Ideas For Fish

[PrairieSunflower]

Have you thought about any wild species of betta?  There are lots that would work out in a 10 gallon.  I didn't mention them before because I wasn't sure you wanted to go back to bettas. 

Are wild varieties more hardy than the usual sort?

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I'm starting to like the idea of endlers even though I wasn't wanting livebearers.  But, everything I have been reading so far says they should be in a 20 gallon tank not a 10.

 

[Wildbetta]

 

Have you thought about any wild species of betta?  There are lots that would work out in a 10 gallon.  I didn't mention them before because I wasn't sure you wanted to go back to bettas. 

Are wild varieties more hardy than the usual sort?
 

 
I believe so. Most tend to be kept in better conditions from the start which helps considerably.  They also not been mass produced like the domestic ones have.  With the larger species the lifespans tend to be 10+ years consistently with good care.  Plus they can kept in groups which is pretty cool compared to the domestics.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Oh! I wondered about that!  I have looked at buying wild bettas and they seem to nearly exclusively be sold in pairs and I was unsure. 

I have noticed with my norman's lampeyes that are not popular fish their health has been excellent.  I figure this is down to no mass breeding and such.  Out of them.. I've only lost one that came to me with wasting disease... and in the time I've had them only one got a bit of fungus on its fin and it didn't even require a full treatment for it to respond and clear completely.

(Sadly my fish from my larger tank will be sold before we move house and none are appropriate to rehome in my small tank).

 

[the_lock_man]

Sorry for your loss!
 
Imho your tank is too small to keep any of those small danios or characins.They are very active swimmers and should be kept in groups of 10+. Moreover if kept alone (meaning only this species, not a single fish) they tend to be very shy and skittish. My favourite in such a tank would be Neoheterandria elegans or Heterandria formosa. Even though they are live bearers they don't reproduce as rapidly and if u have surpluse there is always demand for it.

 
In fairness, the Dwarf Emerald Rasbora and Celestial Pearl Rasbora aren't nearly as active as other danio species, such as the zebra or pearl. I'd certainly have no qualms about either of those species in a 10gal, and indeed have kept CPDs in a tank slightly larger than 10g. The generally accepted rule of thumb, certainly in this corner of the interweb, is that shoaling species need 6+, although I would agree that the bigger the group, the better. 
 
I've kept both CPDs and Chilli Rasbora in a small tank, and didn't find them skittish at all. That said, my tank is very heavily planted. The reassurance of a place to hide gives them the confidence to come out into the open. In a tank with little or no plant cover, they will all just hide up at the top corner, because they know they have nowhere to hide if they were to encounter a predator.
 
Personally, I really like rare livebearers, and second your suggestions - the only problem is finding them initially in an area local to the OP, and secondly, rehoming the offspring locally. There isn't actually a huge demand for them - your only hope is to other specialist aquarists, and there may not be many or any of those locally to the OP. The OP may not want to get involved in the rigmarole of sending fish long distances.

 

[Alasse]

Endlers breed at the same rate as guppies, and to make it worse they dont tend to predate their young like guppies do......you would be far better off keeping a male only tank if you went the way of endlers. My 2ft was very quickly over run with fry (females fry ended up as feeders, males i grew out and sold)

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I decided to let my children choose between either 6 male endlers or a betta.  It was quite hard as I was so tempted to take the poor tiny betta with his fins all munched off and stress stripes instead.  But, I at least had the fish shop guy move him to a safe tank.

SO... we have 6 endlers acclimating at the moment.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Nice

 
You can easily add cherry shrimps to this tank after a little while

 
BTW where are the pics?

 

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Nice

 
You can easily add cherry shrimps to this tank after a little while

 
BTW where are the pics?

 

I already had two amano shrimp and one nerrite snail in there.  I may move over some more of my amano shrimp (at some point) from my other tank.  I have had NO luck with cherries over the year... they always died out.  But not a single amano shrimp has ever died.

It seems physically impossible to get decent pictures of my new fish.  LOL  They are nearly always blurs!