# What to do with a 10 gallon



## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

My seven year old son has saved up enough money to buy some fish, so I have agreed to let him use a 10 gallon with equipment that wasn't being used.
We're actually trying to _not_ do cichlids in this tank.
Currently we both like the idea of trying either a male + harem of Betta splendens (Siamese fighting fish) or a community based around a nice school of tetras.
But Killifish sure look nice too!

Any ideas or tips?

kevin


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## drenchedgremlin (Jan 6, 2010)

Hello,
I'm so glad i can finally help someone on this forum. I have over 13 ten gallon aquariums. I have enjoyed stocking them with small community fish. if anyone tells you that you need a big tank to enjoy fish, never listen to them. If you want a betta, that would be a good option but personally, i would choose the tetra and community option. You could try about 5 neon tetras or 5 glowlight tetras.These are the best species of tetras for a 10 gallon as they are very hardy and stay small but you could just select a species your son likes and get about 5. A great option for a bottom feeder would be the corydoras catfish (aka cory) . they come in many colors and patterns and you could pick a few types of cory catfish and have a school of 3-5. they will school all together even if they are different types of corys. That would be a grest community tank but if you decide not to get the corys, you could get a dwarf gourami. they get along well with tetras and are absolutly beautiful. You could also add a 1-2 platys.

There are many options, just take your son to the store and see what he likes. just dont get all the fish at once because they could all die. what you need to do is let the tank run for about a week. At this point you can add 2-3 fish. wait another week add a few more. by doing this, you are avoiding what is called an ammonia spike which kills your fish.

Sorry if you already knew this.
here are some pictures of the fish i mentioned, you can show them to your son if you like.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aqua ... c=830+1161
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aqua ... page_num=1
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... pcatid=981

You can browse the types on this site and read about each fish.
most of the fish on the link above can be housed in a 10 gallon even if the stats say they can't

hope i helped


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Hey *ridley25*,

My first thought, before I had even finished reading the first sentence, was to do a betta breeding tank. You just need to make a divider for the tank, perforated perspex would be my choice, instead of eggcrate.

If you can, try and find a LFS that specialises in Bettas. The difference between the run of the mill LFS Betta splendens and the line bred varieties can be staggering in same cases. As an example, here's a link to a LFS near me that specialises in Bettas. Down the bottom of the page there are quite a lot of videos of the pairs Jodi-Lea has for sale. Ignore the prices as this is an Aussie LFS, I would expect a USA LFS to be much cheaper.

FISHCHICK AQUATICS


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I like neons and kuhli loaches.


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

Thanks for all the responses! Now it's time to do some more homework.

But more suggestions are welcome!

kevin


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

I like killifish in a 10 gallon!


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## Afishionado (Jun 6, 2006)

If you've going for a small community, don't rule out Otocinclus as a catfish option. They stay small - won't look disproportionate to the smaller tetras. As a bonus they help with algae control.


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## toddnbecka (Oct 23, 2004)

Have you considered inverts like cherry or tiger shrimp? You can keep a much larger number of them (compared to fish) in a 10 gallon.


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

I hadn't, but I will. Thanks!


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Red Cherry Shrimp and Sparkling Gouramis.


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## Steve St.Laurent (Oct 2, 2008)

Keep in mind your water parameters in your area as well. I had a tropical 10 gallon tank for my daughter for a few years and lost many tropical fish due to the extremely high ph (8.3) and hard water (20 kh) we have in our area. I tried to lower the ph for a while and eventually gave up because nothing I could do would lower it. We tried gourami's, several different tetras, and swordtails. Given our hard water I decided to just switch it over to a cichlid tank and did a shellie tank for her with 5 sunspot brevis and she's loving it. We also have 3 ghost shrimp in there (left over from the tropical) that are a blast to watch. Small tanks can be a lot of fun but the smaller amount of water in them makes changing the water from what you naturally get and keeping it stable is more difficult.


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

Good point, Steve. I don't plan on messing with my chemistry at all in this tank; I'm going to stock something that likes Toronto water.
Which is:
GH 120
KH 80
pH 7.7

kevin


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## Sulfurhead (Jul 18, 2005)

Neon tetras and Multies opcorn:


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## Electrophyste (Aug 5, 2009)

why not a male betta, a vouple khulis, and 5 or 6 neons, that would be a nice tank, if you can get them instead of khulis get a couple bumblebee catfish, they stay small


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

If its a 10 gallon, why not go a bit on the cool side and do some Celestial Pear Danios and maybe a paradise fish, and you could still do some cherry shrimp.


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## Electrophyste (Aug 5, 2009)

paradise fish are gorgeous little fish.


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## sweety (Jan 10, 2010)

Hmm hard one really for me I would add a couple of Cory's or some pigmy cory's as I just love these little fish as they are often on the move & full of personality but make sure there is a cover glass tho as they do like to rush up to the surface & dive back into the water in a cloud of bubbles. I would think your Son would like their behavior. Poss some small tetras for the middle section & a fighter for the top


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

I ended up stocking:
8 Glowlight tetra (Hemigrammus erythrozonus)
4 Panda cory (Corydoras panda)
4 Oto (Otocinclus vestitus) man, these are delicate - 4 of 8 have died in three weeks!
Before:








After:








kevin


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## toddnbecka (Oct 23, 2004)

Oto's are rather well-known for being delicate critters. They really only thrive in larger, well-established heavily planted tanks from what I've gathered. A bristlenose pleco would be a better choice for an algae eater if the 4 Oto's remaining don't make it.


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

In my experience, it's more of how new the oto's are to the LFS. I've never had issues with them even cycling a new tank as long as they weren't newly imported.

Awesome job on the 'scaping!! :thumb:


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## adam79 (Jun 27, 2007)

dwarfpike said:


> In my experience, it's more of how new the oto's are to the LFS. I've never had issues with them even cycling a new tank as long as they weren't newly imported.
> 
> Awesome job on the 'scaping!! :thumb:


Agreed, otto's don't ship well. I beleive I read somewhere that they need to eat often, so a combination of not being fed and the stress of shipping takes a toll on them. I ask the LFS how long they have had them in and look for fat little bellies.


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

I bought 8 with the understanding that they're not hearty - I wanted four. If any extras had made it they would have been moved to another tank, but that's not necessary now.

If the other four die off I'll go with a BN - but I wanted to try something different.

kevin


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## adam79 (Jun 27, 2007)

Here is a good link for anyone needing to research smaller species for smaller tanks.

http://www.minifische.de/minifischeE.html


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## CoolCichlid (Feb 12, 2010)

have you tried killfish?


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