Jesskb

Hi everyone, if you read my previous posts, you will know I now have an empty ten gallon aquarium that I would like get some new fish for. My poor borris has passed on, but I can't stand seeing the tank empty.

So I will look to you guys for help in stocking my tank! I would love to get a new goldfish, as they are so personable, but 10 gallons seems too small to most people, so I'll pass on it. I think a community tank would be pretty interesting, and it would be fun to pick out individual fish for it. I don't know, I also like fish that have a lot of character, something I can call by name.

Here are a few fish I'm interested in:

Neons
pygmy cories
White cloud minnows
Endlers
Kuhli loaches
Ghost shrimp
Fancy guppies
Anything you guys recommend.

I think I'm most interested right now in neons, endlers, and cories, white clouds seem cool too. I would like to keep at least 2 species of fish. I'm not really interested in bettas or Platies though. And if you guys know of any fish that is personable like a goldfish, I would love to hear about it! I'm going to the pet store on Friday to get the testing equipment and a heater. I'm also considering usinga few easy to care for plants, so suggestions on that would be nice too.

Thanks yet again,
Jess

gunner13

Odessa barbs, ruby barbs or platinum barbs are cool. Khuli loaches are great fun but they hide all the time. I had 1 a few years ago and thought it was dead as i didnt see it for a year. I broke the tank down and it had been living in the filter. Good luck with your decision on fish.
Nick

Lucy

Guppies are pretty, they come in different colors so you can tell them apart and name them.
Endlers are pretty, I can never find them around here.
Pygmy cories are awesome. Much more suited for a 10g than regular cories, however, telling them apart is a little tough. lol
Neons are pretty, but again, to me, they all look alike.

3 guppies (one gender unless you want fry) and 3 or 4 pygmy cories would be a cool 10g.

Kitsune

Kuhli loaches are great fish. You need at least a minimum of three and the more the better when it comes to these fish. If you had just one it would hide all the time. The more you the more secure they feel and thus the more you will see them. Mine dance across the tank lol

gunner13

I wanna get some more but i have a fire eel, he wld chomp them up

Kitsune

Soooo.... I vote for white cloud minnows or Kuhli loaches!

Jesskb

I was doing research on this site: http://www.dwarfpuffers.com/ and was considering getting a pair of dwarf puffers. If I acquired a male and a female, they should be ok together in my 10 gal (I guess some people keep 3). what do you guys think about this idea?

Lucy

DP's are cute.
I've read that they're hard to sex.
Here's our General Guide to Puffer Care

namehater

i have endlers and i think they are very boring, i wouldnt recommend them. puffers arent really a very good beginner type fish, no offense implied. i would say go for a couple of guppies and some cory cats.

Diggly

I want a dp tank! They look so cute they need alo of plants though to cut down aggression because they wont always be able to see each other, I think fake plants are ok!

Tropical Aquarist

Well I have heard that some puufer fish want brackish water. But im not 100% sure on that one. I also know that you would only be able to have a couple of them and no other species.

If your water is naturally hard and the pH is high (like 7.6 +) I would cosider trying to find some type of cichlid for your tank. Shell dwellers are really cool. So are some julies. I prefer cichlids, because they have personalities and are not just concerned about the next meal. It would still probably be a species only tank, and the fish cost more, but cichlids are usually more hardy and can handle ph "swings that are almost bound to happen in a small tank.

Julies like caves and shelldwellers, well you guessed it like shells. You also might need to get finer substrate (small gravel, or sand). Some people also say that they can overstock a cichlid tank so that there are less territorial problems. I disagree somewhat, but it's your tank. I prefer the personality of my cichlids over tetras and corys.

If you have very soft water like PH 6.0 and you want a community, a few Ram Cichlids could work with a couple neons and a small pleco.

As for plants, well Im not so good, but java fern is suposed to be easy, but you have to mess with Co2 producers and possibly a better light.

Here are some pictures of a golden julie, a comon shell dweller and a ram.

Attached Images

	golden-julie.jpg (25.5 KB, 39 views)
	lamprologus_multifasciatus.jpg (23.9 KB, 39 views)
	Papiliochromis_ramirezi.jpg (120.1 KB, 40 views)

Diggly

dwarf puffers are fresh water, figure 8s are brackish. It depends on the type you want to get.

Jesskb

Thanks for the input everyone! I have decided to go with a pair of dwarf puffers, and three oto cats. The people on the dwarf puffer forums say that 3 gallons per puffer, and one per oto, so that leaves me with a gallon to spare. I guess I may get some ghost shrimp as long as the puffers don't kill them....Now I just have to be patient while the tanks cycles.

namehater

from everything ive read here on fishlore, you will be stocking the puffers and feeding them oto's and shrimp. i cant speak first hand however.

Jesskb

They should be fine with the oto's. Almost everyone on www.dwarfpuffer.com seems to keep them together, Oto's are one of the few fish that can be kept with them. The shrimp will be hit or miss, some dwarf puffers will eat them, some won't.