Maintenance Plan For 10 Gallon Aquarium

Hi,

I'm new here to this forum and somewhat new to fish keeping. I bought a 10 gallon tank around 8 months ago to get started with this hobby. I set everything up and cycled the tank for 8 weeks before adding any fish at all. I started with just 4 platies, 2 male & 2 female. About a month after getting those fish I added 2 cory cats. Things were going well and the platies eventually bred and had some fry. I didn't isolate any of them & just let the strongest survive. I ended up with the 4 adult platies, 10 fry who were maturing, and the two cory cats. My bio load went up and I had slacked off a bit on the maintenance a bit because all of the fish were "doing fine" Then about 2-2.5 months ago the platies started going down (dying) one by one. I wasn't sure what was up, so I went and got my water tested...nitrates were like 120ppm! I think old tank syndrome had begun to set in. I started doing more frequent maintenance but it was too late at that point, all platies died. The cory cats must be incredibly hardy as they were the only survivors. With just the two cory cats, my bio load dropped and with increased maintenance nitrates dropped to around 35-40ppm which is high but much better than before.

I decided to start over and restock the tank recently. This time around I've went with 1 male & 1 female platy, 2 female and 1 male guppies. The cory cats are still going strong. I came up with a game plan this time to prevent deaths and keep my water clean. I now know that a 10 gallon tank requires very frequent maintenance (I plant to upgrade to a 20 or 29 gal may be this summer). I also don't plan to keep many fry that survive, I know someone with an 80 gal tank that will take them off my hands. What I plan to do is use Seachem Prime with every water change. I'm doing a 20% water change every other day. Once a week I plan to vacuum the gravel/substrate completely along with cleaning the sides of the tank with a sponge.

Does this plan sound sufficient enough to keep the water pretty clean and keep nitrates low?

 

Until you upgrade to a larger tank, I think that's more than enough . Cories are shoaling fish, and require a minimum of six in their school. If recommend the 29 gallon, because of the platies and the amount of fish you have. Good luck!

 

That is the plan eventually! I will need to build a sturdy stand/table first if I go with the 29 because it will weigh roughly around 330 lbs. filled.

Just need to keep what I have right now alive in my 10 gal. tank until I can build a stand a find a good 29 gal tank to buy.

 

You are way overstocked for a 10 gallon no matter how much you maintain it. If you feel the need to keep livebearers go with 3-4 male guppies. Colorful with no breeding. Your Cories should be rehomed. They really need groups to be comfortable.

 

You are way overstocked for a 10 gallon no matter how much you maintain it. If you feel the need to keep livebearers go with 3-4 male guppies. Colorful with no breeding. Your Cories should be rehomed. They really need groups to be comfortable.

Yeah I'm realizing that a 10 gallon tank is pretty much worthless unless you just like to keep a single solitary fish, or a pair of the same sex.

Thinking I might let my friend with the 80 gal. tank have the 3 guppies and the 2 cory cats & I'll just stick with the two platies until I can get a 29 gal setup.

 

Agree with the cories, they are shoaling fish and need a minimum of 6 they also need a minimum tank size of 20 gallon