setting up a 10 gallon freshwater

[techgirl]

I've been thinking about setting up a 10 gallon freshwater and am debating on what to put in it. I'm leaning toward having some shrimp, maybe ghost or cherry, a trio or fancy guppies and some black mollies, maybe a clam. Think that would work? I haven't done a freshwater since my 55 gallon crashed a yr ago. any good suggestions on working with a tank this size? Thanks

 

[MacularisMan]

I've been thinking about setting up a 10 gallon freshwater and am debating on what to put in it. I'm leaning toward having some shrimp, maybe ghost or cherry, a trio or fancy guppies and some black mollies, maybe a clam. Think that would work? I haven't done a freshwater since my 55 gallon crashed a yr ago. any good suggestions on working with a tank this size? Thanks

that would be a really good set-up.


If its not too personal, might I asked what happened to your 55 gallon tank?

 

[techgirl]

If its not too personal, might I asked what happened to your 55 gallon tank?[/QUOTE]

last winter, when I was working an overnight shift, we lost power and heat. Came home to a frozen tank and cold reptiles. I was able to move all the reptiles but I was too late in saving the tank. It was an awesome tank, I had 2 blue gouramis, 2 clown loaches, 2 dwarf puffers, some kuhlie loaches, a bristle-nose pleco, rapheal catfish, and some tetra serphae and some others I can't remember. It was a great tank and now I just want to do something on the small side. Our 55 gallon is now home to a baby yellow bellied slider, Franklin.

 

[marineman26]

hi,


I just picked up a red glo fish for my 10 gallon there small and are really colorful. I had tried some glo lite tetras but that did not turn out to good as there is something in my water they cannot deal with. I think the little red glofish are cool fish especially if you use something like a blue tint light on them they like stick out really well. There are also green glofish also they are like neon green. I guess the only down fall to them is there price, they are $4.99 each but to me there worth it as I love colorful fish. but what you have said should work out fine for you.

 

[techgirl]

I'm not too big on the glo-lites, never seem to do too well for too long. I did pick up some plants for the tank yesterday. I added java fern, anubis, amazon sword and a moss ball to it. I also picked up plant food for them. I am planning on getting fish tomorrow, just haven't decided on what yet. 3 mollies, or platys. Figured I'd start with them and go slow.

 

[Ccrashca069]

For small fish we have Red Mollies and RummyNose Tetras. There might be a baby guppy and 2 baby Micky Mouse Platties. I just don't feel like checking the tank right now lol. We also have 3 different gouramis, Sailfin pleco and 2 cory catfish.

 

[goReptiles]

We have glo-lites in our 10 gallon, and they've done great; they're going on at least 9 months now. I forget when we got them.

Just remember not to over stock the tank. 1 inch per gallon.

 

[techgirl]

well we got our first additions, 3 black mollies. Hopefully these guys will do well for the next 2 weeks and then we'll see about adding something else.

 

[GeckoStud]

Sounds like you have a good set up getting started. I see you've kept gouramis in the past, on a smaller scale for this tank I think you should check out some of the honey sunset gouramis. They stay small and come in a variety of colors, I used to have a few until I had to revamp my tank, I highly recommend them.

 

[Halley]

Just remember not to over stock the tank. 1 inch per gallon.

Oh, that is so hard to do. I hade a hard time figuring out what I will put in my 135 gal. It is not set-up yet. But there is so many more fish I would want to put into it, that there just isn’t room for.

 

[marineman26]

Halley,

Get you a couple oscars they are nice fish. I guess if I had that tank I would go with a couple oscars myself lol but thats me I guess. I guess if I had to I would go with some piranha just me though lol. I guess everyone for there own.......Shaun

 

[LadyGecko]

well we got our first additions, 3 black mollies. Hopefully these guys will do well for the next 2 weeks and then we'll see about adding something else.

LOL-with 3 black Mollies and if they are female-you will have that tank filled with babies in no time

Go slow with adding your fish unless you are using the biological medium that comes in a bottle and needs to be refrigerated-damn if I can remember the name of that stuff-lol

Rummy Nose tetras are very pretty and an interesting small fish and look lovely in a shoal

Have fun !!
I want to set up a tank soooooooooo badly but our water sucks and I just can't deal with water changes anymore
:main_no:

PS-Oscars are lovely fish but they would outgrow a 10 gal in a month or two and they need MASSIVE water changes in large tanks
They are very large messy fish with a fantastic "personality"-lol

 

[StinaKSU]

Mollies are definitely too big for a 10 gallon...they can get up to 6 inches (even if they don't reach 6 they will get up to at least 4). Honestly I would think about returning them......or getting a larger tank. You are technically already overstocked since the mollies will get big enough to go over the inch per gallon....with 3 mollies, even if you go with the more conservative measurement of 4 inches at adult size, you're at 12 inches of fish....and a 4" fish is too large for a 10 gallon anyway.

