New 10 Gallon Tank--Need Advice

[lynleenorde]

Hello! We have been looking at getting a fish tank for awhile for my 4 year old daughter and originally I was looking at a larger tank but had a friend come across a family that couldn't take care of their fish and 10 gallon set up so decided to get it. Perfect as a start up...except....of course they had it overstocked I believe. It has 3 neon tetras, 1 peppered cory catfish and 1 rosy barb. I read that the rosy needs 29+ gallons and of course all of the fish need more of their kind to be happy. We have had the tank for a week and it seems to be doing ok. I plan on upgrading to a 30 tank in the next 3 months or so. Need advice on: in the meantime--what can I do to deal with the over stock issue and what to watch out for with stress on the fish? When I do transfer them to a 30 gallon suggestions on quantities of each and/or additions for a healthy grouping of fish? Thanks so much for any advice, I really appreciate it!

 

[librarygirl]

Hi and welcome!

There isn't much you can do about the stocking issue now, so the best thing to do is just do your best to keep the fish healthy. Have you tested the water for ammonia, etc. with a good liquid test kit? I'd start there, just to be sure the levels are safe. If they are, a 50% water change weekly with dechlorinator and substrate vac is a good practice for maintenance.

Once you get the larger tank, you could add 3 more neons, 3 more corys and 5 more rosy barbs. What kind of substrate does the tank have now? Corys have sensitive barbels so they do best in sand or rounded (not sharp) gravel, so if you are going to upgrade anyway you might want to look into getting sand for the substrate.

This guide might help some in the meantime and post if you have more questions! Guide to Starting a Freshwater Aquarium - Aquarium Advice

 

[lynleenorde]

Thanks so much I appreciate it. The tank we got was pretty dirty (substrate) so I went ahead and took the fish out today and did a 2/3rd water change and rinsed all the gravel. It's looking better but I worry about a constant issue. I have questions on feeding (most say that they should consume the food in a few minutes but I notice between the filter and bubbler that a lot of the food gets thrown around so I can't exactly remove what they don't eat--do I have too much circulation going on?) and also questions on figuring out the next tank (read the article and saw that kits aren't good....best advice on putting together your own set up). Good resources for both? Thanks, so much!