Which 10g setup do you think is best?

[jiffy]

I have a 10 gallon tank that currently has 4 longfin zebra dainos and 5 cardinal tetras. My original intention with the tank was to get 6 neon tetras (but I went with cardinals instead) a fire dwarf gourami, and a few otto cats.

Now I know that is slightly overstocked but I am very dilligant with my maintenance and would have been sure to stay ontop of everything.

Well...since I got the dainos they have started to grow on me. I love their playful personalities. So here is my question.

Which set up do you think is best?

Option #1
Fire Dwarf Gourami
6 cardinal tetras
1 (or 2 or 3) otto cats

or
Option #2
6 (or 4) longfin zebra dainos
6 cardinal tetras
1 (or 2 or 3) otto cats

I kind of am leaning towards option 2 because the cardinals provide some "flash" to the tank and the dainos provide the personality. A fire gourami would be more "flash" so I think that the dainos might make for a more interesting tank to watch.

EDIT---
I wanted to add that the LFS will take a trade at half value for any fish, so if I switched the dainos for the Dwarf Gourami I would get some credit on the dainos.

 

[canarsie11]

Option 2 cause you alread have zebra's!

 

[Guppylover]

I would go with choice two as well...you already have most of the fish on the list anyway.

 

[jiffy]

I am really thinking option 2 as well. Anyone else going to chime in?

 

[aquarius]

personally i would go with 1, it's more of a variety, but since you do have most of the fish for 2, maybe that's what you should do

 

[The-Wolf]

I've said this before and i will say it again, In many a post.

You should not keep any danios in a 10 gallon tank! It is way too small for them to swim about happily

 

[tstenback]

I like option two as well with the 4 zebras. How about a couple of panda corie for the bottom instead of the ottos. The cories dont eat much algae but they are very active and i am not sure you have an algae prob at this point. JMO

 

[jiffy]

tstenback - you have been reading my other posts haven't you? lol.

Ottos are out. I may infact go with either panda or pygmy cories. I have also been recomended shrimp. I am leaning towards shrimp because of their low bioload. I have also heard that cories can be difficult to keep.

 

[tstenback]

tstenback - you have been reading my other posts haven't you? lol.

Ottos are out. I may infact go with either panda or pygmy cories. I have also been recomended shrimp. I am leaning towards shrimp because of their low bioload. I have also heard that cories can be difficult to keep.

shrimp are a great addition to a tank. They are great garbage disposal systems and fun to watch. I have never experienced any problems with cories in the past and i have had many over the last 35 years. The shrimp may prove harder to keep but they are much cheaper so not so hard on the pocket book if anything goes wrong. Good luck

 

[kevin007]

tstenback - you have been reading my other posts haven't you? lol.

Ottos are out. I may infact go with either panda or pygmy cories. I have also been recomended shrimp. I am leaning towards shrimp because of their low bioload. I have also heard that cories can be difficult to keep.

shrimp are a great addition to a tank. They are great garbage disposal systems and fun to watch. I have never experienced any problems with cories in the past and i have had many over the last 35 years. The shrimp may prove harder to keep but they are much cheaper so not so hard on the pocket book if anything goes wrong. Good luck

I saw my shrimp murder one neon and i saw it ate 10.........it tore apart my tank

but people argue saying how good of a darn invertebrate they are...bs

 

[NinjaSmurf]

All the shrimp I've ever had ended up hiding out because the fish tried to eat the, I never had a problem with one of them going after a fish. Sometimes yo get evil shrimp though, so if you get some keep your on them for awhile....

 

[tstenback]

tstenback - you have been reading my other posts haven't you? lol.

Ottos are out. I may infact go with either panda or pygmy cories.  I have also been recomended shrimp.  I am leaning towards shrimp because of their low bioload.  I have also heard that cories can be difficult to keep.

shrimp are a great addition to a tank. They are great garbage disposal systems and fun to watch. I have never experienced any problems with cories in the past and i have had many over the last 35 years. The shrimp may prove harder to keep but they are much cheaper so not so hard on the pocket book if anything goes wrong. Good luck

I saw my shrimp murder one neon and i saw it ate 10.........it tore apart my tank

but people argue saying how good of a darn invertebrate they are...bs

Are you sure it was a shrimp? In 35 years of keeping fish an many of those with shrimp i have never seen a shrimp attack/eat a healthy fish. Not saying it didnt happen, cause as we all know you can never say never in this hobby, but it would be an extremely rare incident.

 

[kevin007]

tstenback - you have been reading my other posts haven't you? lol.

Ottos are out. I may infact go with either panda or pygmy cories.  I have also been recomended shrimp.  I am leaning towards shrimp because of their low bioload.  I have also heard that cories can be difficult to keep.

shrimp are a great addition to a tank. They are great garbage disposal systems and fun to watch. I have never experienced any problems with cories in the past and i have had many over the last 35 years. The shrimp may prove harder to keep but they are much cheaper so not so hard on the pocket book if anything goes wrong. Good luck

I saw my shrimp murder one neon and i saw it ate 10.........it tore apart my tank

but people argue saying how good of a darn invertebrate they are...bs

Are you sure it was a shrimp? In 35 years of keeping fish an many of those with shrimp i have never seen a shrimp attack/eat a healthy fish. Not saying it didnt happen, cause as we all know you can never say never in this hobby, but it would be an extremely rare incident.

probably i got a REALLY evil shrimp, it was huge...well, same as my platty, it even killed 2 of my 4 platties