A great fish for a 10 gallon is the von rio/flame tetra (stay about 1" long and are quite colorful). I have some that I picked up at work (we still have some there!) and they seem to be pretty hardy and are very attractive.

If you do guppies do ONLY males....any female livebearer (including the mollies) will overstock a 10 gallon in one litter. Also remember that male guppies can exceed 2" in length at adulthood.

If you want to do shrimp you can't have mollies...they'll eat them. Guppies might as well, though I've had guppies that left shrimp mostly alone. We sometimes get blackberry (very dark blue females) and orange bee (bright orange females) shrimp in at work...they're very cute and even sometimes come in carrying eggs! You do have to have very good water conditions for them though (clams as well); being invertebrates they're much more sensitive to water conditions/toxins than fish generally will be. Also, ghost shrimp, while inexpensive, are not truly 100% freshwater and don't usually survive for terribly long...so I would try to get one of the true freshwater species.

Other good choices for a 10 are smaller fish that are hard to find in regular pet stores...though there is a pet store on 202 south of Flemington called Fin, Fur, and Feathers that has a few good ones....pencilfish (if they've gotten more in...I bought the last one last week...hehe), and sparkling gouramis (just make sure they get you healthy looking ones...its not the best pet store...but they get some interesting things in). They get cherry shrimp and amano shrimp (MAJOR algae eaters) sometimes too. I'm not feeling well today....but I'm thinking of driving over there anyway to pick up a couple more sparkling gouramis (I had bought 2 last week....one was sickly and died...but the other is gorgeous!) and see if they have more pencilfish...

the pencilfish is really cool btw......I picked up a few von rios from work last night and turned on the light in the tank to put them in...and saw the pencil fish...who was COMPLETELY differently colored than normal! It normally has 3 dark horizontal stripes with a few red markings...but when I looked in last night it had wide, dark, vertical bands and I didn't see any red!...it was crazy! The fish were all swimming around looking for food so I tossed a little in, and the moment the pencilfish went for the food it changed back to its normal coloration within seconds.....very very cool transformation! A lot of fish will kind of fade at night...but this was SOOO drastic!

 

[StinaKSU]

Ack! Sorry about the long post!!!!

I want to set up a tank soooooooooo badly but our water sucks and I just can't deal with water changes anymore

What's wrong with your water? Have you ever used a python?....it eliminates the need for any heavy lifting while doing water changes if you can use the tap.



Oh one more thing.....with the glo-lites/glofish.....are you guys talking about actual glo-light tetras or glofish (genetically modified danios)?....both *should* be fairly hardy fish....the glofish a little moreso. I wouldn't personally recommend either for a 10....though you can put them in one...they both get upwards of 2" and are very active fish...I don't personally like the idea of having very active fish of that size in something only 20" long. Both are very interesting fish though...I always liked the glo-lights over neons.....and the glofish are just nifty.

 

[NickOC]

3 black mollies will be fine a 10. Black mollies top out @ 4" max body size...and that no usually a black molly, some have lyre tail with brings them to 6" but again that is not body size. 1 inch per gallon is borderline trivial, it is more to keep you from going over board than the limitations of a tank which are determined by mechanical nutrient export and biological filtration capacity.....ie water changes and your biofilter. A good sized bambo shrimp would do well with them as it is to big to be mucked with. Mollies are on the cusp of being semi aggressive in my book in smaller tanks, so be carefull what you choose if you add a couple more small fish. If you get a good thing going with the 10 it will only lead to bigger tanks....so take the dive and buy a 55 or 240....:main_thumbsup:

 

[StinaKSU]

Since when is 4" an ok size for a 10 gallon?.... The only time I think the inch per gallon rule applies with any reliability is with fish of 1 1/2-2 1/2" in length in tanks of 10-20 gallons. I don't think a fish that will reach 4" "in body length" should be put into a 10 gallon with intentions of keeping it there. Especially a fairly active fish like a molly. If they're purchased with the intention of putting them in a larger tank once they exceed about 2 1/2," then fine, put them in a 10....but I don't think its fair to keep a fish that reaches 4" "in body length" in a 10 gallon and expect it to live long term. It's just not good for them....larger fish tend to produce more waste per volume than fish of ~ 1 1/2-2 1/2" in length and need a larger space....besides that they need space to swim around.

