10g tank stocking questions.

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nicholasdances

Registered Member
Mar 22, 2011
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hello, i am starting my first mini tank in a LONG time, and need some advice.
i wanted to know if i could keep
1 fancy betta
1 pleco (from what i understand emperor plecs can live in 10g tanks) i also have much bigger tanks if he outgrows it.
1 or 2 kuhli loach
and a few assasin snails.
this will be a planted tank, i do have a nice piece of driftwood in it now.
my filter is a top fin 10. thinking about either upgrading my filtration a bit or using a sponge filter.
please tell me if you think this is overstocked or if one of the fish wont work.
also really curious as to what you think i should do about filtration. with the betta i dont want too make alot of water movement with extra filtration.
im expecting some people to shoot my pleco idea down. if not the emperor pleco what other pleco do you think could work? rubber lip maybe?


thank you:)
 
I would be wary of the pleco, any species in that size tank. I've got a juvie BN living in a 20L but any time of catfish especially scavengers will benefit from space to roam. I'm sure the fish could survive, but I'd be really wanting a 40B for any species, I don't even keep my corys in anything smaller than a 20L because they can just whither away and die in even the most pristine 10g IME. Other than that your stocking looks fine, what about doing 3 loaches?
 
Do you feel that you need a pleco?? Or just want a scavenger or an algae eater??

For a 10gal, snails are better for the fomer (maybe not with assasins), Ottos are beter for the latter.
 
but oto's really need some space right? I'd say 29g and up for them.
 
thanks for the response. ya i also thought 10g seemed small for a pleco but was just reading that alot of people keep smaller species in 10g tanks, and this piece of wood seemed perfect for a little pleco 013.JPG
but i shall resist if its bad for the fish.
do you suggest 3 loach to make up for the pleco or because they do better in groups of 3+? if 3 will fit comfortably i would be pumped to have them haha

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They are not really swimmers (swimmers need more room), and do not grow too big. One or two would be OK.
 
yeah, the loaches do best in groups and it would give you a nice busy tank, loaches like the bottom and dark spaces so they'd provide much of the same experience as a pleco.
 
nicholasdances said:
do you suggest 3 loach to make up for the pleco or because they do better in groups of 3+? if 3 will fit comfortably i would be pumped to have them haha
Click to expand...

3 Kulie Loaches would be fine in a 10gal. with a betta.
 
just have always loved plecos, but will fight the urge. might just drop a stupid amount of money on an albino adonis for my 300g instead. haha
how about assasin snails? they breed slow and look good, will they work?
besides that think the 10g is maxed out or is there anything else worth adding that wont add too much on my bio load.
 
I disagree with three kuhlis, with just a betta, I'd say get 5 or 6 kuhli loaches. I had a school of just three for a year, they were no where as near as active or happy as when I got three more. They zipped about all the time, playing chase with each other. Now I have a school of 8 in my 29 gallon, and they love to pile up on one another.

Kuhli loaches aren't territorial, not high bio load, and swim with each other all the time and love to pile up, so really, 5 or 6 isn't that many more than 2 or 3, except for they won't be as happy in a smaller number.

As for Assassin snails, my 29 gallon has currently 20+ of them, I started out with 5. Lol (but it's nothing like thousands of apple or mystery snails, they are really cute and don't over run the tank really). You could add a couple though, they don't harm anything really, and don't contribute much except for pest snail control. If you don't have pest snails for them to eat, then they will eat left over flakes/algae wafers/shrimp wafers (kuhlis love shrimp pellets).

I'd say you could do the one male or female betta, a 2-4 assassin snails, and 5-6 kuhli loaches, and be good. If you keep up with water changes and want to over filter a tad, then you could add a couple dwarf African Frogs (ADF's) just make sure that you have bloodworms and a turkey bastor to feed them! :)

If you are worried about too high of a current, then you can always do the pop bottle trick on the filter, works pretty good :)

Also, before you get any fish, get some live anubias and java fern and attach them to the driftwood (black thread works well for this), and you could probably add some crypts in the front as well, just get some root fert tabs or make your own :)

OR if you want to go with a coldwaterish tank, you could always opt for hillstream loaches (prob 2 or 3) with some white cloud mountain minnows (a school of 6 would be nice). Or just do all hillstream loaches. You would just need to up the aeration with a power head or something, I'd recommend live plants, and have some nice flat rocks for algae to grow and for them to cling :)
 
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