10g Betta upgrade

[steez]

I finally convinced my girlfriend that she's hurting the Betta by keeping it in a 1.5G cube. Today we inherited a 10g tank that we are going to be putting him in!

I got to hit two birds with one stone, filter maintenance and seeding my new tank! I took out my filters from my canister and hob filter from my established tanks and cleaned them out in the new water. Added 1PPM Ammonia. The cycle should be pretty quick.

I want to add a couple tankmates with it, probably two small cichlids (apistogramma) and an albino cory.

Any recommendations?

 

[eco23]

I finally convinced my girlfriend that she's hurting the Betta by keeping it in a 1.5G cube. Today we inherited a 10g tank that we are going to be putting him in!

I got to hit two birds with one stone, filter maintenance and seeding my new tank! I took out my filters from my canister and hob filter from my established tanks and cleaned them out in the new water. Added 1PPM Ammonia. The cycle should be pretty quick.

I want to add a couple tankmates with it, probably two small cichlids (apistogramma) and an albino cory.

Any recommendations?

Ummmmm.....don't quote me on this....but Cichlids in with a Betta sounds like a very bad idea. Normally it seems people are limited to small, peaceful, non nippy,(non-flashy) fish like Neon Tetras. Corys also need to be kept in a group of 5+. A solo Cory would be a very sad, lonely little guy. For a 10 gallon...I'd think a group of Pygmy Corys (nice and small to fit into the tank), and a small school of small peaceful fish like the previously mentioned Neon Tetras (though there are plenty of other options).

If you are gonna stock the tank with more than just a Betta, I'd recommend bumping your ammonia up higher than 1ppm so you can prepare your bio-filter to handle all the fish.

 

[Galligak]

I finally convinced my girlfriend that she's hurting the Betta by keeping it in a 1.5G cube. Today we inherited a 10g tank that we are going to be putting him in!

I got to hit two birds with one stone, filter maintenance and seeding my new tank! I took out my filters from my canister and hob filter from my established tanks and cleaned them out in the new water. Added 1PPM Ammonia. The cycle should be pretty quick.

I want to add a couple tankmates with it, probably two small cichlids (apistogramma) and an albino cory.

Any recommendations?

I wouldn't do the cichlids just because the betta would be the main point in the tank and the tank wouldn't be big enough. I agree with Eco on the cories. Pygmies are pretty cool looking, there are 2 types if I remember correctly... I have my betta with endlers but neons would be good too. Or if you want to stick with an almost Asian biotope how about some CPDs? (galaxy rasboras, there's another name too but I forget). Or perhaps masquito rasboras, very cool looking if the lfs I saw them at labeled them correctly... Shrimp also might be an option but start out with some inexpensive ghost shrimp to see if they'll get along! Good luck!!

 

[aqua_chem]

I finally convinced my girlfriend that she's hurting the Betta by keeping it in a 1.5G cube. Today we inherited a 10g tank that we are going to be putting him in!

I got to hit two birds with one stone, filter maintenance and seeding my new tank! I took out my filters from my canister and hob filter from my established tanks and cleaned them out in the new water. Added 1PPM Ammonia. The cycle should be pretty quick.

I want to add a couple tankmates with it, probably two small cichlids (apistogramma) and an albino cory.

Any recommendations?

Apistos, including rams, can work with a betta, but NOT in a 10g. I would say 40+ to make that happen safely, and even then it depends on the personality of the critters. No cichlids should go in a 10g other than shellies.

Your ammonia should be up to 4 ppm during the fishless cycle. This give your BB plenty of available ammonium to work with. It will still probably take about 2 weeks, or however long it takes for your bb to process ~2 ppm ammonium/nitrite.

I'm with the other two on cories two. Only the dwarf cories should go in a 10g, MAYBE pandas but I personally wouldn't. Neons can be nippy sometimes, so I wouldn't want to put them in with a betta in a 10g.

I have a betta with a 1.5" ghost shrimp in a 2.5g. He handles himself just fine. It all depends on the personality of the fish. I think that a 10g with a mello betta and a colony of cherry shrimp would be cool.

 

[steez]

Great information, thanks guys. He won't do well with shrimp, he's one of the betta's that doesn't like them. Already tried him with 3, he killed em. lol


Pygmy cory's and maybe a small school of something sounds awesome. thanks

 

[bruinsbro1997]

A small school of something-how bout a small school of ember or glowlight tetras or harlequin rasboras? It's a pretty good color combo

 

[steez]

I'm definitely getting 5 albino pygmy cory's and putting my male betta in there.

I do like the colors on those fish you named, but I'm still not 100% sure. I do have another week or so before the cycle is finished before I put them in to decide


I upped my ppm dose to 4 today, thanks!

 

[eco23]

I'm definitely getting 5 albino pygmy cory's and putting my male betta in there.

I do like the colors on those fish you named, but I'm still not 100% sure. I do have another week or so before the cycle is finished before I put them in to decide

I upped my ppm dose to 4 today, thanks!

Did you check out the Celestial Pearl Danios (Galaxy Rasboras) AquaKai mentioned? Beautiful little fish and fairly new to the trade. They're pretty shy, but from what I've heard might make a great tank mates for a Betta. They also stay small you you could add a good amount into a 10 gallon. But yeah, you'll love Corys.

 

[steez]

They are definitely cute little fish


What size school of them with the current setup idea?

 

[steez]

Oh and also..cory's and these danios both love planted tanks, correct?


I have only a single live plant i'm going to move over to the 10g, would it be ok for me to slowly add more plants for them?

 

[aqua_chem]

All fish will love plants and appreciate them in their tank.

You can slowly add plants.... or add them all at once. I don't really see what the problem would be with that. But they'll appreciate all the plants you give them.

 

[eco23]

The CPD's only get up to 1" and should be kept in a group of 6+. Problem is they're expensive...so personally I'd probably go with the Betta, maybe 5 Pygmy Corys and 6-7 CPD's so you don't break the bank. Technically this overstocks you with the garbage 1" per gallon rule...but as long as you are diligent with your water changes I don't see any issue personally. They inhabit different levels of the tank so I don't see swim room being an issue, and since you're fishless cycling at 4ppm I don't see bio-load being an issue either.

I think the main thing with heavily planted tanks is they provide cover and hiding places. I think as long as you give them lots of places to hide and feel secure it's no issue. But you can add as many plants as you want. A lot of us have started out with fake plants and switched over to real ones over time.

 

[steez]

I'll go buy a 4-5 pack of smaller fake plants for them, just to really fill up that 10g so they have plenty of cover.

This is my girlfriends tank but to no surprise, I'm doing most of all the research and work lol. I want her to take over as soon as the fish are in, I think live plants will be too much of a challenge for her.