Empty 10 gal tank

[freshwatergal]

Tomorrow afternoon I will have an empty 10 gal tank. My mom suggested to me tonight that I get some dividers and make a betta tank, maybe three sections. What do you think?

 

[tkos]

I would put a single betta and a nice school of 5-6 cories. Then add lots of plants. That would be really nice. Neither of the fish will have to compete at all. Also add some shrimp like ghost or ammano. Nice stuff.

 

[Fruitbat]

Seems to me like the perfect time for you to plant that tank up real nicely and go out in search of a pair of dwarf cichlids. I see from your aquarium lists that you don't have any of those yet!

 

[William]

Why hasn't any suggested keeping it aside and keeping the tank as a QT?

You obviously have filter for it [p since your going to make it another tank.. ]

Just put the filter for it, on another tank to keep a good culture of bacteria on it, that way when your fish get sick.. fill up the QT, move the filter over to it, ploink in your fish, medicate, treat, return to main tank.

 

[freshwatergal]

Well, I do have another 10 gal that I could clean up and use for a QT if so needed.

 

[tkos]

You don't really need to worry about keeping any amount of bacteria ready for the QT tank. If you are using meds it will kill the bacteria anyway. And if you do need some back up bacteria, just pull a piece of filter media out and away you go.

 

[William]

You don't always use a QT with meds that kill the bacteria.

Melafix, Maracyn, and Ich Heat Treatments are just a few of the examples where you would want a cycled media since the treatments don't foul the colony., and the Ich treatment specially because it takes... 2 weeks if I remember correctly.

 

[freshwatergal]

Well, I can see that this poll is starting to go where I didn't want it to go. Just wanted to have fun with it.

 

[TankGirl]

I would put a betta in it.

 

[stoneydee]

Nicely planted, one drop-dead-gorgeous betta, a small school each of neon tetras and white clouds. . .

 

[nikki]

10gallon water tank

I'd put one betta with 6 rasbora engeli (like the heteromorpha but a bit smaller) and 4 kuhlis. It would be a nice Asian water tank.

 

[madasafish]

Hehe. AA ppl tend to hijack topics...

You could certainly make this into a QT tank or a betta tank, but I'd look to do something more interesting that will please you for years to come.

If you're willing to make a few changes (lighting, substrate, possibly CO2) you could make this into a beautiful, small planted tank (I've done this, so has Allivymar; mgkaelen is considering it). If you're not willing to make changes, you could nonetheless plant the tank with Java Fern and Anacharis and make it into a lush dwarf cichlid tank, or a threadfin rainbow tank. The threadfins would be a joy to watch. You'd have to be careful on the dwarf cichlids, as many ACs would uproot plants. However, Kribs and Rams would love such an environment and thrive in it.

Dunno if you're looking to make a big change like this, but I know from personal experience that it can be really rewarding to have a more distinctive, less standard tank. My 10G has dwarf puffers and otos in it and it is always fun to stand infront of.

That's my $1.00-$0.98...

 

[TankGirl]

I have had a heavily planted 10gal myself, with (at different times) dwarf gourami, a pair of rams and harlequin rasboras. I used two screw-in pigtail fluorescents and a Hagen CO2 diffuser, laterite mixed with gravel for the substrate, with fabulous results. You could also put some neons or cardinals in it, for a lovely planted setup. I once read an article about someone who set up tanks for several family members using ~10 gal tank, sand, crypts and Endler's livebearers (assuming you can find them), and it seemed to be a very satisfactory and (relatively) problem-free setup.

There are many, many options as long as you plan carefully.

 

[PlatyLady]

I'm with TankGirl and stoneydee... save a betta from one of those teeny weeny fish store cups!