Greetings

[Mudge]

I am recently retired, living in rural Connecticut, and pretty much brand new to the hobby, having inherited a 10-gallon, fully stocked aquarium (see picture). I have some immediate questions, but I think I should post them in the beginner’s forum, not here.

 

[MattW]

Welcome to the forum

 

[gwand]

Welcome. What fish are in your tank?

 

[Fish Fan1]

I’m new here too, but I’m enjoying TFF a lot so far.

Welcome to TFF!

 

[Mudge]

Welcome. What fish are in your tank?

Thanks.

Well, one of my initial questions is whether the tank is too full (I read somewhere 1” of fish per gallon). I’ve got 7 baby zebra danios (under 1 inch now, but growing), 6 ember tetras, and 4 pygmy corys.

Lots of healthy plants.

As best I can tell, the water parameters have remained good and steady for the month and a half I’ve had the tank (basically, it is a rescue tank).

 

[gwand]

The danios get to be around 1.5 inches and like swimming space. The embers max out near an inch. So you are over stocked. Now for your water parameters. Do you have hard or soft water. That will determine if you can keep the fish healthy. All three fish live best in soft water.

 

[Innesfan]

Welcome! Lovely set-up. Do get yourself a test kit. It will help to keep things in good shape immensely.

 

[Fishmanic]

Welcome to TFF. Beautiful tank. Hope you enter June’s Tank of the Month contest which features tanks sized at 16 gallons and smaller.

 

[emeraldking]

Well hi,
Welcome to TFF...
That's a nice set up.

1” of fish per gallon

This is just a general remark. For one should consider first what kind of fish will be kept in order to use this rule. It would be of more importance to stick to this rule when the fish kept are active fish or not. If you would google this rule, you'll find contradicting remarks. But yes, if you don't know if a type of fish needs more swimming space or not, then that rule may come in handy.

 

[Mudge]

The danios get to be around 1.5 inches and like swimming space. The embers max out near an inch. So you are over stocked. Now for your water parameters. Do you have hard or soft water. That will determine if you can keep the fish healthy. All three fish live best in soft water.

My water is pretty hard. Here are my current test results, which have remained pretty stable for several months now:

PH — 7.4
KH — 3
GH — 10
Nitrates — 10
Nitrites — 0
Ammonia — 0

Still, the fish look to be well. What sort of behaviour should I be looking for if these parameters are stressful for them?

(I maybe should have posted this info in the beginner’s forum, but I suppose while I’m here…)

 

[gwand]

Soft water fish living in hard water have a shortened life span. They don’t suddenly have acute symptoms. Others on the forum will weigh in and may say that danios and embers will adapt to your water. It’s possible. But you still have too many fish for a 10 gallon tank once the fish mature. I suggest 50% water change every week. Keep an eye on ammonia.

 

[Essjay]

The embers will be OK in 10 gallons but the danios really need at least 3 feet swimming length because they are very active swimmers.
If this was my tank, I would rehome the danios and get more embers and pygmy cories, both of which do better in larger numbers than you have.

A GH of 10 dH is not really hard, it's between hard and soft. 10 is at the top of the range for embers and it's OK for the cories. Ideally it should be lower, but it's not like you have 15 dH hardness like some members have.



Just as a matter of interest, corydoras has been reclassified with many fish moved to new genuses. Corydoras pygmaeus is now Gastrodermus pygmaeus though it will be a long time before stores get round to changing their labels.