10 Gallon?

[Valyrian]

What's the largest one fish that can be kept healthily in a 10 gallon tank as a permanent home? What size in inches, any specific fish suggestions?

 

[wwestar2000]

I would maybe put 1 parrot fish or a Zebra Mbuna just to name a couple.

 

[Valyrian]

How big are those?

 

[alabaster]

If you are interested in large fish, and are truly interested in keeping them healthily and happily, you will need to invest in a much larger tank than a 10 gal. No fish above 2.5 inches will be happy in a ten gallon tank in the long run. If you need to save up for a while to gat a larger tank, do so. Its worth it, and no fish that is considered "large" will ever be happy in a 10g. Do some research on cichlids and be patient. If you ever want to succeed at fishkeeping, you'll need to develop patience. Your fish will thank you for it. That having been said, there are many fish that are as interesting as larger fish that can be kept in 10g tanks:

dwarf puffers x3-5

fancy guppies x2 males and 4-5 females (you'll get at least 50 fry per month, and raising them is a fun and interesting activity)

female bettas x4

male betta x1 with 6 dwarf cories

apple snail--they can get up to about 3" in shell diameter (huge)

cherry shrimp
amano shrimp
ghost shrimp
African dwarf frog
a single African clawed frog

a pair of just about any killifish--they are among the most colorful freshwater fish there are

a small school of tiger barbs (about 3-5)

bronze cories x4 w/ small school of toplevel fish (such as Endler's livebearers)

 

[mm_simb]

female bettas x4

Female bettas can be kept in a 10 gallon in a group of 4-6

 

[NinjaSmurf]

I don't know about 3-5 dwarf puffers in a ten, I've read only 1 per five gallons of water.... I think you could keep a ram in a ten... Things is for what you want you'd need to get a fish that will still be able to swim in the tank, but something that isn't extremely active.... or full of poop, like plecos... even the little ones. I don't know what that would be though

If you would get guppies you could just get males, so you don't have to worry about the babies...

 

[bobwumba]

thats quite a list alabaster. if you dont have anywhere for babies then i would stay out of the livebearer catogory with guppies. 3 dwarf puffers would make a interesting tank yet that is about all you can put in there. A tank with just one big fish is kinda boring and the largest one that can go in a 10 is probably about 5-6" and the fish will be very unhappy. A intersting tank would be a all crustacean with crayfish and fiddler crabs.

 

[freddyk]

I would maybe put 1 parrot fish or a Zebra Mbuna just to name a couple.

I cringe at the thought!

 

[OrkyBetta]

My ten gallon looked stunning when I had the 2 guppies and six neons in there. Lots of color, and the neons stayed in a group towards the bottom, while the guppies flitted about at the top. Until, of course, whitespot hit, it was a very attractive tank.

 

[vantgE]

Try african shelldwellers
shell dwellers the videos at the bottom are neat

Size wise posibly a large betta or some big swordtails or mollies

 

[OohFeeshy]

A parrot fish? Umm... don't they get to about 12 inches?

 

[dwarfgourami]

Are you sure about the swordtails? From what I remember, having kept them years ago, they are quite active swimmers, so may want a bigger tank.
I'd go for platies instead. They're big enough and individual enough in their colouring to give something of the big fish effect. And they're not terribly territorial so you should bea ble to get away with males only. Otherwise dwarf puffers sound quite fun.

 

[Katchan]

Cause me bad and on mod review this may not be seen when I'd like it to be but here go's

I have a wonderful little 10gal sitting on my desktop (about a foot away from me) at the moment, and with a little trial and swapping between our other tank here's what I have, all happy

1 M/1 F apisto. juruensis
1 BN
1 black neon
4 white clouds
3 neons
1 betta superdelta male (periodically removed to play casanova )

single butterfly ram unhappy, 2 butterfly's 1 happy 1 unhappy, 1 blue ram - died, bad stock (LFS admitted such as they refused to sell me a second cause of deaths their in the tank). 1 small pearl gourami female was in there happily enough was removed to go with and settle down same sized male in a different tank. There was a bit of trial with male betta's some are community fish others arnt. I lost 1 black neon unknown why. All the neons & white clouds shoal together when they bother at all.

I know the tank is probably over stocked techniquially, but all the water params stay great and I do weekly water changes, no fishies show stress with current set-up

anyhow just my $0.02 worth

katchan

 

[sylvia]

Swords should be in at least a 15 gallon. Females get bigger than males and realy big ones can reach 3-4".

There are some gouramies that you could try as well - dwarf (pair - get to 2"), banded (single - to 4"), thick-lipped (single - to 3.5"), honey (trio - to 1.5"), sparklers (3-5 - tiny, about 1"), croakers (trio, to about 2") even a single three-spot would be ok (up to 6") but without any other fish tankmates (you could have a snail and/or some shrimp though). If you do get a gourami, stick to only one species and to the numbers/ratios specified unless you know for sure what you're doing.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Really? A 3 spot would be OK? What about in a 15, would you be able to have a trio of cories or something?