nick89

Hi all,
I have had a 10 gallon tank running for quite some time. When it was first going I put in a pleco to eat all the brown algae, but now the pleco is close to 7'' long and needs to be donated. My plan is to start fresh, and add some fish good for a 10 gallon. I was thinking maybe 2 otos and some schooling fish, but I need some ideas.
THanks!

Amanda

Small tetras, maybe a few cories.
MY opinoin is a betta, 3 cories and a few otos.

Lucy

Welcome to Fish Lore

I agree with Amanda on the small tetras. Better yet, I like her betta idea
Or possibly a few guppies.

Enjoy the forum

Beth1965

I like seeing tetras schooling aorund with something as a distraction, maybe a couple cories.
Most of all I like fancy guppies but I have had the absolute worst luck with them. I've given up on them for now.
Welcome to FishLore!

Beth

Iron waffle

welcome to fish lore! i hope you find it useful

I personally would skip the otos because they need a stable population of algae, are very sensitive, and they always tend to die off very quickly. there are many fish you could keep:

dwarf gouramis
guppies
swordtails
any small tetra
cories...

I would personally like a dwarf gourami, a small school of tetras and a few cories.

good luck.

harpua2002

I keep 2 peacock gudgeons and 5 pygmy hatchetfish in an 8 gallon tank and they are fascinating fish to keep.

Or, a trio of sparkling gouramis with a red cherry shrimp colony would be great too. Sparklers have a ton of personality.

prairielilly

I have a ten gallon that I'm planning on turning into a micro-community - just like I'm going to have in my 20g but with tiny fish. Ember tetras (or possibly emerald dwarf rasboras instead), pygmy cories and a honey gourami.

Endler's livebearers would be a really nice option too Or a trio/quartet of male platies...

Welcome to FishLore!

Bad Wolf

i would get 5 neon tetras or 5 danios or 1 male betta with 3 pygmy cories or 4 kuhli loaches and an oto.

good luck

Nate McFin

I hate having tetras in my even my 20 gln cube. Its just to small to let them school back and forth the way they seem to want to. My vote goes for Betta and Cory combo.

nick89

i like all these ideas. thank you all for the input!
some of you mentioned the sensitivity of the otos, which has kinda made me think different about getting some to replace my pleco. i really like the cory ideas, but if algae became a problem would an oto be a good idea?

prairielilly

From what I've read, the amount of algae in an aquarium will never be enough to properly sustain an oto, and they will require supplementary feeding. When I had mine I had to put zucchini in the tank every day.

If you have live plants in your aquarium, you will have much less worries about algae

nick89

alright thanks,
i think what i might do for now is get a dwarf gourami, 5 tetras, and some cories. based on the number of tetras and the gourami, how many cories should be put in?

agabr123

welcome to fishlore

if you get pygmy cories, then you're fine getting 4-6 of them. i'd stay away from the bronchis cories, they can get upwards of 3.5-4 inches. but for the regular cories in a 10 gallon i'd get 3 of them

nick89

yea i was thinking bronze cories.
would that be enough room for all the fish, provided that i will have 1 dwarf gourami, 5 neon tetras, and 3 bronze cories? just want to be sure before i begin to stock

Iron waffle

yep, that sounds like a very good fish tank

ABCDemily

A betta would be good,
A Dwarf Gourami (Only one) AND a school of small tetras.
Small tetra school AND two cories.
There's a loads of combinations. Just don't be too tempted to over-stock.
And four male guppies would look beautiful

Blub

Algae eaters aren't the solution to algae - even if you set up a planted tank with only algae eating fish! The solution is good water quality, and if you have plants the plants must have the right care so they can out-compete the algal menace.

Personally I'd say 3 bronze corys (who can get to almost 3") 5 neons and a hoey gourami would be overstocked - simply because all can go downhill at the speed of light in small tanks like yours - if you missed a water change then you could be in trouble. For that reason, I'd get 5 neons and 3 smaller corys (pandas, leopards etc.) or 5 neons and 5 dwarf/pygmy corys, or 5 neons and a honey gourami and perhaps a single male platy.

Alzado

my 10 gallon tank holds: 2 dwarf gourami, 5 male guppies, 3 boesmani rainbows and a wood shrimp.

Bad Wolf

i think a dwarf gourami should have at 10 gallons to himself and an additional 5 gallons for every extra gourami.

Blub

That sounds like a great ratio for DG's - for larger gouarmis it would be a bigger ratio.

jdhef

That is a 10 gallon tank that is headed for real trouble. First off the Bosemans need much more room than 10 gallons since they require some swimming room. They will get to be 4 or more inches long. Secondly, if both of those Dwarf Gourami's are male, you will soon see them getting aggressive with each other. Thirdly, you are way overstocked. The general rule of thumb is 1" of adult size fish per gallon. The DG's are about 3" each and the Rainbows about 4" each. That's 20" of fish right there. I don't know the adult size of guppies, but at just 1" each you would have 25" of fish in 10 gallons of water.

harpua2002

That's a great idea stocking-wise, but if you could imagine 2 DGs in a 15 or 20 gallon tank, I think it would be headed for some real aggression issues.

Only if you can stock one male DG and any other DGs are female (which seem exceedingly difficult to find in the hobby), and even then it's not a safe bet. Same goes for trichogaster trichopterus (blue, 3 spot, gold, etc.)- in a much larger tank of course.

gumby4973

not sure about a betta u can try it but i never had success doing it, i may depend on where u get the betta. i have harlequin rasbora, mickey mouse fish, tetras, black and neon tetras, barbs, guppies but if u put guppies in there make sure u get the same sex because u will have million of them if u don't

Alzado

maybe I'm in over my head here? i have noticed that the larger of the two Gourami will chase the other away from his hiding spot in a piece of driftwood, but figured the tank just needed more hiding spots (which i provided). but it will get worse as they mature?

i'm disappointed in myself because I really didn't want to mess this up.

jdhef

To answer your question, it probably will get worse as they mature, but you can never be 100% certain because different fish have different temperments. But since you have one that is already bullying the other, it would be a good bet that it will get nasty.

The simple solution is to get a bigger tank! (Well I didn't say it was the cheaper solution). As you can see in my signature, I have two Dwarf Gourami's, but with it being a 36 gallon tank, they have enough room to stay out of each others way.

You'll also see that I have 3 Boseman Rainbows. They are great fish to have. If you just had a bigger tank, you would have a really nice set-up!

Good Luck!

Bad Wolf

well, i reckon at least 29 gallons for 2 males, but when i wrote 10g plus 5 additional gallons i was hoping they were male and female, i know how aggressive they get.