Advice on Stocking a 10 gallon

[sarah5775]

Ok. The fun part. I set up this ten gallon about six month ago, to hold feeder fish for my frog. I rescued three goldfish that the owner was going to flush, and since they were small and I had nowhere else to put them, they've been living in the ten gallon for about five months. Now, I finally got a 20 gallon tank for them. Before you say anything, yes, i know this is too small (they are about 3 inches) but I only intend to keep them there until they get big enough so I can bring them back to the lfs. If I bring them now, they will be lunch, so I want to grow them an inch or two and then they'll have to sell them as "pond fish"

Ok...that is a roundabout way of saying I have a free ten gallon.

it is filtered with a small box of a type I don't know. I am adding a Whisper 10. So with those two filters, and a fully cycled tank, what should I add?

I want nothing that will have babies or outgrow the tank. I want to avoid Neons because I can never keep them alive. I already have the following in my 29 gallon community tank: gold barbs, black skirts, bloodfin tetras, and checkered barbs.

I am thinking a group of 5 or 6 male mollies? Or would there be too much aggression? Another one I'd love are tiger barbs, but i have a feeling its too small. Any ideas?

 

[mgamer20o0]

10 gallon too small for mollies..... how about some rainbows? or a school of embers?

you have a QT right?

 

[cwt]

I've run a bunch of fish through my 10G, and I would say the smaller the better. My cherry barbs probably did the best, they're small and don't move around a lot; danios worked ok in there too. These are egg-scatterers and not a threat to fill the tank rapidly. White clouds or rasboras would probably be ok, I haven't tried those yet. Anything bigger will need those two filters.

As for rainbows, I had some of my praecox rainbowfish in there, and they outgrew the tank pretty fast; they're not big, just move too fast.

 

[mgamer20o0]

yea those i wouldnt put in a 10. i was thinking more in the lines of pseudomugil gertrudae pseudomugil signifer which stay at about a inch or so.

 

[Nippy Fish]

I've got a 10 gallon with a crayfish in it. I love my crayfish, she's great fun. Very entertaining, and something different. You just have to make sure and get the kind that doesn't get past 5" or so.

 

[sarah5775]

Someone on another forum suggested glass fish. What do you think to that? Maybe three or four, and a few cherry barbs? Would that be ok? I just have to make sure that i can find the kind that aren't "painted" as too many of the lfs only sell them that way. I am pretty sure I can find them at this one small pet store I sometimes go to- they are pretty ethical, I've never seen a dyed fish there. But most stores don't sell them plain.

Anyway, what do you think?

Oh, and yes, i have a qt - another ten gallon

 

[HooKooDooKu]

Almost allong the same lines as the notion of a crayfish tank... what about a shrimp tank. Shrimp have a small bio-load, so you could have lots of them in a 10g tank.

 

[cwt]

the cherry barbs will get along with most anything you put in the tank... I don't know about the glass fish, but info on the net seems to suggest they also have that quiet, no-fuss manner. The only thing I would add is, if you're adding a small schooling type of fish, to have enough of them so that they don't get nippy or paranoid and hide all day.

HooKoo mentions shrimp; I have red cherry shrimp in my 10G right now, along with a couple of kuhli loaches (who hide all day) and an adopted rainbow shark (who hides all day no matter what tank I put him in). The fish are bottom-feeders, so they don't bother the shrimp, and it works well for that size of tank. All with black moon sand and dark decor. So it's the moody/emo tank ;0 Find an idea or theme, and run with it... more fun that way.