we are going to get a 10 gallon aquarium tonight, and our fish tomorrow. how many fish should it hold maximum? what kinds of fish aren't too much work and aren't like goldfish, where they get the tank very messy?
thanks..
Answers:
You didn't say if it was heated, filtered or aerated. For most fish you'll need a heater, and filter. (Most filters provide plenty of aeration.) In a heated , and filtered tank you can have about one inch of fish per gallon. Note that tank should run for at least 2 days with a small amount of finely crushed fish flakes before any fish are put in. Then unless you are ready to closely monitor your ammonia levels, and remove excess ammonia. You should only add one fish a week.
Guppy, swordtail, platty, and molly don't need a heater, but will require a filter. Molly tend to be rather sensive to bad water conditions so I'd reccomend doing a week or 2 of fishless cycling before you add them. Also the larger mollies, and lyretail, and other sailfin mollies can grow to 4-5 inches. (black molly, and ballon molly rarely grow larger than 3 inchess.) Note that all of these fish are related, and can be easily mixed in a tank. (Swordtails, and platty are pretty much the same species, and can interbreed.) These fish are omnivores with a prefernce for veggies. They will eat a standard tropical fish flake, but do better with veggy/fish flake rather than fish/veggy flake. They will suffer less diease if they have one teaspoon of salt per 5 gallons. (Mollys love salt, and can live in salt water if the change is gradual.) All of these fish bear live young, and reproduce like mad. (Generally they will eat all their young in a small tank. This is a good thing.) They love zucchi, and cumber slices.
Danios, white clouds, minnows. Hardy fish with similar requirement as the above live bearers. (Other than salt.) They are omnivores who's food should be a flake with fish before veggies.
Killfish/Killy. A hardy fish that requires a heater, and filter. This relatively peacefull fish is a carnivore, and will happily eat anything it can fit in it's mouth. It should be fed betta flakes.
Bettas. A loner fish that is aggressive within it's species. A single male betta would coexist with the live bearers other than male fancy guppies. (Which look too much like bettas.) A single female would be colorfull addition to any of the above groups. (Note that females will fight each other, and males.) Bettas prefer a heater, but don't require aeration.
Dwarf gourmi (only dwarfs) are a good addition to any of the above fish. Unlike their larger cousin they are quite peaceful. They require a heater, and only be added to established tanks. Male bettas might mistake the dwarf gormi for a betta. (My female bettas initial did, but wise avoid picking a fight.) Gourmis don't require aeration, but are poor canidates for not having a filter.
Fish to avoid that have been suggested:
Angelfish- Grow too big
Puffers- Cute rolly polly angels of death
Goldfish- Grow too big, and are messy
Multiple bettas of any sex- A 10 gallon tank is to small for multiple females, and males can't be kept with any other betta.
Ps- Do yourself a favor type "cyling fish tank" with out qoutes into any search engine
Small fish would be best. Try mollies and or neons. They are both small and easy to keep.
Do you have a heater for your tank? Tropicals need to be kept at 78 degrees. Goldfish don't need a heater.
If you can have tropicals, you should start out with something that's pretty hardy like platys, guppies, danios, tetras and you'll need a cat fish to clean the bottom.
The amount of fish depends on the size of the fish you get. When you first add fish to an aquarium it's wisest to only get a few at a time until your tank is established. So you may want to start out with only 3 or 4.
Try smaller fish like neons. There are many small varieties that way your tank will hold more. I heard 1 fish per gallon-but with smaller it is more.
the kind that swim in water
They say 1 fish per gallon of water. That includes algae eaters or anything else that you decide to have cleaning your tank (if you do).
Goldfish are easiest to care for, and tetras are most common for people starting new tanks. They are community fish and again, easier to care for than some of the others
Guppies, very pretty wont take up to much room and easy to care for. Any fish really. Just dont go get a Oscar because you have to buy a bigger tank within a couple of months. Danios live for ever it seems.. good luck!
10 gallon, either you have to change 1/4 of the water 2 times a week, or you're going to have to keep it very small, and little amount of fishes as possible. Go for guppies, they self breed, even the cheap colorless ones, they eventually make colorful breeds. A fighting fish. Little fishes that swims in packs.
Before you pick a type of fish decide whether you want a fresh or salt water tank. Since you don't want to do too much work I suggest you don't get a salt water tank. If your willing to put in the work it would be worth it. Salt water fish are much more beautiful.
Get 5 fish. Get them all freshwater angel fish. Or get tropical and get lionfish or pufferfish or clowfish. Those are always cool.
Don't buy more than a couple fish tomorrow. Your tank needs to "cycle in." I would suggest a couple of zebra danios, they are hardy and not agressive. Once the tank cycles you can add some more fish. The rule of thumb is one inch of thin, small fish to one gallon of water.
Go to "About.com" and follow the link to setting up a freshwater aquarium.
It takes about 2-3 weeks to cycle in a tank unless you add a product called "Cycle." This will help reduce the time to about 10-14 days. It is actually bacteria in a bottle.
You need these good bacteria to help convert the ammonia that is produced when fish waste and uneaten food decays. First comes ammonia, then nitrates, then nitrites. All of these are toxic to your fish and will kill them if not taken care of by the bacteria and regular 25-30% water changes each week.
Too many fish right away causes what is called an "ammonia spike". This is what kills fish in newly set up aquariums and is actually called "new tank syndrome." More fish are killed by too much ammonia in a tank than any other problem.
Your tank will become cloudy for a while, that is normal and will disappear when the bacteria build up. Just do your weekly 25-30% changes and you should be fine.
Good luck.
