Newbie! Info Please

[BrkD]

Wow! He really railed you on testing supplies as well as fish. Go to one of the big chains and pick yourself up a jungle labs 5 in 1 quick dip test strip. Costs about 10 bucks, and tests everything but ammonia (and you already got an ammonia kit). You can also take a water sample in to some shops and get results, but their tests can sometimes be slipshod.


Glad you are going to hold off on an oscar, but don't be too upset. There's a ton of really cool things you can do with a ten gallon, and you're already getting suggestions on here. I'll throw in my 2 cents and bring up endler's livebearers.

Welecome to the forum, and happy fishkeeping!

You cant depend on test strips for accurate results. Everyone in this forum seems to like the API Master Test Kit. You can get it cheap here :
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=4454&N=2004+113074

 

[wataugachicken]

lol, yeah, test strips are crap. the liquid kits seem like more $ at first, but have more tests in them and are more accurate. i always felt bad using the strips b/c it seemed like such a waste when i only wanted to test for one thing.

 

[jessicar613]

Well, you could have guppies. They eat their own fry...

I never could get my guppies to eat their fry, unfortunately. In fact, none of my fish would eat the d* things.

How about ghost shrimp? I'm sure there are some smaller fish that will stalk and eat those. My keyholes and kribs like them and I like to watch them chase the shrimp around the tank. Then the survivors will not only stick around as convenient "meals on wheels" for your fish, they will help clean your tank!

This article has some interesting suggestions for first fish for a 10 gallon that go beyond your standard neons and Bettas. One of them listed here is kribs. I have kribs in a 10 gallon myself with plenty of hiding spots and they seem to be doing fine, picking through the gravel and grazing on the plants. And chasing the ghost shrimp of course. I do have a larger tank for them if it becomes necessary but so far I haven't had any problems and they seem happy enough.

http://www.family-pet.com/Articles/purchasingfish.htm