Fish Suggestions for small tanks

[Bluegreen781]

Hi, im a college bachelor living in an apartment by myself. The apartment itself is perfect size for me, but does not have alot of extra space. And to give me a little hobby ive decided to invest in fish, to add to the environment.
And due to space, a 10 g sized tank is about as large as i can go. But when i search for good fish for this size tank, there pretty hard to come by. Most fish variety in my town of location get fairly large (and from what im told i understand that even something up to 4-5 inches is almost to larger). And to me, gold fish are just to un-orignal and messy for my taste. SO does anyone have any suggestion on what kind of fish might float my fancy? Thanks much :joke:

[sublime1184]

Corys, white clouds, bettas, neon tetras, harlequin rasboras....

http://www.aquariacentral.com/species/

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/fishindx.htm

[Harlock]

There is quite a bit of choice when it comes to small fish for small tanks. Muh of it depends upon your personal preferences and what you envision a "fish tank" to be. If fish tank is defined as a "show" fish with some "support" fish, then a colorful male betta with some personalble pygmy cory cats is a most excellent choice. If your vision of a fish tank is several colorful fish comprising a school, then neon tetras, lemon tetras, cardinal tetras or black neon tetras can make for a nice little tank. Keep in mind, one small school is all you are going to be able to get into a 10 gallon. Now, if colorful small fish is all you envision and don;t care about schooling so much, Endler's livebearers or some guppies is a good choice. Just keep in mind, as livebearers are prolific breeders, you may still end up with more fish than is adviseable for a 10 gallon, so be prepared with a solution for fry; either giving them to friends as feeders or trading them or giving them to your LFS. If colorful isn't as important as just interesting small fsh, some of the small, livebearing, gambusia mosquitofish native to the US are excellent choices.

Honestly, a 10 gallon is just too hard for me to stock. I demand more from a fish tank. I prefer tanks that are not specie tanks, unless I were to get my hands on some Endler's Livebearers locally and even then, I'd likely go with a 20 gallon long aquarium and toss in some pygmy cories. Having said that, I think I should make a suggestion to you: Buy a 20 gallon High aquarium. It is the same footprint as a 10 gallon, just twice as tall. This means you can use a stand and light hood for a 10 gallon (which are very commonly available in garage sales, want ads and garbage bins throughout the lands) but have the extra space for a few more fish. Since it is a taller tank, if you were thinking about going with live plants, lighting does become more of an issue, but all in all, I think you'll find a 20 high would be a better solution and from the sounds of things, a better fit for what you are looking for from a fish tank. Best of luck!

[Bluegreen781]

Thanks a 20 tank may come into consideration, but like i mentioned earlier, space in my home is a problem, and as for the livebeares, they sound like a group i would be interested in. Thanks for the sugestions, they sound great

[NatakuTseng]

20 Highs aren't that great, with most fish the foot print of the tank is more important than the volume. Including most of those listed, If you had the space I would go with a 20long, but since you don't I'd go with the 10, cheaper than the 20highs, and for me I'd stock the two in the same fashion because of the foot print.

[Swimfins]

A shrimp tank is nice. Or dwarf African frog tank. Just ideas :)
Species only tanks are getting popular too.

[greendeltatke]

If I had an extra ten gallon I think I would do a shrimp tank. Shrimp are really fascinating and very active. They look like they are constantly working. My little amanos are currently shredding a piece of hard Malaysian driftwood. Plus, not many people are familiar with freshwater shrimp so they are a good conversation starter. You could get cherry shrimp and have the bonus of watching them breed.

[windeindoiel]

For a 10 you could get 3 dwarf puffers. They're really active and fun to watch. www.dwarfpuffers.com. Good luck anyways and enjoy your fish, they are awesome little pets.

[mvigor]

20 High has the same footprint as a 15. Slightly larger than a 10. 20 high is 3 inches longer, 2 inches deeper, give or take.

[Harlock]

20 High has the same footprint as a 15. Slightly larger than a 10. 20 high is 3 inches longer, 2 inches deeper, give or take.
Right you are, I meant the 20 X high. Der!

[tricksterpup]

Another fish I recommend besides some other excellent live bearers is
e Heterandria formosa, aka the least killie or dwarf live bearer. This guys are hard to come by, these are usually a special order from your pet shop but they are great fish.
The males reach about 1/4 of an inch long at full adult hood and the females are larger at an inch. They are very peaceful fish and thrive in tiny tanks. I own a small colony right now in my 5 gallon. I plan on getting more soon for an outdoor container. But they do well having plants like hornwort floating on the top of the tank and they eat crushed fish flakes.
http://www.akwarium.prx.pl/adv/drobniczka.jpg
http://www.aquaristsreunited.fslife.co.uk/images/Heterandria%20formosa.jpg

But a 10 gallon planted tank would be perfect for them with an under gravel filter or a sponge filter. They do tend to have problems with larger filters.


But I also recommend Endlers if you can get them. They are great little fish, very pretty and hardy. If you can only have a 10 gallon foot printed tank in your apartment, then try a 15 gallon tall, same size but taller. This is what I keep my endlers in and they do fantastic.
Heck, If you lived near the Twincites in Minnesota, I would even give you a trio. :)

[denali1234]

I have a dwarf gourami , two platies, two sparkling gouramis and three salt and pepper cories (dwarf) in a ten gallon. Another ten gallon has 6 neons, four endlers and two albino cories. Great tanks, and with weekly maintenance the nitrates are never over 5 - 10 ppm. You do have options IF you are hardcore about tank maintenance, do NOT overfeed, and monitor water conditions. I enjoy the work involved, so it is easy.

[f8ldzz]

Yep, maintenance has a large bearing on if you can go slightly overstocked.
I started out with cichlids (more than one) in a 10G and found out it was a no-no. :)
Personally, I love corys in a small tank, so I would go with a school of corys - get 3 to 5 of them cause they love to school.
That should take care of the bottom portion of the tank.
Upper to middle sections you can go with white clouds or neons.
If you can get away with a peaceful betta, that would make a nice group with just the betta and a school of corys.

If you don't mind a little more work, a nice apisto SA cichlid would also add some color, with just a school of corys.

Yeah, larger tanks are easier to stock, but I love the challenge of running a smaller tank like a 10G. :)

[Kissofthegorami]

A dwarf gouramie would do well, they are sometimes neon blue. A small schools of tetras. Cory catfish and oto catfish (no plecos!). If you want to do livebearers, you could go with a 29 gallon tank and you'd be able to do mollies, swords, platties. A 29 gallon is only 30" long. A small group of mollies might even do well in a 20 gallon. But like harlock said, you need to find a place for the babies.

[Bluegreen781]

SO im trying a pair of guppies and a pair of Gold mollies and theyre looking and doing great, in fact the mollies gave birth allready!!! i was shocked to see the lil squirts hanging near some of the plants! :dance:

[WinterWind]

For a 10 you could get 3 dwarf puffers. They're really active and fun to watch. www.dwarfpuffers.com. Good luck anyways and enjoy your fish, they are awesome little pets.

I second the dwarf puffer idea. They look and sound very interesting. :)

If I had another 10 gallon I would definetely go with dwarf puffers.