart 3 year old, maybe she wont notice the difference? goodluck in whatever you decide tina!!

agabr123

lol i missed that it was 45 minutes away! but yeah, research online is pretty easy, and of course you have fishlore for advice and help along the way!

sirdarksol

That's always my first suggestion, Shawnie; do research before you go.
It sounded like a trip was being made to the petstore to see what they had, and I wanted to caution against buying on impulse.

Shawnie

I agree!!! we have all been the "impulse" buyers at one time or another im sure...its not fun is it....

dancerhas

It can lead to mandatory MTS.