My 10 gallon tank

[FloridaFishGuy]

Ok, im getting a 10 gallon on friday. I was wondering what kind of fish i should get and how many that would be good for a beginner. If you could give me some feedback before friday that would be great.

 

[platypus]

Hi,

As 10 gallons is quite small, you'd have to keep it pretty simple - remembering the rule of 1" of fully grown fish to 1 gallon of water. So that gives you room for a school of tetras or pencilfish or minnows, or maybe some nice livebearers like guppies, platies or mollies (although if you get males and females once they start to breed you'll run out of room pretty quick!).

If this sounds a bit restrictive maybe you could think about getting a tank that's a big bigger - the bigger the tank, the more stable the water parameters will be as well

There are quite a lot of fish that are labelled as being good for beginners, or 'hardy', like zebra danios or mountain minnows. However, if you're doing fishless cycling before you add any fish then you won't have to worry about this - once your tank has cycled then your water conditions should be stable enough for you to add some of the more 'sensitive' types.

 

[FloridaFishGuy]

I would love to get a bigger tank but my parents said i shouldnt. And its going in my room and i dont have very much room and only a 10 gal can fit in it.

 

[platypus]

Fair enough - I think a betta is happy in a smallish tank. I don't know that much about them though, other than that they are beautiful fish - have a look in the bettas section of the forum and you'll get more info.

 

[FloridaFishGuy]

With the info I have gathered in this forum i think that im going to get some neon tetras and maybe 1-2 corys. Does this sound like a good idea? And i am going to get some live plants to add the algae and do the fishless cycle buy adding ammonia.

 

[Moe]

Sounds like a great plan. I have a 10g with 5 cardinal tetra, 2 guppies and 2 cory cats. It's really pretty and active. Good luck with the fishless cycle. I did a fishless cycle on my 10g it took 8 days. I used a filter pad from an established tank and some gravel in a net bag. Be very careful adding the ammonia do it drop by drop. It doesn't take much to get the ammonia level to 5ppm in a 10g. I think mine took one half teaspoon. Remember the strength of ammonia varies a lot. It might take even less in your tank. Just keep adding a few drops and test. Good luck.

 

[FloridaFishGuy]

Ok sounds good Moe. Also I have a chlorine and pH tester for my pool and i tested my water that come out of my tap and it is 0 chlorine and 7.2 pH so do i have to put in dechlorinator tapelts? The reason why the chlorine is 0 is becuase i have a rainsoft water filter outside and its huge and it is suposes to get rid of chlorine and take away hard water.

 

[Alien Anna]

The water company can add chlorine or chloramine at a moments notice so either test your water every time or use dechlorinator. A cheap dechlorinator isn't going to break the bank and I think its better to be safe than sorry. Incidently, does your test check for chloramines?

 

[Kossy]

Neons 2 corys and a (Betta + females maybe) should be fine. In my 10g I have 10 cardinals 2 cories and 2 female bettas. Quite overcrouded but its doing fine.

 

[Kossy]

But...2 cats and 6 neons are fine

 

[FloridaFishGuy]

Thanks for the help.

Incidently, does your test check for chloramines?

Ummm no lol all it checks for are chlorine and pH. Do you think 7.2 pH is ok? And if its not how do i raise or lower it?