how many fish for a 10 gal?

[woodsplace1]

most of you know my story so I won't go into detail...

as for now...I am addicted. I am addicted to fish...but I can't get a bigger tank until our basement is finished, and with my luck it will be another year for my husband to get it done, but we are wanting to put a tank into the wall of sorts...

until then, I want more fish!!!!

I have a 10 gallon with 2 female swords, 1 dalmation molly, 1 neon moon, a clown pleco and an ADF. Is this too many or can I add just a few more...

HELP...

it's like an addiction! I can't stop...make it stop! AGGGGHHHHH

 

[ryan]

you can add more fish about 12 1 to 2 inch fish but i think the pleco will get way to big for that tank.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Do not add any more fish to the tank. It is already pretty well stocked. The pleco is not helping the bio-load. If he is removed you may have a little leway.

 

[woodsplace1]

the pleco I have is a mini clown...he won't get that big and I am not willing to remove him...thanks for the advice though...I guess I'll just stick with what I have...

 

[Elmware2000]

I agree with fishyfanatic, you do have a well stocked tank and I wouldn't add any more to it.

The livebearers (swords and mollies) can get anywhere from 2-4 inches, depending on kind and sex, so that's probably 12 inches of fish alone if you follow the suggested 1 inch of fish per gallon of water stocking rule. The neon is probably 2 inches.

If you haven't invested in plants, I would suggest some. They may help with the bioload, but don't let others mislead you into thinking that you can get away with overstocking if you have plants.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Clowns do stay small, but really not small enough for a 10 gal. And even though they are small, they still add quite a bit to the bio-load. Sorry I couldn't really help ya out.

 

[woodsplace1]

what kind of plants do you suggest? I keep hearing it is hard to get plants that don't have snails on them...and I don't want the snails...any suggestions would be great because I don't have any plants at the moment...

thanks, you all have helped tremendously!!!

Ginger

 

[Elmware2000]

What kind of lighting do you have? How many watts?

Water Wisterias can do well with incandescent lighting and fertilizer. These kind of plants do well planted in the back of the aquarium. Most plants prefer flourescent lighting, so I have been told. Avoid rapidly growing plants which will outgrow your tank in no time. One example is an Onion Bulb plant. These do better in larger tanks. I have Hornworts in my tanks, even my 10 gallon tanks, and they do very well, but I also have compact flourescent lightbulbs. I don't know if they do well with incandescent lighting or not. If you buy them from a store that sells you a bunch together, they can grow fast. I had that happen when I bought some Hornworts from PetsMart for my niece and nephew's 10 gallon tank, and ended up taking a big peice of it home. It now sits in my 20 gallon tank. Hornworts provide excellent shading for the fish as well.

From my experience with snails, they have been great for eating algae, but everyone seems to have different opinions on that and yes they do quickly populate in your tank and someone once said that 10 snails is equivalent to one fish. You'll probably get snails with all plants, even after rinsing them. Some people say they bleach their plants but I have never done that and it sounds risky to me.

 

[woodsplace1]

Water wisterias huh? I'll have to check those out...sounds pretty at least...lol
I have a hood over my 10 gallon, I am pretty sure it is incandescent lighting. So how do the plants survive if I have gravel at the bottom of the tank...do they root, what is the story here. And where do you put the fertilizer...I really need help with all this, should get all my ducks (or fish plants what ever) in a row before I get things up and running...thanks for the great advice! I know my brother in law has plants and said he would give me some and he does NOT have snails so I would be safe with those...I'll just have to check what he has...thanks again!

 

[Yodlem]

8-6 small fish (about an inch or less) is the max.

Ooh a little story:

I bought 9 small community fish all about the same and the next day one of them died. So I took it back to the pet store to get it exchanged. The guy in charge of the fish section just told me I should get a refund because I had too many fish in my 10 gallon tank, and he told me that within a month all of my fish were going to die because of crowdedness. Or atleast thats pretty much what he said. What a cold guy. He must've set a curse upon some of my fish Because two more died after that. (not because of crowdedness though.)

But my 6 remaining fish are happy as they can be! Even though I put two of them in a breeding net because they were aggressive to other fish.

 

[Elmware2000]

I bought 9 small community fish all about the same and the next day one of them died. So I took it back to the pet store to get it exchanged. The guy in charge of the fish section just told me I should get a refund because I had too many fish in my 10 gallon tank, and he told me that within a month all of my fish were going to die because of crowdedness. Or atleast thats pretty much what he said. What a cold guy.

I don't think he's exactly right. Even I'm not strict to the 1 inch per gallon rule, due to them being horney, and my fish are doing fine.

woodsplace1, I don't see any harm in getting the plants from your brother-in-law, but if he has algae or anything like that, you may inherit it as well.

Wisterias do well with liquid fertalizers. Most of them have directions written on the bottle. I use Leaf Zone because it's cheap, but I recently found out that it's causing hair algae, so I'm thinking of switching to Flourish Excel because I'm hearing that although it is not an algecide, it has been known to defeat algae.

 

[woodsplace1]

thanks...I think I will try the wisteria or whatever my brother in law has...


thanks for all the awesome help! I'll send pics when I get it all together...