10 Gallon Tank: What's a good community/school set up for a 10 gallon tank?

[ricktavious]

I recently lost the only fella living in my 10 gallon tank To help myself feel a bit better, I'm planning what to do with the tank once I figure out what happened in there. I am thinking about a community or school for it. It's a 10 gallon, has a few floating plants at the top but nothing else as far as plants go (of course, could always add more). Large smooth marble substrate. Has a cave, a chunk of dense wood at the bottom, and a couple of bridges.

I'm thinking about making it a community/school tank. Not too sure what type of fish to think about for it though. I've never had a tank with more than 2 fish in it, so I would like to start off with something good for beginners.

Any suggestions?

[bmxer193]

A school of about 6 Neon tetras or guppys should do fine in there, their very nice, small and active fish

[Gouramiguy17]

A couple of harquelien rosboras would be nice and then you could add ghost shrmp as cleaners. Or you could put some glowfish,(the zebra danios genitically changed) or a school of only corys or alot of kulhi loaches

[ricktavious]

I like the way the loaches look, but in a 10 gallon I couldn't put more than a couple in there could I? Guppies, glowfish, and the neons also look neat. And I'm assuming with any of those, 5-6 would be suitable amount to a) be happy and b) be healthy?

[Lucy]

I'm sorry about your loss.
From what I understand Kuhlis don't have too much of a bioload so you could have a nice little group.
Great suggestions from the above posters. You're right, 5-6 would be a good amount of the fish suggested.
I recently got some Glow Lights, they're pretty cool.

[ricktavious]

For any of these fish, would I have to worry about "natural breeding" or anything like that, or would I have to set something up for breeding?

[iloveengl]

Danios lay eggs and those are usually eaten before the fry develop (though miracles do happen - a month ago we had one surprise fry survive).

Guppies make babies like it's nobody's business, which is why you really need a harem set-up if you're going to mix the sexes. For your tank, that would mean 2 males, 4 females. OR if you don't want babies, you could have all the same sex.

So long as there are hiding spots (java moss, bushy fake plants, large gravel, glass marbles, etc.), you're pretty certain to have fry survive.

[ricktavious]

So with fry, what is the thing to do? Do I take the babies out and "protect them" or whatever from hungry parents, or leave them in and let nature do it's thing? Will I need a smaller tank, say a 5 gallon, set up for fry?

I know nothing of what to do with fry, as my bettas have never a-sexually reproduced

[TFA101]

its your choice. my fry survive whether or not the luxury of a protective breeder net is available. If you choose to save them, a small tank can be purchased for that purpose. If not, leave them be. And remember, female guppies can store sperm. So even if you don't have a male, she can still give birth.

[iloveengl]

Originally Posted by ricktavious

I know nothing of what to do with fry, as my bettas have never a-sexually reproduced

LoL. If they ever do, please let us know. It would be a fishy miracle.

Well, what to do with the fry is dependent on whether or not you have the capabilities of housing them when they grow up. Some livebearers, like guppies or platys, can have 10, 20, or more at once time. Yeah... I know.

I let nature take it's course, ie. survival of the fittest/fastest/best at hid-n-go-seek. Eggs are usually eaten by all the fish in the tank. The fry of the livebearers usually become fast food. Nonetheless, we have ten baby mollies in our 55g and one baby danio in the FW. I think fry are more street-smart, so to speak, when they are raised in the tank, rather than separated. But if you really want your babies, they'll need a separate tank - the 5g would work well for a month or two.

Where are you going to keep the babies? DO you have room for them when they are full grown? Do you have a LFS that would take your babies once they are a few months old? And so forth.

[ricktavious]

From what I've read, if I get some glowfish or danios, then I would not have to worry about reproduction as much as some of the others mentioned. Sound about right? I'm the type that I can't send a fish to a pet store if I have the means to take care of it (even if it means buying a whole new tank, and yes, this has happened before).

[iloveengl]

Lol! Hmm, you could get all male gups. I had three in my 12g and they got along great. Really pretty little guys and sweet tempered. I had danios with them too, and everyone got along great.

[ricktavious]

Hypothetically speaking, let's say I got 3 guppies and 6 danios....for a 10 gallon tank would that be biologically safe and would the guppies and danios have enough buddies in there to be happy?