 

[LadyGecko]

What's wrong with your water? Have you ever used a python?....it eliminates the need for any heavy lifting while doing water changes if you can use the tap.


Christina
My tap water -which is well water has exceeded the normal limits of safe arsenic levels about every four months (I get a notice n the mail) for years
On top of that it has large levels of ammonia and nitrites from the fertilizer run off from the corn and soy bean fields that literally surround my town


I wondered why when I was keeping fish that I would have a major tank die off when all of the water parameters tested fine before a water change with just a slight increase in nitrates

I was using an RO unit but I had to add some water to the RO water from it to bring up the Ph and to have some minerals in the water
I did this before I knew about the arsenic problem otherwise I would have bought gallons of spring water to mix with the RO water
I must have hit the rise in arsenic levels at certain times when i was doing the water changes

So even with the python-I could drain but not fill the tanks with it

I have used a python and unfortunately with the arthritis in my hands-even with the python-the water changes were getting to hard for me to do
That is one reason why I got out of keeping fish

I fought trying to keep fish alive here for years and I just can't handle it anymore-it's crazy with all of the fluctuations in the tap water


I will get another RO unit someday and when i do I hope to have maybe one large tank up and running


Before I moved down here and I had Lake Michigan tap water-I had numerous tanks of fish thriving and breeding for me

I had Gold Severums as large as Oscars-they were beautiful with their Orange finage and I was able to hatch babies from their eggs

I had numerous types of plecos and hoplo cats and synodontis cats and many other types of fish

I was just crazy about fish and I went to the auctions/shows whenever I could

I guess that I was just being wistful about keeping them again

Thanks for asking


Sandy

PS-all the animals and I do not drink tap water
We all drink from bottled Spring water
Actually almost no one here drinks tap water
:main_rolleyes:

 

[StinaKSU]

Oh fun......I hope I never have to deal with tap water like that!

 

[Halley]

Go slow with adding your fish unless you are using the biological medium that comes in a bottle and needs to be refrigerated-damn if I can remember the name of that stuff-lol

Bio-spria
Or
Stress Zyme

PS-Oscars are lovely fish but they would outgrow a 10 gal in a month or two and they need MASSIVE water changes in large tanks
they are very large messy fish with a fantastic "personality"-lol

Yeah, I have an Oscar in a 55, I don’t even know if I could shove him in a 10-gal, even if I wanted to. He is massive. I don’t really do water changes though. I test the ammonia, Ph, nitrites, etc. every week, and they are always fine. I do have 145 gallons of filtration on there though. And he never has left over food. So I think that, that helps. Let us know what fish you decide to keep though.

 

[NickOC]

I wasnt trying to be argumenative. Mollies are hardy fish, and I did not say a 10 was best. Working in fish stores it is apparent that 3 mollies will do fine in a 10, not to say they will have the highest quality of life possible. i hav enever gone by inches per gallon, but waste production and mollies arent "dirty fish". Bottom line is that the mollies will do fine given a rational portion of food with proper water change. Also forgot to mention that salt will help them too as they are borderline brackish. You cannot say that they will suffer from a 10 gallon tank if they are healthy.....as they are fish. Again just from my experience I know that they can infact live a full length life in a 10 gallon aquarium. Albiet not the best choice it is not out of the scope of tolerance for the fish. Ild say a 55gallon tank with no salt added is more "cruel" than a 10 with salt (which wasnt even mentioned), so it is all relative. I should have been more specific I suppose. I totally hear you though on it not being the best choice, just dont agree that they cannot live a full life in good health. My judgment on fish keeps a roof over my head, I simply think that the 3 mollies in a 10 will do fine given the right amount of water exchange and proper nutrient control.:main_yes:

Since when is 4" an ok size for a 10 gallon?.... The only time I think the inch per gallon rule applies with any reliability is with fish of 1 1/2-2 1/2" in length in tanks of 10-20 gallons. I don't think a fish that will reach 4" "in body length" should be put into a 10 gallon with intentions of keeping it there. Especially a fairly active fish like a molly. If they're purchased with the intention of putting them in a larger tank once they exceed about 2 1/2," then fine, put them in a 10....but I don't think its fair to keep a fish that reaches 4" "in body length" in a 10 gallon and expect it to live long term. It's just not good for them....larger fish tend to produce more waste per volume than fish of ~ 1 1/2-2 1/2" in length and need a larger space....besides that they need space to swim around.