[iris600]

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]

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]

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

 

[trenac]

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]

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. :wink:

 

[tsunami]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

 

[Black oranda]

The 1 inch per gallon rule usually is used for the tetras and other rather small tropical fish, the rules change with diffrent types of fish.
I would say since a Gouramis could become 2 to 3 inches (i think)
You should give them 3 to 4 gallons each so you could have about 3
with maby a snail (a friendly one who won't eat your plants)or maby a small type of shrimp.
But personaly the size of the tank is too small for 3 Gouramis, since these guys could get somewhat agressive with each other...


I think you should get just some kind of small peaceful fish, or maby just simply get 1 fish... Bettas do great and he/she would be extremly happy
to have a nice 10 gallon to him self.

Anyways good luck

 

[Black oranda]

The 1 inch per gallon rule usually is used for the tetras and other rather small tropical fish, the rules change with diffrent types of fish.
I would say since a Gouramis could become 2 to 3 inches (i think)
You should give them 3 to 4 gallons each so you could have about 3
with maby a snail (a friendly one who won't eat your plants)or maby a small type of shrimp.
But personaly the size of the tank is too small for 3 Gouramis, since these guys could get somewhat agressive with each other...


I think you should get just some kind of small peaceful fish, or maby just simply get 1 fish... Bettas do great and he/she would be extremly happy
to have a nice 10 gallon to him self.

Anyways good luck


(Jans- Silver Dollars become huge, 5 inches long if im not mistaken)

 

[JanS]

You're right, Black O.... I have some SD's that are much bigger than 5", but I was just using a juvie as an example for deep bodied fish compared to small, narrow bodied fish.

 

[iris600]

But getting one fish would rule out many smaller fish choices suited to a ten gallon aquarium. (ie tetras, barbs, even guppies prefer or need communal circumstances)
And no, I am not setting up a ten gallon to tick a betta in it. I have HM bettas, but they are not going in my planted ten!

 

[dennis]

If the tank is heavily planted with a good bio filter and you do reguar maintance and have healthy conditions, the sky is the limit, with in reason of course. I have 3 10 gallon aquariums. One has 8 (was 10 at one point but I squased one and one died of unknown reasons) neon tetras, one has 13 black neons tetras, 2 platies, 2 platie fry, 2 amano shrimp and one oto. No problems with . The black neons lool great in the moderate lighting levels i have. The other 10 has 4 zebra danios, 3 golden barbs, a fire barb and a betta. All fish and shrimp, in all the tanks live in very peaceful harmony with each other. Never any fights of territorial issues. The moderately light 10 gallon has a very high fish load but there are tons of plants and always make sure to clean the filter carefully just to ensure I never get rid of all the bacteria in the media (inly change 1/2 at a time)

Personally I would recommend a school of smaller tetras or a school and a pair of "show" fish like platies, endlers or something. One thing I have been wanting to do though, but am out of tanks, is to do a school of cory pygmea (spelling) and a pair of endlers or killies or apistos.

 

[Raul-7]

And remember, it all comes down to waste production too. For example, a pair of Kribs produce as much waste as 30 Neons.

BTW, a pair of Apisto's would work.

 

[Black oranda]

But getting one fish would rule out many smaller fish choices suited to a ten gallon aquarium. (ie tetras, barbs, even guppies prefer or need communal circumstances)
And no, I am not setting up a ten gallon to tick a betta in it. I have HM bettas, but they are not going in my planted ten!

Well Sorry, im just trying to help you so calm down.

 

[trenac]

In the feb 2005 issue of Aquarium Fish they have a good little bit in the aquabits section on the 1" per gallon rule...

1-inch-per-gallon rule is actually a guideline

1) The rule only works on fish up to 3 inches long.
2) As the fish grows, it changes height and width, too. When a fish doubles in length, it's mass/volume increases 8X.
3) Shape is also a factor. Compare a 1" Tetra to 1" goldfish, so the output of waste is not equal.

Iris...If you want to go with a species tank then I think male Endlers & Guppys would make a nice combo along with some shrimp. If you choose Gouramies then Honeys stay small about 1 1/2" full grown.

Ok, Iris600/Black Orando lets play nice. [smilie=n:

 

[iris600]

I'm sorry, oranda, I didn't mean to come off as being upset. I was simply wondering if it would be healthy to keep a schooling fish such as a tetra singy.

 

[iris600]

So, within the breadth of this posting, some people have said a pair of apistos wouldn't work, while some have said they will.
I am also considering getting rid of my ten, or keeping it as backup, and replacing it with a 15 or 20 high (both are 24" long, but the 20gal is wider).