Good Starter Fish

[Esfa]

Im getting a 10 gallon tank, i cant aford a 20. I found some unique looking fish. they were called 24 karat mollys, they were a goldish yellow and were about an inch or so in length. Are they good fish?

They do better in brackish water, can get quite large and need quite a bit of swimming space. I would say no for your tank.

Khuli loaches would be good, as already mentiond. A group of 6, with caves in your tank would be good.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I would not recommend either danios or tiger barbs or swordtails for a 10 gallon and I'm surprised others do. These are really active fish who need lots of swimming space and can get aggressive if their needs are not met. The danios and barbs also need to be in schools of at least 6-8 individuals, which a 10 gallon is too small for.
In a 10 gallon you would be better off with less manic fish. How about checking out the following:

endlers, cherry barbs, platies, small corydoras species, honey gouramis, glowlight tetras, khuulie loaches

There is no risk of corys or tetras breeding out of control, bobwumba; egglayers aren't like that

There are many different types of danio's- zebra and leopard danios are ok for a 10gallon if it is a long 10gallon (since tanks vary so much in their measurements, often the size of the tank is more important than the gallons it holds etc), but for larger growing varieties of danio's like pearl danios (can grow to 2.5-3inches long) i wouldn't recommend anything smaller than 15gallons long as a permanent tank.
I agree with you though on the tiger barbs, tiger barbs in my opinion are an absolute no-no for tanks under 3ft in length, a 3ft long 30gallon tank or larger tank is best for tiger barbs.

Your suggestions for fish for a 10gallon sound good although be careful about just recommending people "tetra's" in general as not all tetra's grow small or are peaceful fish .

 

[jarcher1390]

for starting fish zebra danios or leopard danios, stay away from bottom dwellers for a couple weeks they require a bit more oxygen and when starting up the filter takes a lot of oxygen up.
Cherry barbs would also go well some tetra not neon or cardinals they require a more mature tank

 

[Unicyclist]

I have had several ten gallon tanks, and in almost every one I had some Zebra Danios. They should not get much longer than 1.5 inches so if you got several it should be fine. Definatly don't get the tiger barbs, but maybe you could get some Platies. They seem to be fairly easy to care for.

 

[littleT]

Hello
I have some Zebra Danios in my 10 gallon tank and I love them. I had 18 Danios one small feeder guppy and a Golden Chinese algae eater all in there and they got along fine but I had to do a lot of water changes but I had no where else to put them. I also raised some of them and they are still mating and popping out eggs left and right. I'm in the process of moving them to a 44 gallon tank when it gets cycled. I think these are excellent fish for a newbie fish keeper. Good luck on what ever you pick.

 

[vinylman]

I have had several ten gallon tanks, and in almost every one I had some Zebra Danios. They should not get much longer than 1.5 inches so if you got several it should be fine. Definatly don't get the tiger barbs, but maybe you could get some Platies. They seem to be fairly easy to care for.

The size of the fish isn't the single most important thing in a 10G, though; most Danios are very active and not suitable for a tank without enough swimming space. Most 10G tanks I've seen are more or less square, active fish need a decent tank length.