I got my first fish a couple years ago (a betta) and it sat in a bowl for a couple of months and I felt sorry for it and bought a 10 gallon tank and really enjoyed watching him swim around in it. I added some plants, a few harlequins and some ghost shrimp and they all got along great and I really liked the tank. Anyways, the betta just recently died, and I am just left with 4 harlequins and a shrimp, and I would like to upgrade to a larger tank because I want more fish. So I thought I'd ask for advice about tank options and fish for them.
First off, I was considering a 29 gallon because they have a pretty good deal at Petco with the complete setup for $89. I know some kits seemed to have cheap components, but this looked pretty nice (all glass hood, flour light, whisper filter, heater), and when I priced all that stuff separately, it came to about $170. Anyways, looking on the web the most common thing I see is "get the biggest tank you have room for". Well, I can't get a 55 gal because that 48" length is too big for the room. The only other thing that might be doable is something like a 40 breeder which is 36" long, because that would fit, but I don't want to go any longer than that. I don't want it to take over the room. But then something like that would cost probably around $200 because I didn't see a package deal for that, so I'm trying to see if it is worth double the cost.
Anyways, besides the 4 harlequins I have that I would put in there, other fish I saw that I liked are tiger barbs, zebra danios, some tetras, gouramis, and maybe some kind of catfish or algae eater. Basically maybe a couple groups of schooling fish, and one or two larger more noticeable fish. I also thought about putting in black gravel, some wood and/or rocks, and plants, so if you can think of fish that would look good with that substrate let me know. I just want an idea of what I could do with either of these tanks, and the amounts of some of the fish I mentioned that would work in there. I want to upgrade the 10 gal so I can have more fish, but I don't want the tank to take over the room or spend a ton of money. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. Thank you.
First off, I was considering a 29 gallon because they have a pretty good deal at Petco with the complete setup for $89. I know some kits seemed to have cheap components, but this looked pretty nice (all glass hood, flour light, whisper filter, heater), and when I priced all that stuff separately, it came to about $170. Anyways, looking on the web the most common thing I see is "get the biggest tank you have room for". Well, I can't get a 55 gal because that 48" length is too big for the room. The only other thing that might be doable is something like a 40 breeder which is 36" long, because that would fit, but I don't want to go any longer than that. I don't want it to take over the room. But then something like that would cost probably around $200 because I didn't see a package deal for that, so I'm trying to see if it is worth double the cost.
Anyways, besides the 4 harlequins I have that I would put in there, other fish I saw that I liked are tiger barbs, zebra danios, some tetras, gouramis, and maybe some kind of catfish or algae eater. Basically maybe a couple groups of schooling fish, and one or two larger more noticeable fish. I also thought about putting in black gravel, some wood and/or rocks, and plants, so if you can think of fish that would look good with that substrate let me know. I just want an idea of what I could do with either of these tanks, and the amounts of some of the fish I mentioned that would work in there. I want to upgrade the 10 gal so I can have more fish, but I don't want the tank to take over the room or spend a ton of money. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. Thank you.