10g with 3 glofish

[sonyale510]

My son wanted fish for his birthday, my boyfriend let him pick whatever he wanted so we ended up with three glofish and a 10g tank, I've done a lot of research and have found conflicting info. about the tank size and whether or not it is suitable for the glofish. I really want to get three more glofish (since it sounds like they do better in schools of six or more) but want to make sure the tank size is not a problem beforehand. Can anyone tell me if the 10g we have is too small for glofish? Also what other fish are compatible with glofish and would I even be able to add more?

 

[black hills tj]

Before you worry about adding more fish, let's take care of the basics first.

Did you get a filter and a heater? If so...what pieces of equipment did you get?

IIRC..."Glofish" stay fairly small, and I don't see why you couldn't put 5 or 6 in a 10g tank.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

I'm just a little consider about swimming space. Ofcourse you can fit 6 or more glofish in a 10G tank, you could also fish an 8in bass in a 10G tank.

You need to get a tank that has comfortable swimming space for the fish. I would say a school of 6 would be happiest in a 20G long. I say if you got one more glofish it wouldn't be a huge deal, but just look and see how much swimming room they have.

 

[sonyale510]

It seems as though the 10g has PLENTY of swimming room, our fish are VERY small and when we first got them they were in a 1g tank for some time seeing as a four year old was given the go ahead to get whatever he wanted. I Just purchased a set that had the filter, heater, and tank (10g) cuz I wanted to get them out of that tiny tank as quickly as possible.

 

[JustOneMore20]

I think 3 more Glofish would be perfectly happy in a 10g.

 

[sonyale510]

Would I be able to add other fish later on as well, or would the six glofish be the max for a 10g?

 

[JustOneMore20]

It depends on what fish you wanted to add. There is still room for maybe a few Otos...or even some shrimp for the bottom...and maybe a centerpiece type fish like a Dwarf or Honey Gourami. There would be other options too.

 

[drillsar2]

What kind of filter you using?

A good rule is 1 gallon of water per inch of fish (Except school Fish, Goldfish and Cichlids they require 2 - 3 gallons of water per inch)

It's not how big the fish are it's how they will get

so for a 10 gallon you can get a total of 10" of fish you can make it a little more depending on your filter

Remember 10 gallons is actually like 8 or less

Adding Live Plants will also help the tank

 

[sonyale510]

I just have the filter that came with the setup, it's like a topfin beginner aquarium set or something I don't really know. But my son keeps asking for more fish, lol, and I was just wondering if I could do it or not. What type of live plants would you suggest?

 

[GhostKnife]

I would throw away the piece of paper that says 1" of fish per whatever gallon there are many ideas on the ideal size limit and number of fish per gallon of water. I would say the bio-load and swim room is a good factor. For instance a yellow tang that has swim patterns and loves open room would not be good in a 20 gal or even for that matter a 50 gal. Generally its a good rule of thumb to follow basic guidelines however some fish are more prone to cruising around where others are more confined to one are and dont like to leave their home/territory. Just know your fish you plan to get such as eating habits, swimming space needed, and most of all compatibility with other fish.

 

[drillsar2]

I would for sure get a better filter like a penguin 150 or aquaclear 30

If you upgrade the filter, let the old run with it for at least a month.

Top Fin Filters are the worst filters out there

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

All my filters are Whisper except for my sponge filters. Whisper filters work great for me and i've never had any problems with them, and they are super quite.

 

[drillsar2]

Here is the problem with Top Fin Filters and some whispers, everytime you change the cartridge you hurt the bacteria as bacteria lays on the cartridge there is no other service area,

Aquaclear use BioMax and Foam _ Never change BIOMAX, Bio-Wheel use both Wheel and Cartridge _ Never Change Wheel

Canisters are the best though especially for plants

Most people I know that have Top Fins will have a problem with Ammonia/Nitrate creeping up by replacing the filters to much; There garbage filters

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Here is the problem with Top Fin Filters and some whispers, everytime you change the cartridge you hurt the bacteria as bacteria lays on the cartridge there is no other service area,

Aquaclear use BioMax and Foam _ Never change BIOMAX, Bio-Wheel use both Wheel and Cartridge _ Never Change Wheel

Canisters are the best though especially for plants

Most people I know that have Top Fins will have a problem with Ammonia/Nitrate creeping up by replacing the filters to much; There garbage filters

All of my filters have the normal cartridge plus a secound sponge like one infront of it.

 

[drillsar2]

When you rmove the cartridge on Whispers you take out beneficial bacteria because there is no other surface area so you can go through a mini cycle thats why I dont like them,

Aquaclear and Bio-Wheels are better design filters.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

When you rmove the cartridge on Whispers you take out beneficial bacteria because there is no other surface area so you can go through a mini cycle thats why I dont like them,

Aquaclear and Bio-Wheels are better design filters.

You clean the sock and there is a rough sponge infront of it that holds bacteria....

I don't see the down-fall?

 

[drillsar2]

Ok so there is 2 cartridges? I thought top fin filters had 1 cartridge which has both carbon and cotton in it.

even then though a sponge dont hold as much bacteria surface then a biowheel or Biomax does. The more Biomax the more bacteria and less of a problem with NO3, if you have NO3 problems this can be a result of not enough bacteria, overcrowded or overfeeding.

Thats why canisters are the best you can fill a whole basket with BIOMAX.

 

[sonyale510]

Top Fin only has the carbon filter, I am looking into getting a new filter eventually, but this one is working fine for now. What is biomax? Also wouldn't it work to just like when I have to change out a cartridge on the top fin to rub the two (the old and new) together to get some of that good bacteria on the new cartridge, I had read that somewhere on here about getting a new tank to cycle but wouldn't it work when switching the cartridge too?

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

I'm not talking about Top Fin filters, all my filters are whisper filters and all have a carbon filter and a rough kind of like a sponge filter.

Ofcourse canister filters are the best. I would prefer thoughs above any of my power filters.

 

[drillsar2]

Biomax is ceramic rings never replace these or rinse them off

If you upgradethe filter run both filters at the same time for a month so the new filter can get bacteria.

I was talking about top fin filters not whispers, whispers are not the greatest though but better then top fin.

I personally like Bio-Wheels the best since they have more bacteria surface, remember you should get 10x turnover rate for your tank so example for a 29 gal tank you would want 290gph.

Canister filters --- The best if you can afford them, 1 canister at least should be filled with Ceramic Rings(BioMax) more the better.

Bio Wheels --- In my opinion are second best; problem would be though if the wheel all of a sudden dont turn and breaks thats when a problem could arise. Never change the wheel unless it breaks.

Aquaclear --- Good Filters, use BIOMAX for the bacteria plus it has a sponge as well; can be expensive

Stay away from Top Fin Filters, in tank filters

You also can use Prime also just in case you get ammonia/nitrite spike do to changing filters, prime converts ammonia/nitrite to be less toxic.