10 gallon tank ( fish selection)

hello, I also have a 10 gallon tank that currently has 4 tiger barbs in it. same as in my 20, I want something rare and cool, does anyone have suggestions ? I know they are limited because of the tank size but any would help

Tank You !

 

Shell dweller cichlids are uncommon and you could probably fit 2 or 3 in that tank. I'm not sure how they'd do with the barbs, though.

 

Welcome to Fishlore!

Shell dwellers are definitely very cool. You could have more than 3 though. Tiger Barbs don't belong in a 10 gallon so you will have to rehome them or upgrade.

I also like the idea of a Neon Tetra biotype. I'm trying that right now with RCS and Neons. It looks great so far.

Do you know about the nitrogen cycle and is your tank cycled?? If you don't know about the nitrogen cycle I suggest you read up on it as it is essential when domestically keeping fish. You can read an article on it by clicking on the underlined name.

 

You are already fully stocked with the tiger barbs. Tiger Barbs need a larger tank and a bigger school. There is a good chance they will kill anything you put in there

Edit: Rouge! You ninjad me!

 

I did not !! You posted a minute after me LOL

 

Or, you posted at 9:09 and 59 seconds. I'm sticking to that.

 

Hehe I still posted before you

 

I would suggest rehoming the tiger barbs and creating a heavily planted tank with celestial pearl danios and rcs. I think that would look amazing.

 

I second the celestial pearl danios, and also say swamp guppies (picta livebearer) or a separator and 2 dwarf puffers. lots of choices

 

Picta are harder to keep and somewhat rare. I would not recommend them for new fish keepers.

 

how can my local pet store give information that is so completely off from the reality? they told me I was fine with the barbs and that I had plenty of room to add more fish???

 

how can my local pet store give information that is so completely off from the reality? they told me I was fine with the barbs and that I had plenty of room to add more fish???

Several Reasons:

1. Employee isn't that knowledgeable
2. Money driven
3. Money driven

 

Agreed. Most pet shops are just trying to get you to buy more fish and the employees know practically nothing about fish most of the time.

 

how can my local pet store give information that is so completely off from the reality? they told me I was fine with the barbs and that I had plenty of room to add more fish???

HI Stu, Welcome to FishLore!

I know what you mean. One would think that the best place to go for advice would be the fish store. But in reality it is almost always the place where you are sure to get the worst advice. I was shocked to find this out myself, so you are not alone.

But if you keep your eyes open you'll see that fishstore advice always is in favor of selling you something, rather than not. Then their bad advice leads to buying more stuff from them. Like when they tell you to fill your tank and let it run a few days to "cycle" then come back with a water sample. Then when you do, they test the water sample and tell you it's safe to add fish. Of course it's safe, there hasn't been any fish in the water, hence no ammonia!

Then after several days as your fish start to get sick from ammonia poisoning (maybe they get ich) they sell you ich meds. Then when a couple of fish are killed they convince you that you need to alter you pH and sell you a pH modifier. And on and on it goes.

 

how can my local pet store give information that is so completely off from the reality? they told me I was fine with the barbs and that I had plenty of room to add more fish???

Unfortunately a lot of us were in the same boat, myself included. In short most store employees don't know much and just go off whatever they are told by corporate or a supplier...which may hold some sense of truth in a bare minimum sort of way but really isn't good for the fish. Sure, 4 tiger barbs will survive in a 10 gallon tank...at least for awhile but will never be all that they could be with a proper amount of room and a properly sized school. You can also put other fish in there sure...maybe they'll go after it maybe they wont. This is a lot of the reason why most people just assume it's normal to have to buy new fish every couple of months.

As to what to do, I'd return or rehome the barbs as step one. Then go with one of the other suggestions in this thread, all are good depending what suits your fancy.

 

thank you all for the help and suggestions ! I will approach pet sore advice with much more caution!

 

Ok so I just got a tank last week and because I had no idea how to do anything, I got an Angelfish, sadly he died because my tank isn't cycled and I just didn't know what I was doing. Been doing a lot of research so my tank has been going through the cycle and is not ready yet, so this isn't like I'm going out tomorrow and buying fish, I'm going to wait but would just like to get an idea on what would be best. I have a 10 gallon tank, filter, and a heater. Just wondering, when my tank is ready, what fish would be good to get, I was thinking of getting another angel, but they can grow pretty big and I would rather get another one when I have a bigger tank/more experience. What would you all recommend on getting?

 

Welcome! A 10G doesn't give you a ton of options, but still some good ones. Do you want a single fish or multiple? You can even go the non-fish route if you're interested. Angels would be a no-no in such a small tank. Not only do they outgrow the tank, they can be aggressive.

 

Hello and welcome to FL

I'm sorry to hear about your Angel

How are you planning to cycle your tank? I would definitely recommend doing a fishless cycle if you can. That way you can have everything ready ( in about 3-5 weeks ) and not worry about harming your fish with ammonia and other toxins while the tank is cycling.
If you don't want to go that route, you could also do a fish-in cycle using Tetra Safe Start.

