10 gallon tank stocking

[Sweets1023]

Hi there!
I currently have a 10 gallon cycling (fishless cycle) and I have been looking into what sort of fish to put into it. I don't have all that much experience with fish keeping (I had a gourami tank a couple years back and I have friends who are experienced fish keepers), but I am Very passionate about animals. I also have a bit of a knack for them . The past few weeks I have been doing tons of research on site after site, hour after hour, about which sort of fish can put in the tank. This gave me some general ideas of what I would like to keep. I will not be getting fish any time soon, I will probably get them in a couple of months (they will also not be added all at once). I was thinking of the following fish:

- 2 or 3 Sparkling Gouramis (Trichopsis pumilus) (1 male and 1-2 females)
- 4 or 5 Celestial Pearl Danios (Danio margaritatus) (TANK RAISED ONLY.. I am aware of their declining species in the wild)
- 1 or 2 Panda Corydoras (Corydoras panda) OR a few Pygmy Corys (Corydoras pygmaeus)

I was originally thinking of a pair of Dwarf Gouramis and a few Neon Tetras but due the increasing activity of the iridovirus in the dwarfs and the parasite in the neons I was too iffy about buying them. I rather have healthy fish .

I was hoping to have a balanced looking tank, 1 or 2 "showcase fish", a handful of shoalers, and 1 or more "cleaner type" fish. I got this tank idea off of a handfull of websites, two of them being: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=559, and http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Stocking_a_10_Gallon_Tank, but I am a bit unsure of my options and if what I have selected works out okay I really would like to stick with some sort of small gourami as a definate. I absolutely love them. I would really appreciate if I could recieve some friendly and constructive suggestions, tips, advice or help that anyone could offer me. Please forgive anything that I have wrong or and mistakes that I made, like I said.. I am semi-new to fishkeeping. Its why I came here for help from experienced fishkeepers . Thanks for your time if you read this and/or commented and sorry for the lengthy post. Please help!

[Mystery]

Pygmy corys (sp pygmaeus) are very small and can be timid. I would suggest getting at least 5-6 which would equate to 2-3 normal sized corys.

[HN1]

Welcome to AA!

Your proposed stocking sounds good to me. I might suggest taking your cory number up to 4, but other than that it looks very well thought out and researched! Bravo for researching and fishless cycling!

[mgamer20o0]

sounds good. you even got the right names for the CPD which isnt easy since they keep changing it. much of the cpd stock coming in now are all farm raised. they found more pools with them. they are being mass breed and i would guess if it hasnt already happen it will happen so that there will be more of them on earth then ever was in the wild.

[Sweets1023]

Thanks for all advice and comments so far!! They've been very helpful. I wasn't sure if my listed consisted of to many fish or not. Since I posted I've adjusted my list to:

-3 sparkling gouarmis (1 male 2 female... if I can manage to find a place that can tell the difference..)
-5 celestial pearl danios
-5 pygmy corys

I'm still open to any more feedback that anyone has

[severum mama]

Originally Posted by Sweets1023

Thanks for all advice and comments so far!! They've been very helpful. I wasn't sure if my listed consisted of to many fish or not. Since I posted I've adjusted my list to:

-3 sparkling gouarmis (1 male 2 female... if I can manage to find a place that can tell the difference..)
-5 celestial pearl danios
-5 pygmy corys

I'm still open to any more feedback that anyone has

Looks like a fantastic stocklist for a 10 gallon. I had a trio of sparkling gouramis for a while and loved keeping them. Unfortunately I lost them due to a heater malfunction.

[Sweets1023]

Originally Posted by severum mama

Looks like a fantastic stocklist for a 10 gallon. I had a trio of sparkling gouramis for a while and loved keeping them. Unfortunately I lost them due to a heater malfunction.

I'm glad I was able put together something that will work well. I've spent hours doing research and looking at website after website. I have a question about your gouramis!! You said you had a trio, did you have a male and 2 females? Or was it simply a random combination. Just asking cause I've read that they do best in a 1:2 ratio.

[severum mama]

Originally Posted by Sweets1023

I'm glad I was able put together something that will work well. I've spent hours doing research and looking at website after website. I have a question about your gouramis!! You said you had a trio, did you have a male and 2 females? Or was it simply a random combination. Just asking cause I've read that they do best in a 1:2 ratio.

I'm honestly not sure. They were the only fish in my 5 gallon Eclipse. I had read about them and heard that a trio would do well. When I saw them at the LFS there were only 3, so I decided to chance it. It worked for me, but like I said I have no idea how to sex them. I took the chance because I had so many tanks it would have been easy to separate them.

[Sweets1023]

Originally Posted by severum mama

I'm honestly not sure. They were the only fish in my 5 gallon Eclipse. I had read about them and heard that a trio would do well. When I saw them at the LFS there were only 3, so I decided to chance it. It worked for me, but like I said I have no idea how to sex them. I took the chance because I had so many tanks it would have been easy to separate them.

They don't have any color markings that seperate them from the males and females. Supposedly the mature females are slightly rounder at the belly than the males but I'm not sure. The only sure-fire way to figure it out is with a bright light and looking for ovaries /facepalm

[Mystery]

Pygmy corys rock