Best tropical stock for a 10 gallon tank?
- Thread starter Monstro
- Start date
first, take a look at this article on fishless cycling. http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5927
fishless cycling is the process by which you use bottled ammonia instead of live fish to feed the good nitrifying bacteria and grow a colony of them big enough to deal with the ammount of waste the fish you want to keep in your tank will produce. its much safer for the fish because they do not have to live in their own filth for a month while the tank cycles.
as for choosing fish, i suggest you go to the store and write down a list of all the fish you think look cool, then come back here and we'll let you know which ones will work together in a 10g tank.
to test levels, you should get a liquid test kit. print out the following web page
http://www.petsmart.com/global/prod...<>ast_id=2534374302023693&bmUID=1133632283063
and take it in to your local petsmart. have them price match the "Liquid freshwater master test kit" they are $25 in the store, so that will save you about $10. liquid test kits last 10X longer than the dip strips and are much more accurate. and in the long run, much cheaper, because they do last so long. i would have gone through 4 bottles of the dip strips ($10/bottle) while cycling my tank, but i haven't even used half of my liquid test. at one point i was testing twice a day.
fishless cycling is the process by which you use bottled ammonia instead of live fish to feed the good nitrifying bacteria and grow a colony of them big enough to deal with the ammount of waste the fish you want to keep in your tank will produce. its much safer for the fish because they do not have to live in their own filth for a month while the tank cycles.
as for choosing fish, i suggest you go to the store and write down a list of all the fish you think look cool, then come back here and we'll let you know which ones will work together in a 10g tank.
to test levels, you should get a liquid test kit. print out the following web page
http://www.petsmart.com/global/prod...<>ast_id=2534374302023693&bmUID=1133632283063
and take it in to your local petsmart. have them price match the "Liquid freshwater master test kit" they are $25 in the store, so that will save you about $10. liquid test kits last 10X longer than the dip strips and are much more accurate. and in the long run, much cheaper, because they do last so long. i would have gone through 4 bottles of the dip strips ($10/bottle) while cycling my tank, but i haven't even used half of my liquid test. at one point i was testing twice a day.
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A first newbie 10 gallon that is always nice in my opinion, is a betta and five pygmy cory cats, or a betta and six small tetras. Stay away from neons since they can be fussy. This of course is after you cycle the tank. Just make sure you get hardy fish on your first attempt.