I started off by getting 2 zebras and two tetras (i got red eye tetras but neon tetras work just as well) they were very easy to keep and are very hardy fishes :) meaning they can take alot of punishment and they'll still be kickin! i've had mine for bout 4 years now 'n they endured african clawed frogs as well as a family of guppies!
I don't recommend putting the fish in right the next day as the water would not have matured enough yet for the fish to go into :) there are certain things you'll need to get from the shop such as dechlorinator . a bottle of cycle (its a product) .. ph adjusting products (to adjust water conditions) as well as heater (since you use to have gold fish) and extra filter media wouldn't hurt :)
Whatever you do do NOT wash the aquarium with ANY soap it'll create a coating inside the tank 'n make it hard for the fish to breathe inside .. besides! the worst thing in those new tanks is just dust :)
good luck and have fun!
If you are set on a 10 gallon tank, then ignore the other user who spoke of a saltwater aquarium. Your setup would just be too small to be decent..
It would not be in the best interests of your fish to be purchased tomorrow because they will have a harder time surviving until your tank has cured. This takes about 1-2 weeks depending on the size of the tank. There are products that you can purchase at the petstore to make this happen faster, but I have never used them personally so I can't recommend them.
If you can afford it you should consider a 20 gallon tank instead of a 10 gallon. It will be a much healthier place for your fish to live. With aquariums it always seems to be the larger the better, but since you are new and still have much to learn I would not recommend anything above a 20.
Consider getting a few live plants instead of filling your tank up with plastic plants and "toys" that clutter it up. A good starter fish would be a neon tetra as they have always seemed to be a hardy fish to me. Also you could give guppies a try. They are very cheap, sometimes referred to as feeder fish..though I hate that. Some of them have very pretty tails. They would look outstanding in a 10 gallon tank. Try to keep it to one fish per gallon. If you have never had an aquarium before, make sure that you let your pet store owner know so that he can give you some good advice. Go to a real pet store, not walmart..
The fish are healthier in a real store anyways.
Do not forget to get one bottom feeder. A small one =)
But above all please let your tank cure before you put fish in it. If you put the fish in before it cures, then they may die or just become sick enough to die slowly, but at any rate it would not be a humane thing to do. I hope this info helps. If you need more information feel free to contact me via my profile. =)
I rasie and breed guppies. They are fun to watch and don't take much care. But they breed like rabbits so if you get them becareful.
Before you get your fish you should cycle your tank for 3 weeks. If you don't you will get what is called new tank syndrom and its not good. It will kill your fish. Cycleing your tank is when you set it up the way you want it and let it run fishless for about 2-3 weeks before adding fish to it. After that you are good to go. If you would like to add fish sooner then I would wait a week then add them one at a time until the 3 weeks is up then you are good to go. I put my guppies in a 29 gallon tank the day I set it up and that was the biggest mistake I could have ever done. I got luck and was able to save them but it cost me a lot of money and time. I lost one fish in the whole messy mess up I did.
Also the rule of fish tanks is 1 inch of fish to 1 gallon of water. So I would no more the 9 fish becasue you have to count for the rocks, decrations, filter. and air pump.
stick to 1in of fish needs 1gallon of water.so you can get several small fish.i like rams they stay like 3inches or so and are not "messey" fish like goldfish and they are active.. you could get 3 of them ..you need at least 2 of them because they are not a solo type fish they are social and a dwarf sucker (1-2in). if not maybe some neon tetras .they are 1in or so and are clean you could get 4 of them and a small breed pleco. the "common" pleco grows to be 12-18 inches so avoid them.get a dwarf sucker fish(1-2in),clown pleco.(4in),a small whip tail ect. do not over stock your tank or the fish will slowly die.get a really good filter too. look for one that is rated for a bigger tank(15-20 gal) and a liquid called easy balance and cycle and a dechlorinater(w/o water is dangrous and fish will die)..they will aid in establishing/balancing your water..and you can go longer between water changes if you use them weekly like the instuctions. so it makes your tank less of a chore and the fish are healtier and happier. other small fish are zebra danio,guppies,platty,tetras ect.. i recomend to let the tank run for 24 hrs or more with the products i recomended let things "cycle" and establish itself good luck.
Try black mollies. They are tough, cheap and look great. Not too much work for you and they hold up real nice. And you can add other types of fish later on , but not to many in 10 gallon. 3 or 4 mollies should be it. And don't go crazy with the extras. One or two smaller 'toys' to aerate the tank should be plenty. ENJOY!
what kind of fish tank, nano, freshwater, brakish, moonpool?
that all comes into thought.
lol i must say, you havent done any reasearch. setting up and adding fish within a 12 hour period. and serious keeper(like i) would tear you to bits(which i will for the sake of the animals)
first, no fish is low matinace. all fish require at least 10-20 min of your daily schedual, and more on your (probally with your skill level, and not knowing how to feed) bi weekly water changes.
gold fish acutally produce more bio load than many many lake fiji fish.
second, is it saltwater or fresh? because the setup time for the bioload on the tank is essential. you need the proper levels of ammonia(0), ph, nitrate, and nitrite. this is the reason you cant just fill a tank, and POOF! majik! its ready for fish. do you even know about conditioning the water? what about setting ph levels, the right type of gravel to buffer the water.
thats t he problem. people dont think when they buy any sort of animal anymore.
anyone flames me about haveing a a saltwater as small as 10g shut up and look at my 3g pico
thanks, next time for th e sake of the animal, READ!
dont listen to ppl that sya angelfish, or puffers, or any of those idiots, angelfish get two large, and need brine shrimp. puffers, are brakish, and have special needs, i dont know where you tards get your information.
ONLY GET about 5 fish but make sure they are the same kind
10 inches of fish guppys
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