[aquarist48]

Hello Ricktavious. Some great stocking suggestion above. Sorry to hear you lost your fish. Don't forget to feed your tank so that you don't lose the cycle! Keep us updated.
Ken

[ATKINSON]

Originally Posted by ricktavious

Hypothetically speaking, let's say I got 3 guppies and 6 danios....for a 10 gallon tank would that be biologically safe and would the guppies and danios have enough buddies in there to be happy?

Not sure about the danios and guppies as I have heard that danios can become fin nippers and will enjoy tormenting the guppies big tail fins.

[Gouramiguy17]

3 male guppies right? If you get a trio of guppies danios will eat them all alot if times

[ricktavious]

Thanks folks.....is there a type of fish that I could get a few of that would live with male guppies peacefully in the 10 gallon?

[Shawnie]

3 male gups and 4 neon tetras ....but i wouldnt add anything until you can afford a test kit and find out where your tank stands ....smaller fish have a harder time to adapt to tanks that arent up to par..especially guppies n neons ....good luck!

[ricktavious]

Originally Posted by Shawnie

3 male gups and 4 neon tetras ....but i wouldnt add anything until you can afford a test kit and find out where your tank stands ....smaller fish have a harder time to adapt to tanks that arent up to par..especially guppies n neons ....good luck!

Need to find the little tubes....got the kits though, might run by the store to pick one up later today if I can't find it.

[ilikefish]

Or instead of neons you could get cardinals. They are just a tad bigger but they are even more colorful and are hardier. They look basically the same though so their cool.

[Shawnie]

Originally Posted by ilikefish

Or instead of neons you could get cardinals. They are just a tad bigger but they are even more colorful and are hardier. They look basically the same though so their cool.

if you go cardinals, I wouldnt add the guppies and id go with 4-5 cards...they are bigger and in a 10 gal, you might be pushing it with the cards and guppies

[jdhef]

You could get a school of about 5 or 6 Dwarf Neon Blue Rainbowfish.

[bolivianbaby]

Originally Posted by jdhef

You could get a school of about 5 or 6 Dwarf Neon Blue Rainbowfish.

I must respectfully disagree on this. Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish should have a minimum of 30g for a school.

[jdhef]

From my research on them, they are supposedly fine in a 10. They only get to be about 1 1/2".

[bolivianbaby]

They get to at least 2-2.5" and they require swimming space to be happy. A 10 gallon is just too small for them.

[TFA101]

i somewhat agree with bolivian on this one. granted they are active schooling fish, and I wouldn't limit their activity to a ten gallon, but if your tank is longer than it is taller, you could make it with the rainbows.

[jdhef]

Thanks for coming to my defense, but actually, I think BB is correct. I went looking for the info I found in the past that claimed that you could put a school in a ten and couldn't find it. But everywhere else I looked it said that a 20 was the prefered minimum size. Good job keeping me in line BB!

[bolivianbaby]

Originally Posted by bolivianbaby

They get to at least 2-2.5" and they require swimming space to be happy. A 10 gallon is just too small for them.

I just realized how "dry" and arrogant that post sounded. I'm sorry. I really need to make sure I take advantage of all the fabulous smilies we have here.

Originally Posted by jdhef

Thanks for coming to my defense, but actually, I think BB is correct. I went looking for the info I found in the past that claimed that you could put a school in a ten and couldn't find it. But everywhere else I looked it said that a 20 was the prefered minimum size. Good job keeping me in line BB!

We're all in the same side. All we want is what's best for the fish, right Combined knowledge and experience is one of the many things that make this forum so great

[jdhef]

I hope your not feeling bad about correcting me. I didn't take it as dry or arrogant. I'm just glad you were there to correct me so someone didn't mistakenly take my (bad) advice.

[bolivianbaby]

Originally Posted by jdhef

I hope your not feeling bad about correcting me. I didn't take it as dry or arrogant. I'm just glad you were there to correct me so someone didn't mistakenly take my (bad) advice.

I don't feel bad about correcting your information, I just don't like the way I phrased it. I could've phrased it better. You're good people and a good fishkeeper