How many fish is too much?

[btsmay]

I am a NOOB and started my aquarium all at once. I didn't know anything about fishless cycling, how many fish are too many, what is compatible with what, etc. Needless to say, the people at my lfs were not helpful at all. I don't mean to be mean, but I don't believe there is anyone there that has any idea at all about aquariums. I have a million questions, some of which I find the answers to just by reading this forum (which is a godsend, btw).

My first quick question here is, how many fish is too many for a 10g tank? I have 1 pleco, 3 tetras, 3 rasboras, 2 corys, 1 oto, 2 betas (1m 1f) and 1 golden mystery snail. I do a pwc every day as my little meter shows ammonia levels warrant it. I have a test kit and the nitrite and nitrate levels are in line, ph a little high(7.6 or higher).

I want to get a 26g bowfront and move my fish to that. When I do, I will do a fishless cycle. Should I use some of the water from my 10g when I do that? (Ooops! I guess that makes 2 questions!)

Thanks a million for all help!

 

[mr86mister]

Hey! Welcome to AA!

Thank you so much for actually taking the time to join a forum with people that have experience and some even have the expertise in the hobby. So to answer some questions.

1-Yes, that amount is a tad too much for the tank. The 3 tetras and 3 rasboras along with the snail should be fine for a 10 gallon.
2- When it comes to Bettas you want to keep Males and Female separate. They are put together only to breed otherwise the chances of them killing each other are pretty high. The male may also chase down some tetras and bother them. The female should be fine with community fish just be careful.
3- Great Job for doing water changes everyday!!!
4- When you change over to the 26, you do not need to put the water over. The beneficial bacteria is on the glass, in the filter, in the gravel and decorations. So, just do the fishless cycle and slowly add the fish.

You are doing great so far!!! Keep it up and as always, we love seeing pictures!!!

-Mike

 

[beglely]

aight, I would say your overstocked. Btw your male betta might end up killing your female betta, and your oto prob wont survive since they do better in groups, are weak from pet stores to begin with, and he is competing with a much larger pleco. Btw depending on the species, the pleco could potentialy get huge, possibly too large for the 26g. What kind of tetras do you have? You will probably lose a few of those along with the rasboras--depending on species they can be shaky with bad water conditions--lost 7 neons to disease when I did not fishless cycle. Your nitrite and nitrate are in line because you havent cycled if im reading your post correct. You wont see either compound for a few weeks, and it will take a week or two after that to get them to disappear. Your tank needs time to build up bacteria. And I wouldnt move water from the 10g to the 26g, I would instead move filter material and gravel from the 10g. However you probably shouldnt bother doing that if you go get the 26g tomorrow because the whole point of using substrate from your 10g is assuming that it has bacteria from being cycled, which will probably take your 10g a month or two, and add another couple weeks on to that time frame to get the 26g cycled. Your best bet would be to go back to your lfs, get a few sponge-fulls of thier tank filters, buy the 26g and set it up, and start cycling both with the sponges.
mr86mister said it best--good job on the water changes everyday. They will save your fish

 

[btsmay]

Thank you Mike. I am working on learning how to do pictures. I am very new to this; I have never been on a forum before and feel almost as dumb about that as I do about aquariums.

 

[btsmay]

p.s. my bettas seem to be getting along fine. I have had a few different opions on whether or not to keep male and females together. I would eventually like to learn how to breed them. But first I need to learn more about the basics of aquarium keeping!

 

[btsmay]

I have had my tank for about 2 months now. Sadly I lost 4 neon tetras, 2 bettas, 4 fancy guppies the first time around. The otto and pleco survived. The pleco seems to be growing and I noticed today that the otto seemed to be getting bigger all of a sudden, but that may be my imagination. O.K., this is where I get to sound stupid. When you say to get a couple sponge fulls of their tank filters from the lps and start cycling with the sponges, do you literally mean sponges? I don't have a space in my filter for sponges. If this is a really stupid question, consider my face red. Btw, my lfs doesn't seem to be too up on aquarium intelligence.