Suggest 10 Gallon Stocking Ideas Please...

Hello, I will soon have a fishless 10g with a nerite and 2 ramshorns, I’m currently housing two juvenile swordtails that will be rehomed. I’m aware of the list on here but most of it is pages and pages at scientific names that I really don’t want to research one by one...any unique ideas? No shrimp or embers, I have those in another tank. It is planted with hornwort, water sprite, anubias, java fern and moss balls, cholla wood..thanks!

 

Chili rasboras, celestial pearl danios, or endlers livebearers.

 

Thanks, I’m looking into the cpd’s as someone else recommended them also, along with some mini corydoras. Trying to get as many options as I can and then pick what I like best.

 

How about a pea puffer??

 

In my tank I will have guppies, endlers, and shrimp

 

Love puffers! But I want more than one thing in here

 

How about an apistogramma and a few endlers?

 

How soft or hard is your water? You should keep that in mind as it's easier to keep fish that do well in the water you have or else you'll have to accommodate them.

 

That’s an option, I like it...thanks!

True, I really should’ve said that, very hard, like almost 8...

 

You could have guppies or platies. They are eye catching and hardy. They can thrive in a higher ph like you mentioned.

 

If you keep apistos then add driftwood and/or catappa leaves to lower the ph. They like lower ph

 

If you decide to go with soft water fish, I'd recommend cutting your water with RO water and checking to see which percentage is optimal. Then from there on, use that percentage when doing water changes. That way, you'll know exactly what is going on with your fish. Adding driftwood, leaves, peat moss, etc., may soften the water, but then it has to sit in there for a while before you can know what effect they're having. Then changing out with your hard tap water will only serve to increase the pH suddenly, and then it may (or may not) drift down a bit.

I found that my neon tetra tank (which was tricky for me) did best when I cut 50% RO water when I put the tank together (with a dirted bottom and lots of plants), and I changed out with 50% RO water each week.

So now you can see why I embraced Endlers wholeheartedly when I first encountered them some 12 years ago. Whew! A fish that loves hard water.

 

Plywood or driftwood?

 

I appreciate all this advice, it’s been fun researching. So far I’m favoring pearl danios and salt and pepper corydoras. Both say a pH of around 7.5 but are flexible if it doesn’t fluctuate.....thank you all!

 

No pepper cories. They get big and need at least a 20 gallon

 

Not the pepper but the salt and pepper, Corydoras habrosus...

 

Which get the same size?. No pygmies either.

 

Actually everything I read says they’re about an inch, others are over 2”.....very conflicting info out there...however, I believe my water is too hard so I won’t be doing it.

 

I know you said you wanted more than one species, but what about shell dwellers? If you look on the 10g stocking list there is a type of shelly that can be kept in a 10g. That would be a pretty cool tank.

 

Oh nice idea, I’ll definitely look into that! Thanks so much.