a crawfish ??

[duck]

Hey everyone.. I have been working on my first 10 gallon fish tank. I have collected some plants from the lake I live on and have it set up a really good looking tank. The conditions are well and my first fish are doing great. I started with 8 dime to nickle size tiger barbs. They are very cool swimming together
all as a group.. I am sure these fish will get larger but how much larger? .. right now they seem to have all the room in the world they could need... I don't want to over crowd them. They are so small now If I get more fish they will probly be the same kind as I like how they look and act and that they are all simular size.

I have a gravel bottom and added two snails a white and a black shell meduim size. I also want to add a couple of muscels... is this alright? I think they will help to filter and keep the tank in order like the snails.

When the Fish get full grown will they eat the snails?

My last question.. I would love to have a crawfish or one of the fresh water fiddler crabs. Could I have one in this kind of tank? I am nervous the crawfish will eat a fish or the snail...

 

[dethjam316]

the crawfish will eat anything it can catch. be wary of them. it's probably not a good idea, really. i have one in a tank with feeder guppies, and for some reason he doesn't eat them, though i'd like him to. and i'd kept him with one particularly aggressive blue gourami for awhile, but i don't really recommend it. their appetite depends on the temperature...warmer temps equal more death. mine did spend a good summer picking off zebra danios.

fiddler crabs are a different story. they typically won't attack fish, but unlike crawfish, they NEED a place to exit the water ie dry land, a rock or something. this makes keeping them a little more difficult. they are also master escape artists, so a completely sealed tank is a must.

 

[dethjam316]

oh, missed your other questions. i didn't know you could obtain fw mussels? i don't know anything about them, but they will likely produce as much waste as they filter in, so if you keep them, keep them cuz you like them, not for cleaning. same with snails.

tiger barbs will not eat snails. if you want to keep the snails alive, don't add any loaches to your tank. all loaches get too big for a 10g anyway, really, so it shouldn't be an issue.

tiger barbs only get like 2 or 3 inches in size, i think. i haven't kept them, so i'm not positive, but i know they stay relatively small. nonetheless, 8 is a good number for your tank, i wouldn't much else to it...maybe a couple cory cats for the bottom, but i'd suggest keeping it to a minimum.

 

[RTR]

Fiddler crabs are really brackish water, not fresh.

The crawfish will destroy any live plants you have and be a risk ti the fish in a small tank. They are best in species tanks.

I think your tank is already overcrowded.

 

[duck]

thanks

welp thanks for the tips.. I didn't think the crabs were fresh water but the guy at the pet store swore they were. So thats good to know.. I wasn't sure abou tthe crawfish.. living in Lousianna for awhile I thought it would be cool to have one..
But I will abstain. I don't plan to add anymore fish I like the 8 dime size barbs I have. They are really not much bigger then the feeder gupies. The two snails are doing well... I have a really crazy question a white one is going to the top at the water line and leaving little black dots....this is either poop or eggs.. I am not sure which... anyone know? looks almost like ground peper... as far as I can tell my other snail is't doing this.. but he lives at the bottom mostly. I think the muscles are neat I dig them up at the lake I put a few in my dad 50 gallon tank and he likes them they look really neat against the offwhite gravel he has.

Overcroweded??? I am lost everywhere I read said 1 inch per gallon.. I have 8 fish none are even an inch long. and the snalls are not the jumbo kind. I thnk the longest fish I have would be a half inch.. I think they are drawf tiger barbs or just babbies still.
anyway to tell? I guess If they do get large I will probly add a few to my fathers tank.


The fish swim all over the tank in there group so I don't really want to put any other type fish in the tank.. they seem happy and energetic...

 

[RTR]

The so-called inch per gallon rule is based on full adult size of the fish, not fry. Tiger Barbs should be about 2 3/4" standard length, 8 x 2.75 = 22 inches of very active fish in a 10 gallon tank. Your fish will be stunted and unhealthy unless up-graded.

Just FYI, HTH

 

[dethjam316]

RTR, good point on the "rule." of course, some of throw out that rule and the square-inches and surface area rules, and let common sense rule the day. i think it's a little too "doomsday-ish." provided there is good filtration and regular weekly water changes performed, 8 tiger barbs should be okay in that tank. the stunted growth thing is partly a myth; in almost all cases the size of the tank itself is not a direct factor. again, i wouldn't add much else to that 10g, but tanks have been successful with more than 8 tiger barbs in them. it's all about balance, and a greater bio-load (within limits) can be tolerated given higher levels of filtration and more water changes.

 

[Dangerdoll]

I personally wouldn't have that many barbs in a 10 gallon with the addition of corys because of the bio-load. The maintenance as far as the water changes alone will have to be pretty big and you'd have to be religious about them or risk major fluctuations of your chemistry.

 

[duck]

ack

so I really don't know what to do.. maybe they aren't tiger barbs.. they are tiger soemthing. If you can think of a two dimes or two pennies stacked is about the size of the fish.. they really are not much bigger if at all then the feeder guopies the guy sells 10 for a dollar... They are smaller then the minows I scoop out of the pond. I wish I could show you a picture..
is there such thing as a drawf barb? These little fish cost me 80 cents each.

any ideas about the snail things? I am not sure what the snail is leaving behind at the waterline of the tank.

The guy at the store recomeded I start with 7-10 of these little guys for my tank so I chose 8. He also told me I might want to get a little bit of a larger fish or 2 but to come back in a week or so (that was after I had picked out 8) you think I just have really young tiger barbs.. or possibly some other kind of fish?

 

[RTR]

In a 20" long tank, a school of Tiger barbs does not have room to swim, much less school. I would dispute the statement that a ten with 8 tigers could ever be called successful. Perhaps it could be mantained in a non-toxic situation with alternate day changes or some such excess labor, but you would never see normal behavior, so what is the point? Barbs in general are active to hyperactive fish. If you are not going to give them room to swim and interact with their conspecifics, why keep them at all?

I would likely house that group in QT in at least a 15 or better a 20-long, but it could be done for a limited period. Certainly not with more fish - Cory cats would likely be harassed in that tank.

Poor advice was given at the LFS, and is being supported here.

duck- Tiger Barbs, like many of our fish, are transported and sold at small size/young age. It is far cheaper and in fact is better for the fish, most are better able to withstand the changes involved in shipment, sales, and establishment in a home tank while young. But we do need to make allowance for what the fish will be at maturity. This is where your LFS let you down. At this stage/size, they are probably fine in that tank briefly. But their chances for a normal life are not good at all.