I'm not really new to fish

[Sharlene1385]

Well, me and my mom have had freshwater fish quite a bit, Mostly betas, platies, swordtails, mollies, neon tetras, small plecos, and a tiger barb. Oh, and glass fish. We've been away from keeping fish for about a year since the last ones have died. So we would like to try something a bit different. I can't for the life of me remember the fish per gallon rule and we don't want to over load tank.
We have a 10 gal that came with the side filter, but also have a sumergable filter and heater. Plan on getting false plants as my luck with live plants isn't that good. lol.

I was curious at what would go good together and how many of the smaller fish we could get in a 10 gal. We are looking for smaller cheap ones, don't have the money to be buying $20 fish just let.

Mom likes Platies and Mollies and I love Swordtails and would like to try guppies. Planing on have a small pleco to keep down on algae (or other algae eater).
Would those type of fish do well together? I know platies and mollies do ok together. We are trying to plan out what we want now and work towards getting them. Looking for rather hardy fish, as we've found that glass fish tend to die to easily. We have a hood on the tank because we have cats, that don't bother fish, but like to look at them, so fish that are not easly stressed would help. We just don't want fish that will die way to easy as we are still rather begginers, we know more about them, but not experts.
Also, what would be the best algae eater for a tropical community tank like that?

Thanks.

 

[DN530]

Hi, its cool that you're getting back into keeping fish To answer a few of your questions.... its 1 inch of fish per gallon of water. If you want to keep more fish, try aiming for smaller fish, since you its a 10 gallon tank. One of my tanks is a 10 gallon which is a little over-crowded right now. As far as plecos go, don't get a common pleco or other plecos that can grow more than a foot. try smaller plecos like rubber lip plecos or clown plecos. those get to around 5-6 inches. otocinlus is an excellent algae eater that is relatively small. they only grow to 2 inches. i had one in my 10 gallon, but my other fish kept picking at it so i moved it. good luck and have fun picking out fish

 

[AHackett72]

These fish would be fine together. You will have a lot of babies tho!!! I wouldn't buy an algae eater just get a pleco. Algae eaters become aggressive as they age. They will start to go after the fish's eyes! You don't want that! Just go with a pleco. Clown pleco are great. They only get 4 in. Good Luck!

 

[Sharlene1385]

Thank you. Yes I always loved fish, and cats. We've had birds,,dogs, rabbits, and turtles now. And out of those, I prefer cats and fish. Though I still want a dog.

I want to eventually upgrade to a 55 gal. I'd love to set up a saltwater someday. I'm attracted to colors, purple, green, and blues. That's why I've always thought guppies where cute. Maybe I should just fill the tank with guppies and a nice little algae eater. lol. Oh, what about "ghost shrimp"? I've not heard much about them but heard they eat some algae. I'm thinking price right now cause pets mart has them for $.30.

We had to plecos in a 5 and they were just adorable, they were fun to watch. And the largest was about 1 1/2 inches, So I guess that's what we'd look at.

Ok, so I know guppies and swords are schooling fish, actually I think mollies are too. I'm guess mollies and guppies go good together, since petsmart has them together and they seem to not be fighting. So, how many should be in a school of fish.. if they are schooling? I saw somewhere about 3-4 but would say 2 guppies and 2 mollies school together and keep them happy? Or I was even thinking 1 of each. Yes, babies... everytime mom gets a platie it has babies in a week. Last time it had babies in the bag. lol.

I know we've made mistakes before, we had an old 5 gal and had 2 plecos, 1 tiger barb, 2 zebra danios, and 2-3 neons. And we had the 2 glassfish for about a week. Oh, one thing I found out, female bettas are not nice to platies. lol, mine murdered every fish we ever put with her, so she was very happy when we gave up.
One more thing, would that live substrate be better to start out with? Never had it before, so I wouldn't really know. We have regular aquarium gravel and some flat marbled rocks, so maybe I could mix that and get the right bacteria in the tank instead of fighting algea.

One more thing... does anyone know of a good link where I can study more about these fish? Like finding out their swimming levels and temp information. I really want to start out right this time instead of just grabbing 5 random fish and dumping them in.

