Best fish for new tank
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Fishperson
Aquarium Advice Addict
Well with a 10 gallon tank you are fairly limited but there are lots of cool ones.
Easy to care for:
- Guppies: Very tolerant, but very messy. A good stock would be 5 of them in a tank, with maybe a centerpiece fish. You need around 1 male to 2 or 3 females, or all males.
Intermediate care:
- Celestial Pearl Danio: Newly discovered, fairly rare fish, but it's really cool! Pretty hardy and active, but quite shy, so make sure you have lots of hiding places. It can cope in pretty much any pH and hardness, so that isn't a problem. The best stocking for it would be 12 of them in a 10 gallon tank. They like lots of plants, and tons of cover. They don't do well with tankmates that are bigger, or a whole lot more boisterous (let alone agressive) then them. Due to their color, a dark substrate would be best.
- Chili rasbora: Similar to the CPD in that it is colorful, and thus a dark substrate would be best, and that they do well in most parameters. However, they are not as shy, and are far smaller, so a setup of 16 of them in a 10 gallon would work fine. They will do well with other fish IMO, but not anything very big.
- Honey gourami: Solitary fish, that is very capable of being kept with the other schooling fish listed here. Not so sure about the parameters, but it is quite hardy and very docile.
Advanced care:
- Microdevario kubotai: It's a cool new, very rare fish that can probably be treated as a CPD, because it is also pretty shy IMO and around the same size. I don't think it is a good beginners choice at all because it requires stable water conditions.
- Pencilfish: There are some types of pencilfish that can live in this tank, but they also need some live food I think. Probably not a good beginner's fish, but I barely know anything about them.
I personally recommend a tank like this:
- 1 honey gourami
- 8 celestial pearl danios
- 10 chili rasboras
It would be very well stocked, but it would be a cool tank.
Easy to care for:
- Guppies: Very tolerant, but very messy. A good stock would be 5 of them in a tank, with maybe a centerpiece fish. You need around 1 male to 2 or 3 females, or all males.
Intermediate care:
- Celestial Pearl Danio: Newly discovered, fairly rare fish, but it's really cool! Pretty hardy and active, but quite shy, so make sure you have lots of hiding places. It can cope in pretty much any pH and hardness, so that isn't a problem. The best stocking for it would be 12 of them in a 10 gallon tank. They like lots of plants, and tons of cover. They don't do well with tankmates that are bigger, or a whole lot more boisterous (let alone agressive) then them. Due to their color, a dark substrate would be best.
- Chili rasbora: Similar to the CPD in that it is colorful, and thus a dark substrate would be best, and that they do well in most parameters. However, they are not as shy, and are far smaller, so a setup of 16 of them in a 10 gallon would work fine. They will do well with other fish IMO, but not anything very big.
- Honey gourami: Solitary fish, that is very capable of being kept with the other schooling fish listed here. Not so sure about the parameters, but it is quite hardy and very docile.
Advanced care:
- Microdevario kubotai: It's a cool new, very rare fish that can probably be treated as a CPD, because it is also pretty shy IMO and around the same size. I don't think it is a good beginners choice at all because it requires stable water conditions.
- Pencilfish: There are some types of pencilfish that can live in this tank, but they also need some live food I think. Probably not a good beginner's fish, but I barely know anything about them.
I personally recommend a tank like this:
- 1 honey gourami
- 8 celestial pearl danios
- 10 chili rasboras
It would be very well stocked, but it would be a cool tank.
henningc
Aquarium Advice Addict
- Joined
- May 26, 2013
- Messages
- 1,229
You may want to go with some bottom feeders such as Kuhli loaches or MTS. You could also go with 2-3 CPO crayfish.
I would look for another center piece fish as the Honey Gourami would be pushing it in a 10gal. I would also cut down the school numbers or it will be crowded.
You could go with the following:
Pigmy gouramis 2 x Sparkling
Celestrio Danios x 6
Chilli Rasboras x 6
Kuhli Loaches x 4
MTS - Only takes a few
I would look for another center piece fish as the Honey Gourami would be pushing it in a 10gal. I would also cut down the school numbers or it will be crowded.
You could go with the following:
Pigmy gouramis 2 x Sparkling
Celestrio Danios x 6
Chilli Rasboras x 6
Kuhli Loaches x 4
MTS - Only takes a few
Fishperson
Aquarium Advice Addict
IMO kuhli loaches need more room than a 10 gallon has. And a honey gourami should be fine in a 10 gallon. They don't move around a whole lot. Besides, those fish are all very small, under an inch in size. It wouldn't be crowded at all.
librarygirl
Look It Up
Hi and welcome. How did you cycle the tank? If you just let it run empty without adding an ammonia source I'm afraid it's not cycled and not quite ready for fish yet. This guide may help: Guide to Starting a Freshwater Aquarium - Aquarium Advice
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