Looking for opinions on stocking a 10gallon tank

[67chevelle]

10 gallons are good for micro fish, and betta. Unless you want to try some shellie cichlids. But if you have issues finding equipment, then I doubt you could find shellies.

I would get a HOB filter. Less stuff in the tank. And if you go with some lowlight plants, I personally would fill it up with ember tetra and nothing else. One large school of a single species looks better than a few of this, and one of that.

 

[Gabler]

I set up a 5 gallon tank for my mom thusly: gravel and sand from the stream behind my house, a hollow chunk of driftwood which I also found in the stream, Four java ferns, five guppies, and two rock shrimp. The filter is rated for a 15 gallon tank, so the water flow is fast enough for the filter-feeding shrimp, and the guppies are fairly nimble and they can use the driftwood and plants to hide from the current. Because the tank is so small, it would be easy to accidentally overfeed, or otherwise overload the system with nutrients, but the live plants and the filter substrate keep things clean. Moreover, the driftwood houses beneficial bacteria in its porous surface, so it further aids the filtration.

My recommendation is this: focus on aquarium decor first, and then find fish suited to the setup. Don't try to stock the tank and then set it up.

For some reason, the guppies decided to hide when I took this picture. You can still see a rock shrimp in the bottom left corner and a guppy in the top right, by the heater.

Also, a cautionary note: I boiled the gravel and driftwood to kill parasites before I put them in a tank. I recommend that everyone do the same if they use wild-collected substrate or ornaments.