Help stocking brother's 10 gallon!

[sarcare]

So, funny (and quite long) story. I went home to visit my family a while ago, and waxed passionate about my fishies and how much I was enjoying them. My dear brother, who is still quite young (ok 21 yrs old), told me that normal people have families and friends to spend time with and so don't have the time to spend on fish.

So of course I had to get him back for that comment, and I dragged him around to every fish store I could find, and baraged him with all the fun facts I'd found out about the fish. He thought it was cool I could point out things that the lfs had gotten wrong on their tanks--he didn't realize how easy that is! Then, to really get at him, I got his fiancee excited about fish too--and bought the two of them a 10 gallon kit. So now they are eating their words about fishkeepers being loosers.

Now I have to live up to my confident words about the joys of fish keeping by giving them good advice. I bought them a aquarium pharmisuticals master test kit, and gravel and fake plants to go in the tank. I've told them about fishless cycling, but am trying to find a good article that can explain it in really simple words. (I myself did fishy cycling on my first tank because I didn't know about cycling until too late, and then seeded the second )

Also, I need stocking suggestions to give them. My brother's fiancee has fallen in love with the panda cories, but also wants a blue fish. I'd shown them the dwarf gourami, and they liked the tourquise irredecent ones. What else could they have? Maybe some neons? I'm used to my twenty gallons that are bigger and could handle some more fish!

So far they are thinking:
1 dwarf gourami
4? panda cories
? tetras or
? rasboras or
? white clouds

 

[LtHorn]

how about a pair of dwarfs?

 

[sarcare]

If I thought he could find female dwarfs I would--I found some out here randomly--but he lives in a small college town and only has a petsmart and walmart. I'll have him take a look, but I think he wanted more then those two and the corys. What small fish could go with the cories and gourami?

 

[jessa10]

I would suggest trying some tetras in the tank. I have white skirt tetras, phantom tetras, cardinal tetras and Penguin tetras. I think the white skirts and the phantoms are the most interesting. They are very active and you could probably put 3 of either type in a 10 gallon. I also like swordtails (all livebearers are nice though). Good luck!

 

[hughitt1]

how about:

1 dwarf gourami
4 panda cories
5 white clouds

if you would rather go with tetras, make sure you stick to the smaller ones (neons, etc), some of them get pretty large and would feel crowded in a 10gal.. you may also want to consider pygmy cories, they are even smaller than the pandas (about 1'').

goodluck,

 

[Rbishop]

How about....

"Cycling A Tank"

What we mean by this term, is the process of establishing an environment that will beneficially support fish life, with minimal stress to the fish and to
you. The terms used here are relevant to the "nitrogen" cycle and how it
relates to the aquarium.

The first item for discussion is Ammonia (NH3). All decaying matter, like
uneaten food and from fish wastes, produces this. Any detectable amount is
trouble for your fish, and levels of .25 ppm and above can damage fish
permanently, based on length of exposure. This damage occurs to the gills,
and causes breathing problems. It will damage the gills whether the fish live
or die.

Secondly, the bacteria that break down ammonia produce Nitrite (NO2). This
nitrite blocks the ability of blood to absorb oxygen. Even if the fish can
breathe, they are not able to utilize the oxygen they take in, as easily.
They can act as if panic-stricken and/or have little control over their
movements. Even with short-term exposure at high levels, stress occurs and
they may not be able to ward off other immune system attacks.

And finally, second bacteria forms that consume nitrite and forms Nitrate
(NO3). While short-term exposure to low levels of Nitrate are not a concern,
they can be if too high over a long term. Nitrates are removed with
consistent regular water changes or by aquatic plant life.

A cycle is never really complete. It is established and an ongoing evolution.
Keeping this "cycle" balanced and continuous is the goal of properly
maintaining a tank for a healthy environment for your fish. Strive for Zero
Ammonia, Zero Nitrite, and approximately 20 ppm Nitrate or less.


(2) Fishless Cycling

Just as it sounds, you can establish the cycling environment without any
fish. This method does not pose any threat to fish, establishes a large
bacteria colony allowing full stocking upon completion and gives you time to
decide on what fish you want.

When establishing a tank with this method, you will use a source of ammonia
to initiate the nitrogen cycle. After your tank is set up, add water and
treat for chlorine/chloramines. Your filtering systems and heaters should be
in place and operating to your satisfaction.

Add ammonia to bring the tank to a concentration of 5 ppm. The amount you
add will vary with the size tank you have. Do not be in a rush. Add small
amounts and test, repeating as necessary. If you get it too high, you can
drain and refill.

Now the hurry up and wait part happens. Every two days, test your ammonia
level in the tank. When the ammonia levels start dropping, add additional
ammonia as required to keep the ammonia at 3-4 ppm, start daily testing and
test for ammonia and nitrites. Nitrites should be developing as ammonia goes
away. This first stage could take 1-3 weeks.

When you see the test results showing Nitrites, start maintaining your
ammonia at the 2-3 ppm range. The nitrites increasing reflect you are in to
the second stage. Continue daily testing for ammonia and maintain the tank in
the 3 ppm range. You will see nitrites climb so high they will be off the
scale for a reading. This will continue for one to two weeks and it will seem
the nitrites are never going to go away.

There will be a day where you test and the nitrites have completely
disappeared, thus, the bacteria that convert them to nitrates have
established themselves. When you see this drop to zero on nitrites, dose
ammonia in the tank to about 5 ppm, and wait 24 hours. If at the end of that
period, ammonia and nitrites are zero, your cycle has been established. Test
for nitrates, and do a 75-90% water change. Pull your water down to 20 ppm
nitrates and add the fish! If you have to wait to get your fish, keep the
cycle established by dosing more ammonia, but you may have to do another
water change before adding your fish.

 

[bettagurl]

a normal sized gourami would get to big for a 10 gal,try dwarfs.
2 dwarf powder blue gourami's
4 cory cats
5 neon tetras(they have blue : )
the tank would have blue from the very pretty light blue on the powder blue dwarf gourami and the bright blue from the neon tetras.

 

[salty0pepper]

i think that from the beggining he was thinking bout dwarfs neway i just thought i'd post that i have 2 dwarf gouramis in my 13g and they are boh male, i know that this was risky with aggresion and all but i was lucky, one of them is very submissive to the other one without actually being a stressed out fish and also without getting injured in anyway, they only downside is that only on of my dwarfs will build a bubble nest but im just thankful that they dont fight , so after that huge story if your bro wanted to risk it he could try 2 males....

 

[guppygal]

In my 10g I am thinking of doing

3 guppies
1 dwarf gourami
3-5 small cories (dwarf or pygmy) Can't afford pandas at $10/fish!!