 

[waterwatereverywhere]

Clown plecs are great but they have a reputation for NOT eating algae, they're supposed to need bogwood to munch on. Bristlenoses are recommended for algae, and most of these species don't get more than 5-6", in fact the max length of Ancistrus claro is only about 2.5" according to planet catfish, which is why I'm thinking of getting some for my tank!

 

[Sharlene1385]

Um, ok. Where on earth do you get these? I've only seen small plecos, large plecos, catfish, snails, and ghost shrimp. They didn't give breed names to the plecos, just algea eater or pleco is what they call them. I have a walmart, petsmart, petco, and some saltwater fish store. And the lps here doesn't even know how to take care of fish let along clean the tanks or anything. So I don't trust getting fish from there, mine usualy died from it.

 

[tsr770]

Do not get the live sand stuff.. thats for saltwater tanks only.

and the only pleco that I might even think about putting in a 10 gallon would be a pitbull pleco, as they stay less than like 3 inches. I would say get a Otocinclus as they stay under 2 inches and are very efficient algae eaters. Remember, you dont need someone to eat algea untill there is some for him to eat, and after its gone, you will need to give him algae wafers.

And if you go here LINK

you will find all sorts info on about every fish thats common in the hobby.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[Sharlene1385]

Yes,we had wafers for our other algae eaters. They where the last ones to die off. But we had the one for over 5 years so I wasn't suprised to lose her. Anyway, I readthat one of the sands where for freshwater, but it's $24 so I went to look for something cheeper. Ifound at Petco a liquid thing that can help add the bacteria in to get the nitrite and amonia down. Also found a fizzle drop in type that gives the slime coat, removes chlorine and puts the right bacteria in. Would those be a good idea to try to help get this tank started. I don't have any esabilished tanks or filters, but I do know those fish are hardier for that type of water. The only thing I don't have yet is a test kit. Anyone know of a cheap one out there to at least test nitrite and amonia? As I said, really tight budget but we still want fish. I had a ph tester and it's usualy ok. I still have to pick up new plants because we tossed the old grungy ones out. We are starting completly new.

 

[boozybears]

Hi! Congrats about the new tank. I've just finished cycling my first tank (YEAH) and used mollies and platies to do it. I love both of those fish sooo much. One thing I learned early on is that 1 or 2 of each isn't enough. They are schooling fish and were much happier and more active once we increased their numbers to 3 or more. Just make sure you have more females than males of each (2-3 females for each male). The girls get too stressed from all the 'attention' of the boys and I lost a few that way.

We have the rubber-lipped pleco from Petsmart...he's great! He should only get to be 5 inches and he's a lot of fun to watch (when you can see him during the day)

Good luck!
Valerie

 

[AquaSeaFoam]

I would stick with guppies and platies. Mollies and swordtails get a little too big for a 10 gallon, especially if you want more fish. Also, mollies do best in brackish water (a mix of fresh and marine.)
Try to get all males too, that way you won't be overrun with babies besides the male guppies are the prettiest anyway. You shouldn't get any algae eaters right away, b/c you won't have any algae for them to eat but when the time comes i suggest oto cats also. The plecos are all common plecos at your lfs (unless specifically marked as something else) and the largest might be a few inches now, but they WILL grow to over a foot.
ghost shrimp don't eat algae but amano shrimp do.
All you need is plain aquarium gravel for the substrate. I reccomend a liquid dechlorinator, which also removes chloramines.

Ifound at Petco a liquid thing that can help add the bacteria in to get the nitrite and amonia down.

I'm not sure what stuff you are talking about from petco, what is the name of it?
Something you do NEED though is a test kit. one for ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte. these are the most important. you could get a master test kit but you will probably have to buy the nitrAte kit seperatly. The liquid drop test with test tubes give more accurate results than the test strips.
You might want to give fishless cycling a try: http/badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article14.html
This will mean holding off on any fish until the cycle is complete

 

[Sharlene1385]

You are so helpful here, thanks. I was thinking of getting 3 guppies, but since its a 10 gal, how much room would that leave for platies? I need a bigger tank so bad. lol.

Ok, these are the products I've found. Biozymn
Cycle Biological Aquarium Supplement
and Water safe tablets

And I have some dechlorinater things, plus some came with the tank. And I think I still have some stress coat left.