I have no idea what I'm doing!

[Ellebogen]

tl;dr: Should I have high nitrites but little ammonia when doing a fishless cycle? What fish are suitable for a ten-gallon tank?

Hey, y'all. So, long story short, I was bedridden with bronchitis about a month ago and my boyfriend bought me a fish. Because of our lack of research, Derpy 1.0 promptly died. But his sacrificial death sparked my passion for fish.

I decided that I wanted to take care of fish the right way. I bought a 10-gal tank, some plants, a filter, etc, and started doing a fishless cycle. I totally thought that I had everything accounted for. I bought an API Master testing kit thing. I was so excited. Today, I tested my water. Ammo super low, nitrites super high. It was at this point that, as I was staring at the variously-colored test tubes and chemicals in front of me, that I realized that I have no friggin idea what I'm doing.

Should my nitrites be off the charts when my ammo is super low? Should I have any nitrates at this point? I have some, but not a lot.

In addition, I realized that I was so excited for my cycling journey that I didn't even think about what fish I would be getting. I want more than one fish if at all possible. What fish can I get that will be lively but easy for a beginner to take care of for a ten-gallon tank? Thanks, guys.

 

[threnjen]

LOL! You sound so down. But you're doing ok!

What are you doing to make the cycle go? Like what are you using? Fish food, pure ammonia, etc?

If you've been dosing it with "something" that makes ammonia, and now you have nitrItes, you're doing fine. Now you just keep dosing the ammonia source and wait until it all turns to nitrAtes within 24 hours (so no ammonia or nitrites)

What kind of fish do you like?? There are so many. Fancy showpiece fish (betta, gourami). Schooling fish where you have a bunch? Bottom fish? etc etc
Keep in mind you won't be able to have THAT much in a 10g but you'll still be able to do something interesting

 

[Ellebogen]

I've been using goldfish food because the only places that sell pure ammonia in my area are over an hour away and much more expensive than it is worth, and I don't know if I trust buying it online.

I kind of want schooling fish, but again, I don't know if that would work in a ten gallon tank, and I have a bit of a limited budget. While something like Glofish tetras would be super awesome, I can't really afford ten bucks a fish spread over five fish all at once. They were selling Dalmation mollies at my local pet store for five for four dollars, and I like those. Essentially, I just want something that will be playful and nice for me to watch play in the tank.

 

[threnjen]

Mollies get too large for a 10g, they are actually pretty large fish reaching 4-5". They need a 30g at minimum. They also have a really high bio-load.

I wish someone else would chime in, I'm not so good at the stocking help

OK what about something like:
6 Neon Tetras (schooling fish for the mids)
6 Dwarf Cories (extra tiny cories for your bottom)
2 Guppies (uppers)

 

[Mebbid]

In my 10g I have a Betta, 6 cardinal tetras, and 6 panda corys. I couldn't be happier with my stock on that tank as well. I would suggest going with pygmy corys rather than the pandas if you can find them.

The cardinal tetras match the temperature range for the Betta better than the neon tetras. You could also switch out the Betta for a dwarf gourami but its either or in that case as they can't go together.

Another great fish for a tank that size are harlequin rasboras which would be a good replacement for the tetras.

So, my final suggestion would be:

1 - betta or gourami
6 - pygmy Cory cats
6- harlequin rasbora or cardinal tetra

 

[Ellebogen]

Would it overload my tank if I got four guppies and a mystery snail?

 

[piao liang yu]

Would it overload my tank if I got four guppies and a mystery snail?

aqadvisor.com shows four guppies in a 10 gallon would be fine with an aqua-tech 5-15 filter as it is rated for up to 15 gallons. An even bigger filter would not hurt though. Based on what I have learned though guppies have a decent bioload for their small size so keep up on the partial water changes every week or two. Also, I keep all males for my guppies, but if you do keep both sexes you need three females to one male to prevent the males from stressing out the females. The more females the better IF you keep both sexes. Or you can just keep all males. Males are more colorful anyway. Another note, IF you do keep both sexes you will quickly become overstocked. They breed very rapidly.

 

[Khuligirl93]

Most schooling fish are not very "playful" if you like the playful kind of fish I would go for a couple male guppies and endlers, and some cherry shrimp or ghost shrimp. They are very entertaining little acrobats and if you give them enough hiding places with plants and moss, most of the babies will survive and not get eaten by the fish. If you like snails, look into nerite snails- they are great for cleaning algae, they come in awesome colors/patterns, and they won't overpopulate your tank because they require brackish water to breed

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

1 or 2 German blue rams and a school of 4 or 5 cardnial tetras would look cool IMO. But I would recommend upgrading ur filter. The aqua clear 30 is what I run on my ten gal peacock gudgeon SO tank and there pretty cheap and would allow u to over stock the tank a little