I would read up on these two subjects and determine which way you want to go. There are plenty of people on here that could help you with both!

As for stock, in a 10 gallon - definitely NO Angel fish! As you already know, Angels can get quite big. Mine was the size of a dime ( body ) when I got her at 3 months old ( she is 11 months now ) and the size of my palm! They get quite big.

What kinds/colors/theme are you looking into? Since you have time and no fish in your tank now, I would suggest researching what might interest you. There's platy's, guppies, a single Betta, there's shrimp, snails
The thing you really need to focus on is the size of your tank and what can reasonably fit in based on size of school ( are the fish schooling fish where you need to have them in numbers, etc )

Look around the fl site - go to the fish profiles and see what interests you..... In the meantime, we're all here to help you

https://www.fishlore.com/freshwaterfish.htm

 

Thank you both for answering! I was thinking either one fish or little multiple. After I found out how big angels get I definitely won't get one till I can have a bigger tank! (We live in an apartment at the moment so my 10 gallon is perfect for the moment. I've heard tetras are good? But I don't know a lot about fish as you can see.
I'm cycling my tank with instructions that I actually found on this website a couple days ago! It's a fish-less cycle. I'm much too paranoid about putting fish in right this moment just because I did lose my angel. I should have done more research before I went out and bought him.
I'm just kind of looking for something that can be in a 10 gallon and not be over crowded. I don't really want goldfish though, that's probably weird but I just don't lol. Next year I will be getting a 36 gallon or a 40 gallon (Tax returns lol)

 

You could do some platys or guppies. But If you get females you will get tons of babies.

 

It's a good thing you don't want goldfish. 12 inch fish do not belong anywhere near a 10 gallon!

What about any of the smaller gourami? Honey, Sparkling, Croaking? All are super neat, and fun to watch.

 

A couple ideas:

- A pair of honey gouramis

- A fully planted tank where the only fish in it are the cleanup crew... that would be otos, mts, rcs, and/or a clown pleco (maybe too big for that tank? I don't know plecos well). The cool thing about this approach is that it's incredibly low maintenance.

- Tetras... take your pick of the usual suspects.

- Harlequin Rasboras

- Pacific Blue-Eyes... and I've heard conflicting opinions on this, but honestly, if you stick with a small school (5 or 6), they'll do well in a 10g. Having lots of hiding places, especially plants, is a must, since the males do tend to spar. They get along even after they fight, but you just really want a place where they can get away from it all.

- ADF pair. If you do this, I expect to see you back on here freaking out on a daily basis until you realize that you've become a pro at it.

- Betta (if you want to be a conformist...)

- CPDs



Have fun.

 

small tank = small fish

If it were mine, I'd do a nano fish school, like ember tetras or endlers livebearers, both beautiful species. My favorite tank at the moment is my 16 gallon red cherry shrimp tank. I also have assassin snails and corys in there. You could do pygmy corys in the 10 gallon, with the shrimp and snails.

The majority of tetra species would actually require a larger tank, some as much as 30 gallons.

 

I'd say a schook of White cloind minnows, nshrimp or Celestial Pearl danios. As Lynda said, Endlers are great fish.

 

Thank you all for replying! I've gotten some great ideas!

 

overwhelmed yet with responses and ideas from researching? just wait till you're hooked. I'm not trying to make you nervous at all, it's just a lot info if you're new. But like anything, once you get the basics down it's not that bad. it can be as easy or as complicated as you make it. there are many many ideas and for each, a ton of ways to approach them. some ideas will work for some, some won't at all. this is a great place to learn from those with experience. just let us know which route you get interested in.

If you want a small community type setting with some variety (lots of people like to put as much they reasonably can in a tank):

*handful of pygmy cories - cute little (~1") bottom dwelling scavengers (will still need food of their own), and will play/shoal together
*many red cherry shrimp - ~1", referred to as RCS (not CRS - different shrimp), will pick at algae and leftovers all over the tank (substrate, glass, plants, etc). if they are happy they should breed.
* ONE dwarf gourami (couple color varieties) - ~2", will stay at the top level of the tank, not the quickest swimmer but if it finds a small rcs it may get eaten. I had one once, didn't last too long cause they are apparently pretty susceptible to parasites/diseases. also, if they are happy they will create a nice nest of bubbles on the water surface, like a betta would (same species of fish)
*1 assassin snail - snails are a good thing in most cases (you only hear the bad stories). this one is small, very good looking and will actually eat any pest snails such as malaysian trumpets (mts) and pond/bladder snails that may enter your tank with plants
*1 horned nerite snail - I know, I just told you to get an assassin. BUT it won't eat this guy. Assassins usually just go after smaller snails, unless in a group. this snail is small, won't lay eggs, and will keep your aquarium glass clean of algae. it's an algae eating machine.

.... this is the most I could think of with the greatest variety (color, sizes, types of creatures, etc), AND usefullness. but just my 2 cents