the dreaded 10 gallon question...

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NowherMan6

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hi all,

my first tank has been up and running beautifully for a few months now, and ive been bitten by the "More-Tanks" bug, so I've been planning out a 10 gallon set up for my room.

For a while I was planning on having a pair of apistos and nothing more, but lately it seems like more trouble than it's worth, especially in a tank that small. So now I'm thinking of doing a small south american set-up, fairly heavily planted. Would about 6 pygmy cories and a small school (5-6) of neon/ black neon/ rummynose tetras do alright in there, or is that still pushing the limit? And what would be good for algae clean-up? Cherry or Amano shrimp? (im willing to forego the SA motif on that small matter ;) )

I know it's a question that's been done to death and ive been looking around for ideas but havent been able to decide

Thanks!
 
In a heavily planted tank, you should be fine going 6 and 6. Amano shrimp are the better algae eaters, you may want to add an oto or two as well.
 
Personally if it were me, I would still have a pair of apistos in there, or have you thought about a pair of German Blue rams? You could have that pair and a small shoal of pygmy cories. The cherry shrimp or amano shrimp would do a fine job either way, both are excellent algae grazers. The cherrys are much more expensive however. As long as you planted the tank heavily the apistos/rams would most likely not bother anything, and if they did you would have hiding spots available for the pygmys.
 
I think you should do the apistos too. What makes it inconvenient to you? A water change in a 10 gallon is super quick. A 2 gallon bucket is 20 percent!
 
wow, i didnt expect this much support for the apistos... :)

yeah i do still want them. water changes arent a big deal for me, thats not where the problem would be. actually, the biggest problem for me would be finding a pair of cockatoo apistos - even online i cant find any(that wouldnt cost me 75 dollars). plus im not sure if my water conditions would be right for them - high (7.4-7.5) pH and fairly hard water. i planned on filtering with peat to lower ph and maybe soften the water a bit, but thats an endless process, once you start you cant really stop. but geez all this support for the apistos has got me thinking again.... boy they sure are pretty fish :p


Nataku - would there be room for a few neons with the apistos rather than pygmy cories? not that they're necessary, just curious. thanks
 
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Have you asked your LFS's to ask their breeders if they can get you some? I did this in a very small town and the LFS there found some Borellis for me.
 
Your water is fine, actually quite well infact. When I had my rams they were spawning in 8.0 water, and I did have a good hatch out once, but the parents ate the wrigglers. pH isn't that big of a deal if your just keeping them, and your pH is fine even fore breeding them.
 
oztun - my LFS's really arent that hot, theyve given me bad fish advice a few times so im not too sure, but it's definetely worth a shot. they also have very short hours and with my work schudule it's hard to even get there while they're open. i see liveaquaria.com has them for 40 or 50 bucks :eek: but geez, if that's my only option... start saving up i guess.
 
Check out http://www.southernapistos.com Mike Jacobs is an awesome guy and he only sells top notch fish. I ordered two pairs of german blue rams, the most amazing rams I have ever seen the color was just incredible they were cezch bred. Along with my order he sent me a free pair of Opal Face Apisto. borelli a $20 pair of fish. I'd deffinately reccomend him.

If you go with the rams, I would say no neons, simply because the rams like their water temp in the low to mid 80s for the same reasons discus do, its just simply where their metabolism functions best. If you went without the pygmys but wanted a shoaling fish like that, get some cardinal tetras, they like the higher temps, where as the neons wouldn't last too awful long.
 
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