How many fish

[Sharlene1385]

I'm just getting my numbers straight before I get them. lol. Ok, its a 10gal, US of course. And we are wanting platies and guppies and maybe later room for a very small pleco. So, how many? I'm trying these as starting out cause I'll later get a 55 gal... after I win the lottery.
I was thinking of at least 3 guppies, I hear thats a good number for them. So I just need to know what that leaves me. I'm not very good with my maths so I figured I better check with smarter people of the world, or at least those who have done this longer then me.

 

[kgrehm]

if you get three guppies that would be alright. If you want to get platies though dont go crazy with having to may. I have a 10 gallon with 4 mollies and i have heard from others that i need a bigger tank. Rule of thumb is 1in. of fish per 1gal. and make sure that they are compatible but guppies and platies i would trust together and have had together.

 

[Sharoane]

Keep in mind that the very small pleco you put in your tank will become a very LARGE pleco. My folks had a 20 gallon tank years ago that had something like three danios and two plecos--each pleco, which had been tiny when bought, were about eight inches long. They ended up donating the fish to the local hospital's fish tanks.

 

[Shizat]

I would do a fishless cycle, but if you are going to do them with fish use the platys you want to cycle it and then add the guppies when its done cycling.

 

[Nina7777]

I agree, if you absolutely have too. Just get two platy's to cycle the tank, after it's been cycled I would say 3 guppies and 3 platy's would be an absolute maximum.

Oh if you plan to have fry, which you most certainly will with those fish, you'll need to make room for them in another tank or a breeder. So I would stock lightly.

Pleco= for a 10 gallon.

What about two little oto's instead (after the tank has been cycled.) oh and after algae starts to accumilate.

 

[Sharlene1385]

No I'm doing fishless cycle. I just wanted to get a better idea of how many I can have. We are going to try and get all males cause I don't have that kind of room for fry, but I have a 5 gal and kritterkeeper just in case. I must be the only person in the world that has owned 2 small plecos. They where only 2-3 in long. The longest lived about 5 years. They called them algea eaters and some called plecos. But they where really small. And its still just an idea, not sure if we will get one, I just hate algea. I've raised platties with plecos and mollies before, but I'm new with guppies. So, yeah. We are just starting out and trying to do it right.

--nightmare story of my past stupidity before I started to learn about them. I had 1 mollie, some platties (don't remember #), zebra danios, 2 plecos, 2 glass fish, 1 tiger barb, and some neons all in a 5 gal. But I didn't know anything about fish then, and are plattie and mollies lived and so did the plecos. Now I feel really bad about it cause I didn't have the internet then to learn about cycling and stuff. We had swordtails and plattie and mollies together too. I usualy have bettas.

 

[smithrc]

guys... as long as he looks around for a small pleco it should be fine in a 10 gal.

eg clown or king tiger at about 4-5 inches

just NOT a common $2.95 pleco. then your in trouble.

 

[Sharlene1385]

I am not really sure what breed of pleco we had. One (most common small one I've seen) was greyish brown with dark stripes, would that be a tiger one? lol
And the other was orange, quiet pretty. She was the largest, got fat and long, but only about 3 in, maybe 4 in. PetsMart had them. I havn't really seen them latly though. Only the larger ones. The tag said plecos and one tag at our LFS said algae eater. So, whatever they are, they stay small. lol, besides, I'd have to be totally nuts to get a large one with little guppies, with my luck, they'd get eaten. Our last pleco was a home decorator, always moving plants and rocks. I believe that may have been the cause of her death later on. Though we put slime coat stuff in, she always got small cuts on her. Of course it might have been her age to, she was at least 5 yrs that we knew of.

 

[cutechic]

guys... as long as he looks around for a small pleco it should be fine in a 10 gal.

eg clown or king tiger at about 4-5 inches

just NOT a common $2.95 pleco. then your in trouble.

Any pleco will get too big for a 10 gallon. Even a 4-5" one (which is small for a pleco) will need a bigger tank.