Introduction and stocking question

[mama2emma]

Hi, everyone! I've been lurking around here for a couple of weeks and finally decided to register and post. No guarantees that I'll post often, as I have a 2 yr old (child ) to chase, but I've definitely been doing a lot of reading. After many years, I've finally convinced my husband to let me have an aquarium again. I had a pair of goldfish that I got in high school. They lived happily for 10 years in a 20-gallon tank, and even spawned, then I lost them to stress after several moves in a short period of time. My husband said no more fish, which was a good thing, because we ended up moving back and forth across the country a few times. At long last, we have settled into a home and don't plan to move - ever, if I have anything to say about it.

Thanks to my research, I am going into this quite prepared. After the Thanksgiving holiday, I will begin a fishless cycle on a 10 gallon tank. Yes, I should have gone larger, but I had to compromise with the spouse and get a smaller tank. Hopefully he'll enjoy it as much as me and agree to something bigger down the road.

Of course, even though it will be some time before I have my fishies to watch, it's all I've been thinking and reading about. I have a good LFS in my town, and every time I read about a different fish, I go there to see if they have any. Luckily they haven't tired of my visits and questions, even though I haven't bought anything from them yet.

What I'm thinking is that I'm going to go for:

6 harlequin rasboras
3 corys (maybe pandas, they're so cute!)

I'm wondering if I could add a dwarf gourami to the tank as well. Would I be overstocked at that point?

I've gotten so much information from reading this forum, and I'm so excited to be getting back into the hobby. It's about time I had something for myself that wasn't kid-related! I look forward to getting to know everyone.

Amy

 

[Indigo]

that sounds like a great tank! Are you thinking of adding live plants? They make a great addition, and you can get some super easy ones that require nothing special. Thats so awesome that you've got a good LFS in town, that makes things so much easier. Heck, you could probably almost skip the cycle altogether if you get a bag of filter squeezing from one of the store tanks. It made a huge difference in my tank.

Personally, I'd wait to see how things are with rasboras and cories before adding a gourami, but I think it would be ok.

Good luck, welcome back to the hobby, and welcome to AC!

 

[saltydog]

If you havent got the tank yet......do yourself a favor and start off with a 29 from the beginning(if $ allows)........I started with a 10and less than a year later....went bigger.....and its just a waste of money to start there if you plan to grow again......think about it.

 

[mama2emma]

I wish! I know he's going to want a bigger tank after we get started. I figure I'll just use the 10 as a quarantine or hospital tank when I move up to a bigger one.

 

[Blinky]

I recently got rid of my 20g (long story) and set up the old 10g in our bedroom. I'd forgotten what a nice size a 10g tank is!
I think harlequins and corys would be great, I'd leave it at that though. Both would benefit from a few live plants - you could get some java fern or cryptocorynes, they don't require a huge amount of light and won't outgrow the tank.
Welcome to the forum, and bravo for doing a fishless cycle