Fish choices for ten gallon - Fish for the Planted Aquarium

iris600 · 12-28-2004, 02:42 PM

I have been reading through your forums, and now am better informed as to some of the interesting fish choices available for small planted aquariums.
In your opinion, for someone who is a newbie to planted tanks, what fish would you choose for a ten gallon?
I was particularly interested in either the small rainbows (blue eyed or celebe type), Apistogrammas, or German Blue Rams. I also wanted to have Cherry and/or amano shrimp as a cleanup team. Are any of these fish choices incompatible with the shrimp in a planted tank?
What's a good beginner fish?

Black oranda · 12-28-2004, 02:50 PM

I don't recomend rams or any Cichlids, Maby some kind of small tetras?, Danios, or maby a few Neons

.
You must have a filter, and since fish produce Ammonia which is toxic you should do 25% water changes to get rid of the ammonia waste.

Just let me know what happens.

SnyperP · 12-28-2004, 03:39 PM

LOL i'm on a big amano shrimp craze. I recommend it to anyone =p Just plain love those guys,

trenac · 12-28-2004, 05:13 PM

I would not recommend Rainbows even the small ones need a lot of swimming space and are much happier kept in shoals.

I would stick with small fish. A great little, hardy, active, colorful fish is the male Endler. You could also add a male Guppy with the male Endlers. Another fish I would consider is White Clouds, they also like being kept in a group of 4-6.

All the above fish would do great with shrimp, Cherry or Amanos.

Raul-7 · 12-29-2004, 05:06 AM

If you want something exotic you can use a pair of Dwarf Gouramis, great community fish. I'm sure you'll be amazed by the courtship.

tsunami · 12-29-2004, 12:23 PM

A charming little fish with plenty of personality would be the miniscule T. pumilis (Sparkling gourami). I have a pair in my own 10g, and they are great. A pair of german blue rams would also work. I don't see any reason why not.

However, in these small setups, I would be more inclined to recommend some of the small characins like the glowlight tetra, red phantom tetra, and cardinal tetra.

Guppies can also work.

Carlos

iris600 · 12-29-2004, 01:10 PM

Ah. Is the concern more size? I've kept dwarf gouriamis in the past very successfully. I've never had a pair, however, as I believe LFS only get in the males, at least around here.
I don't really want to have a mishmash of fish. I was looking more for a 1 species tank with some form of algae cleaning organism.
Are shrimp too difficult for beginners? Do you recommend fish first or shrimp first? How long after initial setup (or how long after tank chem stabilizes)?

iris600 · 12-29-2004, 01:12 PM

One last question.. I know the books tell you 1 inch of fish per gallon. How does this rule apply to planted tanks? Less fish? More fish?

Bert H · 12-30-2004, 04:04 AM

If you go Endlers or guppy route, remember they will interbreed. I have both kept in separate tanks. The endlers are always on the go compared to my guppies.

JanS · 12-30-2004, 07:38 AM

I don't think Shrimp are difficult as long as you have clean water conditons. If you're going to add both shrimp and fish I'd personally go with the shrimp first.

IMO, you'd be pushing your limits with the Dwarf Gourami's in a 10, but with plenty of water changes I'm sure it could be done, but I wouldn't put much else in the tank.

As for the 1" per gallon rule, it's way too vague whether you have plants or not. You could have a 2" Silver Dollar which is about as tall as it is long, or a 2" skinny fish and the SD would give you more than 10 times the mass.