Question about a potential tank

[JessieVB]

Hey all! I'm not a completely new aquarium fan. In the past, I've had an aquarium with 3 Oscars, a couple Tin Foil Barbs and a Pleco; a tank with just a Manguanse; a tank with a water dog; another tank with a Fire-Belly Newt; and some Bettas over the past couple years.

Currently, I have a Betta named La Petite (Pete for short) in a 1.5 gallon tank, and he seems to be doing well.

I'm looking into starting up a community tank in the future though, and I want to be sure that I'm not going to overcrowd it. I've already looked into the compatibility of the animals I want to put in it, so I don't think that will be an issue (but any suggestions are welcome).

The potential tank is going to be 10 gallons. I'd like to do a bigger tank, but I'm limited to a 10 gallon tank for several reasons. The fish I'd like to put in is 2-4 female bettas, about 4 ghost shrimp, and 2 African dwarf frogs. If I find an absolutely gorgeous male betta, it would be him instead of the females. Assuming I go with the female bettas, is this too many fish?

I don't feel comfortable putting Pete in a tank like this, because by the time I get this tank he'd have been on his own for about a year. He also didn't seem to pleased when I put an aquatic snail in with him.

Thanks!

 

[Devilishturtles]

I've tried a 10 gallon for female bettas twice now, and after adding 4 at a time twice, one of the dominant females ended up killing the rest of the less dominant females. Whether I had exceptionally agressive females, I dunno. I know I'm not trying it again, lol.

You have so many options with a 10 gallon however. Did you want to limit your fish to bettas?

Welcome to AA.

 

[JessieVB]

I have a friend with a successful tank of female bettas, and I love how colorful they are. I am open to more fish options, so long as they are relatively low maintenance . . . I'm a college student and I work part time, so I'm not home a whole lot. The only real requirement I have as far as fish species (aside from the tank size) is I want really bright, colorful fish. I have a vision of a salt tank feel (as far as colorful fish go) in a small freshwater tank. Community fish are great, and preferably something compatible with the ghost shrimp. The frogs I am slightly iffy on, so I am totally willing to go with a couple more fish rather than the frogs.

 

[Devilishturtles]

That is cool, just sharing my experience.

I think a female betta tank would look wonderful! But check into platies or mollies, white cloud minnows, neon tetras, or corydoras as well for some really colorful fish if you'd like.

Best of luck!

 

[JessieVB]

About how many fish do you think I could safely get a way with?

I want to have a lot of fish, but I don't want to overstock it . . .

And thank you for sharing your story on the female bettas... it is definitely something I will have to keep in mind when I start the tank.

 

[JessieVB]

I guess I should mention that aside from the bettas, the other fish tanks we've had have always been pretty sizeable (I forget now how many gallons we had; its been 5 or 6 years since I've had a large tank--we had the tank of oscars, the cichlid tank, and the amphibian tanks all going at the same time).

 

[happygirl65]

In my opinion a ten gallon is challenging because it is small, but yet large enough to look empty without many fish in it.

I think if you choose smaller fish you can get away with a larger stocking density. (A group of small tetras for example.) Plants also help with this as they use fish waste for fertilizers. It is pretty easy to have enough light over a 10 gallon for plants but all low light plants should do well and they look so nice.

I am not familiar with the ins and outs of Betta keeping so I don't know what you can keep in there. But I have heard/read that you can keep 1 with a variety of other fish in a community.
I personally love the ADF's they are so fun to watch and ghost shrimp are really neat as well.

Trust your instincts and see where it takes you. You see posts all the time where people with similar stocking plans have different results.

Best of luck to you! And welcome to AA!

 

[Purrbox]

You could go with a small school of micro rasboras (5-6) and a small school of gertrude's rainbowfish (5-6). Since both fish tend to stay under 1" and are very active, it should make for a colorful and active tank.

 

[JessieVB]

Thank you all for your help and suggestions! I'm still up in the air about it, but especially after looking at the pics of your planted tanks, Purrbox, I think I may be leaning toward doing a planted tank (maybe a 2 or 5 gallon).

For me, this would actually make more sense than doing a 10 gallon, which I would have to move 50 miles at least twice a year since I'm a college student... that or I'd have to commute every few days to check on the fishies... So a planted tank makes more sense. Few questions (maybe I should post in one of the other forums?), how long can I leave a planted tank and not come back to it being dead?? Over winter break, for example, I'd be gone for 4-5 weeks (if I didn't bring the tank with me/commute back to check on things) would that be ok?

Thanks again!

 

[Purrbox]

If you set up the aquarium as a low light aquarium you could easily leave it for a week or two with minimal to no problems as far as the plants go. A timer for the light and you're good to go. You'd be more limited by having to feed the fish, but even most of them could go one to two weeks without a feeding. You'd probably want to take it home over Winter and Summer Break.