Hi, I currently live in a college dorm with a 10g tank. My roommate gifted me a GloFish tetra without researching first, and now I need to place it in a school. I know a 10g is too small, but I cannot get a larger tank due to my school's rules. I need help here. No one is willing to take the tetra off my hands to care for her (nor do they have the ability to care for her), and I cannot take her back home because my family is moving. So far the only plan I have is getting a better filter and more plants to help the fish that I get. What advice do you all have?
Have you been able to make it work? As I said, Fluffy was a gift from my roommate and she has a great personality. I got attached quickly (especially when the fish swims quick to the front of the tank to greet me). I want to make the tank work. I also checked aqadvisor.com and it stated that it isn't over-stocking to have 6-7 tetras.
Aqua adviser is not an accurate stocking tool, the only thing it really is useful for is bio load. Black Skirt Tetra This is the actual fish you own.
I understand that, but I am not going to simply sell my fish or give it away for it to be put in a worse situation. It would most likely be adopted by child with no more than a 3 gallon tank kit. I simply wish for advice on how to make my fish more comfortable. I trust aqadvisor as it is recommended by experienced fishkeepers.
although not ideal its not the worst thing i have seen. I would up it 3-4 and call it good. They can be either glo tetras, white skirts or black skirts. Or one of each. In an ideal world we would all have 100 gallon tanks.
My brother had some black skirts for many years and they got kinda big, maybe 2.5 inches. If it’s small maybe it’s okay for now but you would have to upgrade them to a larger tank when they get bigger.
I find aquadvisor to be very good, they only take 80% of the tank size anyway I believe so if it says it’s fine just go with it, just make sure you keep up with water changes
AqAdvisor is ridiculously conservative about stocking levels and actually doesn't even work right. Five Glo tetras should easily be okay in a 10gal. so one is fine. Years ago I kept a single Black Skirt for years in a 10gal. with 7 or 8 other fish as company. I say AqAdvisor doesn't work because I entered information for a tank with a list of fish and it said the stocking level was 107%. I then increased the size of the tank and the filtration and with the same fish list it said it was 115% stocked.
I did not say it is the best, but I trust it because of how conservative it is. I am going to go ahead with placing some more glofish in the tank simply because that is what I have researched to be ok. I change the water 25% weekly and check the water parameters often. Thank you for the feedback, I am going to do a little more research but I have a plan now. Fluffy will have a school and I will get some shrimp, plants, and a bigger filter to help with the water cleanliness.
Don’t get ghost shrimp! They will try and eat the fins of the fish especially if they are the long fin versions!
Yeah it should be totally fine tbh. Get some filter plants like Hornwort or duckweed that clean the water. What’s ur filter capacity?
I agree with everyone that says you should be fine and as long as you keep an eye on your perimeters and do water changes when needed. If this little fish and the ones you are gong to add are anything like my long finned black skirt tetras they will be fine. Mine are very slow moving and pretty much stay in the middle of my 55 gallon tank. They venture out of their favorite spot at feeding time but then back to chilling in the middle. The only time they want to get somewhere fast is when they are going after a piece of food.
Thank you for the input. I will definitely look in to those filter plants, and try to find a way to get some. I currently have two 10g filters that I am using that have a 100gph each, but I am looking into getting a 20g or 30g filter to really keep the water clean and stable. Ok, I will stick with snails and/or pygmy corys.
Add 3-4 more tetras and wait a while. I think you are good. I would hold off on corys. A 10 gallon is too small IMO. But a Mystery snail will clean the bottom and glass.
