new to the site, 10 gal. tank stocking questions

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a dwarf gourami would be good, they are really pretty. I'm not sure about the rasboras, but I think you could get away with a school of small rasboras, like the cherry ones. A good site to check is aqadvisor.com they have a detailed list of fish and you can see if they are compatable, if the size of the tank is ok and what kinds of ph or temp your tank should be at. The stocking allowance is on the conservative side, but it is a good way to check in with your possible stocking ideas.
 
new2guppy said:
Once I get my 20galL cleared of bacteria bloom, I have 6 fancy guppies, 2 corrys, would ottos be ok for algae and get along with my fish family. They just play and get along so well. I don't want to add anything not right!

Thank You Lauren....my oldest granddaughter's name...good name!
new2guppy

No problem! I'd say you'd be fine with a few ottos... Maybe 3? I do suggest you think about adding 4 more cories to the list... Because they school.
 
on corry's and ottos

I read where you should add no more than 2 fish at a time. I will be keeping a few of my new babies (only have 3 as rest escaped from a dumb design breeder tank, have new one now!) & as they come along once I know there sex & how pretty they are. No more than maybe 3 or 4 more. With this & 4 more corry's and 3 otto's be to many for 20 gal L? Do I really need algae eaters? When shoud I add new fish? After I get the bacteria bloom fixed? Sorry for all the questions. :confused: So appreciate the help!! new2guppy
 
Wow that site helps so much. I was looking for something like that for the longest time.

What would be the problem with keeping rasboras though? And do plants add to the bioload?
 
What would be the problem with keeping rasboras though?

I'm not sure what you mean...there are a lot of different types of rasboras, ranging in all sorts of sizes. You could get a school of small rasboras, like I said the cherry ones stay really small (under an inch).
I'm seeing that you could do a school of 5 cherry rasboras, 1 dwarf gourami and 3 otos and have a perfect bioload.

Plants don't add to the bioload, in fact they do a lot to regulate the ammonia process. They get nutrients from the fish poopie. But that's not a reason not to vaccum or clean the gravel! lol.

PS aqadvisor is awesome! But like I said they're very conservative on stocking. So you might be able to get away with more if you keep up on water changes.
 
I find more often than not, when a fish dies, it has less to do with water parameters and more to do with it being unhealthy from the LFS.

Some might not agree but I've seen fish big and small that can withstand a typhoon, some uncycled water wouldn't phase them in the least unless it was messed up bad and I mean bad. Fish are adaptive creatures, they are stronger than we think.

Buying fish at the LFS is like a craps shoot and no matter how cautious you are, you never know what the health of the fish is. Now I automatically make the assumption that the LFS fish has got something and proceed with lots of TLC. I suggest before you buy a fish to stare at it in the tank for at least 5 mins or more to really observe it's any unhealthy patterns. Look for hardy energy levels and activeness.
 
5 should be just fine. You could do a few more, but 5 is the minimum.
 
and everyone keeps on saying ottos, but from what ive heard they die rather easily within the first month. are they exceptional cleaners or do they just eat algae? because ive been thinking of shrimp and they would eat the algae and clean the leftovers.

right now im thinking:
6-8 harlequin (or other small) rasboras
1 dwarf gourami
5-10 ghost (or other) shrimp

all depends on what the store has when i'm there
 
yup. the store is always the last word!

shrimp are a good idea, their bioloads are so small and they are good cleaners. If you wanted you could do 3 of shrimp and otos.

What I do when getting fragile fish is find out when the fish store gets their shipments, and go in a few days after that, or even the day before. That way, the weakest ones have died already and your choices are of the hardier ones. But its all up to you!
 
How often does your fish store get shipments? Also if I were to keep two kinds of rasboras would they make separate schools or would they just co-mingle, relatively because it isn't a huge tank
 
milooo said:
How often does your fish store get shipments? Also if I were to keep two kinds of rasboras would they make separate schools or would they just co-mingle, relatively because it isn't a huge tank

Yes! In my 10 gal I have 3 harlequin rasboras and 3 Espe's (spelling?) Rasboras they do co mingle and are very colorful once they settle in. Very peaceful :) I also have 2 nerite snails in there...8 haven't had any luck with the shrimp...I had four and they died off one at a time
 
my fish store gets shipments every week, but they don't get all types of fish every week.

As for different schools, its not like the fish won't survive but they usually do much better in larger groups. Also, then you can get a cooler viewing of schooling activities. With a mixed group they don't school as well.

I'm not sure about the hardiness of shrimp, but I haven't heard that they are extremely delicate either.
 
Are shrimp delicate as well?

Depends on which shrimp they are, I hear ghost shrimp are easily killed. I guess I can say from experience it is true, I bought 10 ghost from petsmart. Before I made it home, one of the smaller ones had died. A day or two later I had another casualty. Within the last two weeks I have had 2 more deaths. I read that copper based food is bad, and a lot of the pellet foods have copper in them, that may have been the cause of death. I did buy them from petsmart but I don't think that was the issue, sure they have a bad rep for their expertise on fish care but I'm not gonna knock them for a few shrimp dying within a week. Ghost shrimp usually run for $0.33 each so wasn't a huge loss.

I bought Amano shrimp from my lfs and I haven't had any deaths. All 6 are still alive and kickin. IMO the Amano's are more aggressive cleaners but aren't aggressive or territorial towards other tank mates. Amano shrimp here run $2.00-$3.00

RCS (Red Cherry Shrimp) are another popular breed. From what I know you can pretty much compare them to the Amano breed, except the rcs are much more vibrant, they have an amazing red color that shines through their exoskeleton. These are the shrimp I'm going to try my hand at breeding as I hear they are the easiest. (ie: they don't eat the fry (ghost), they don't need brackish water (amano)). The only down side to these are they cost quite a bit, especially since they are easy to breed and are pretty hardy. Going rate per rcs seems to be $3.00-$3.99. If you would like to go this route I suggest looking in the classified section on the forum or this site AquaBid.com - Sell or buy aquarium related equipment and fish in an auction format! (it's ebay for fish).

I hope some of what I have said was helpful and not to boring.

BTW Welcome to AA!
 
and everyone keeps on saying ottos, but from what ive heard they die rather easily within the first month.

My tiny Otto was king of the tank from day one, he was pushed, shoved, kicked around by other fish and it never phased him. I use to be afraid that I might accidental bump into him or suck him up through the vac, now I have no worries. These little guys rock and are survivors.
 
Has anyone kept ottos in a ten gallon with a betta....I think I saw another thread saying that was fine....mine is pretty aggressive:-/
 
Cobaltskyy said:
Has anyone kept ottos in a ten gallon with a betta....I think I saw another thread saying that was fine....mine is pretty aggressive:-/

Take the betta out and put him in a sort of QT for 2 weeks. While he's out, rearrange the decor, and add the little guys. Work on a backup plan for ottos if things don't work out as well. After the two weeks are up, put mr. Betta back in and watch him like a hawk. If he starts attacking, remove the ottos, and mr. Betta doesn't get more fishy friends.
 
Ottos seem to work with a lot of aggressive fish in general. For puffers people have found success in only ottos. They just seem to ignore them. Follow what home dog said, you should be fine.
 
Awesome idea! That's what I will do! I wanted to get more real plants and swap out the silk ones anyways. :) I want to add a flower pot too... :)
 
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