What kind of fish in a ten gallon?

[Salukie]

I can't seem to find any tropical fish that would be happy in a 10g low light planted tank. They're all too BIG!! All you peeps with little ten gallons... What do you have in your tank??

Right now, I'm stuck on cherry shrimp and a little school of neon tetras. What else could go in there? What kind of bottom feeder? Otocinclus?

These are just ideas. There's nothing in my tank yet, apart from gravel, driftwood (with fungus, gross!!) and a couple plants. Just started fishless cycle.

Throw me some ideas, please!

Thanks.

[cgthebeast]

Could add a snail and a dwarf groumai. That's what I had with a school of 5 neons. Have a lot if cherries and they will be awesome bottom feeders

[Salukie]

Thanks.

How many cherries is "a lot"?

Will the dwarf gourami eat the shrimp?

Could I have more than one gourami, or is one the max in a ten gallon? If I could have more than one, could I put two males together?

[Samzter]

Originally Posted by Salukie

Thanks.

How many cherries is "a lot"?

Will the dwarf gourami eat the shrimp?

Could I have more than one gourami, or is one the max in a ten gallon? If I could have more than one, could I put two males together?

Hmmm, I would say one in a 20g for dwarf Gouramis but I know other people will disagree. Never put two males together, they will most likely fight. I was lucky, I had two males and four females and never seemed to have an issue. But anyways I would say that one would be the max for a ten gallon

[cgthebeast]

Originally Posted by Samzter

Hmmm, I would say one in a 20g for dwarf Gouramis but I know other people will disagree. Never put two males together, they will most likely fight. I was lucky, I had two males and four females and never seemed to have an issue. But anyways I would say that one would be the max for a ten gallon

+1 on males, and 1 male for a 10 gallon. 5 shrimp pet gallon and I would add lots of low plants for them to side if needed

[Jev12]

Yeah only one dwarf gourami for a ten and yah it probably will eat a few cherry shrimp but if you have plenty of cover for them hide in they should be good....and if you do a snail nerites are good algae eaters and they are pretty neat little guys

[Fishingforfish]

I'm also in the same boat as you, but I figured some platys and panda cories will do just fine!

2 platy (female) and 5 pandas are close, if not slightly overstocked though, so you would need to do water changes. I may or may not add a honey gourami but I think that might be jumping the gun!
I found that most smaller fishes are schooling fish, such as neon tetras. You could add them too, but some say they're too active for a 10g. Neon tetras were also one on my list that I had to remove.
I'd say that if you want variety, try not to go for schooling fishes as they do require more of them and that means taking up more space. However, if you're fine with just a few small species (let's say 2) )then I think you may just get away with it.

[Rivercats]

Look up nano fish. They are perfect for a 10g and most can be kept with shrimp.

[Salukie]

Thanks for the replies guys... Lots to think about.

The snail is a good idea.

For schooling fish, would glowlight danios be better than tetras? Most of the info I find on them say that ten gallons is okay for them.

For the shrimp, did I read that right? Five shrimp per gallon? That would be fifty shrimp!! I'm assuming this would be a shrimp-only tank?
How expensive are shrimp, anyway? My LFS doesn't have any at the moment. I asked them to look into it for me.

[megastri]

I have had my 10 gallon tank for a while now. Currently I have a lightly planted tank with

5 Harlequin rasboras
3 kuhli loaches (which ive heard are nice for 10 gallons)

Some tetras seem to do well in 10 gallons as well

[cgthebeast]

Originally Posted by Salukie

Thanks for the replies guys... Lots to think about.

The snail is a good idea.

For schooling fish, would glowlight danios be better than tetras? Most of the info I find on them say that ten gallons is okay for them.

For the shrimp, did I read that right? Five shrimp per gallon? That would be fifty shrimp!! I'm assuming this would be a shrimp-only tank?
How expensive are shrimp, anyway? My LFS doesn't have any at the moment. I asked them to look into it for me.

No danios, there much more active the tetras. Yeah all those shrimp won't survive and that us for a shrimp only tank. You don't need 50 shrimp , mabye 15

[Fishingforfish]

If you want to find shrimp, I suggest you look at to other shops in your area. My cousin wanted kuhli loaches but her lfs didn't have them, so a quick google search on fish stores around her area/slightly farther got what she was looking for. Unless you can wait, then by all means do so(: You also could go on aquabid, sellers sell their shrimp for really cheap prices (most of the time 10+ at a time)..it's worth the look.

You can put some Scarlet Badis (I just found just about these fishes, think they're going on my list!)...though I heard they're slightly hard to find ):

[Platiesareawesome]

Originally Posted by Salukie

I can't seem to find any tropical fish that would be happy in a 10g low light planted tank. They're all too BIG!! All you peeps with little ten gallons... What do you have in your tank??

Right now, I'm stuck on cherry shrimp and a little school of neon tetras. What else could go in there? What kind of bottom feeder? Otocinclus?

These are just ideas. There's nothing in my tank yet, apart from gravel, driftwood (with fungus, gross!!) and a couple plants. Just started fishless cycle.

Throw me some ideas, please!

Thanks.

Platies, ember tetras, and/or celestial pearl danios would work

[cgthebeast]

Originally Posted by Platiesareawesome

Platies, ember tetras, and/or celestial pearl danios would work

Platies are good but you can only have 3 in a 10 thanks to the bioload imp

[Salukie]

Thanks for all the replies!

My little 10g is overrun with pond snails now, so I don't think I need to add any. Lol! I got a little more than I bargained for when I bought the plants apparently.

Apart from the snails, here's what I've (tentatively) decided on to stock my tank:

3 otocinclus
7 ember tetras
5 - 10 cherry shrimp

What do you guys think?

[cgthebeast]

Sounds good, wouldn't stock anymore though

[azmodan]

In the long term 3 otos might have trouble having enough food/bio film in a 10g, as some won't take prepared foods like algae wafers. In my ten gallon I have a large RCS colony, spotted blue eye rainbows, nerite snails, MTS, and amano shrimp.

Your ember tetra stock sounds great, but just in case you want something with a different color than your RCS here are some other options:

CPDs
Micro rasboras (chili, etc)
Endlers
Spotted blue rainbows
Green neon tetras

In regards to the RCS I'd look to start with at least 10-15. They'll reproduce pretty quickly but any nano fish will help a bit by snacking on shrimplets.

[Rivercats]

That is a very nice stock list.

[Salukie]

Thanks, cgthebeast and rivercats.

[Salukie]

Originally Posted by azmodan

In the long term 3 otos might have trouble having enough food/bio film in a 10g, as some won't take prepared foods like algae wafers.

CPDs
Micro rasboras (chili, etc)
Endlers
Spotted blue rainbows
Green neon tetras

I really want otos! I have a bit of brown algae on my driftwood at the moment so they would probably have plenty to eat at first... I don't want them to starve. I was planning on feeding them algae tabs after the brown stuff was gone.
Should I do two otocinclus instead of three? Hmm...

Mosquito raspboras! I forgot about those! Oh no! Now I don't know if I want ember tetras or mosquitos! Help me decide! Lol!

I quite like the black-green neons too.

Too many decisions!