New Fish Advice

[Xell9334]

Hi, I've been looking to add a new fish to my 10 gallon tank but I dont know what to add. Currently it has dark gravel and only one good hiding space. The rest of it is well planted up to about half the tank. It has 5 blue gouramis which stay above the plants at most time, a Red Fin Shark which hides in a hollow log I provided for it, and 4 mystery snails (2 black, 2 gold). I'm looking to put one new fish in or 2 as a pair, but I dont know what will go along with what I have in there. The biggest of the gourami is about 3 inches and the red finned shark is about 3 as well. I want a fish that will keep to itself but also be somewhat active. I also don't want the addition of a new fish to throw off the balance my current fish have. Any advice at all on this would be wonderful. If you don't feel like posting to this... feel free to email me suggestions at edestra@coastal.edu. Thank you for all your help.
-Eric

 

[rich311k]

I don't think you should add anymore fish to that tank. The blue gouramis will get 5 inches long. That is a lot of fish.

 

[crazyred]

Waaaaay overstocked for a 10 gallon tank. rich is right blue gouramis get big and need about 30 gallons to have enough swimming room.

 

[talloulou]

hmmm even if the blue gourmai's were powder blue dwarf gouramis you still have way too much fish in your 10 gallon. I'd hold off on adding anything at the moment. However you should purchase a bigger tank as soon as possible to properly house the fish you currently have and then your 10 gallon will be freed up completely.

 

[Xell9334]

Ok then... I wont add anymore. The only reason I'm still in a 10 gallon tank anyway is because my school dorm won't allow any more than that. After this semester I'm moving into an appartment and getting a 29 gallon for sure. Thanks for your help.

 

[Japola44]

You will probably need a tank bigger than 29gals. I'm not sure how big redfins get but your fish would proabably be really happy in something 55gals or bigger. It would also be in the gouramis best intrests to return some of them. My experince with gouramis is they dont get a long too well in confined areas. I would suggest reading up about the fish you have. Just google them and you should come up with a lot of helpful sites.
HTH

 

[Xell9334]

Alright... I'll see if any bigger tanks fit in the appartment I'm getting. Also I've returned two of the blue gourami (still kinda miss em), so now my tank has 4 snails 3 gourami and my favorite the red finned shark. Does this seem alright for the 10 gallon or should I fix anything else. Also if I do get a bigger tank, what are some possible fish I can add if i should add any at all. If its not too much trouble leave ideas for a 29 gallon tank and a 55 gallon tank because I know those are the two that are available.
-Eric

 

[jadefoodog]

is it redtail shark or rainbow shark they look ALOT alike but your talking about a diffrence of about 12 to 14 inches as the redtail only get like 4 and the rianbow gets HUGE. redtail only has a rad tail but rainbow all fins are red.

if i were you id shoot for the 55. you could get geo rams in there and some kinda schooling but your biggest weakspot is your bottom dwellers. id pop in a bunch a cory cats when you get the 55 shrimp might not last to long but you could give them a shot.

if anyone knows about overstocking a 10 its me . but i do waterchanges whenever i get the extr time but on average 50% changes 2 or 3 times a week. but i got 6 tanks and im no novice so in your position id try to keep your tank out of the overstock range.

ok were gonna go hypothetical with the ridiculous inch per gallon rule (kids dont use this at home)

3 gourami that get 4 inches each thats 12 inches youve overdone the 10 just there. praying you got the redfin shark thats another 4 your just about double your limit . but the inch per gallon rule is stupid and honestly the redfin shouldnt be in anything under a 20 due to its swiming habits. the gourami are fine because they dont need running room.

im gonna hit this again but if you got a 55g you could add your existing stock and i would add 2 geo rams and a set of bottom dwellers. corydoras or upside down catfish (make sure its the syno genus. they only get 4 inches but theres a true upside down cat that gets like 18 inches you dont want that period.)

 

[jadefoodog]

ohhh almost forgot if you wanted to add a few extra fish you could turn that 10g into a vegi filter or a sump but a vegi filter is easier to build

heres a small overview but its not as complicated as it sounds
http://www.thepufferforum.com/articles/water/veggie1.html

 

[Xell9334]

According to a couple different books and the store its called a red finned shark, or sometimes a ruby shark. It gets 5" max. I acctually went out to borders yesterday just to be positive. Also I'll look at the vegi filter thing a bit later. Right now I have other stuff to do. Thank you for the help.

 

[Xell9334]

also I forgot, is there a place I can look at the information about some corydoras and the geo rams... upsidedown catfish kinda scare me, I dont want to wake up every morning and think one of my fish has gone belly up .
-Eric

 

[Japola44]

Google them! Thats where i have gotten a lot of my info on my fish. Also you can always post in here. The people would be more than willing to help you out!