Hi. I'm looking for fish for my 20" long 10 gallon tank, except for guppies and Engler's Livebearers. I guess that counts out Characins too because they need 24" and travel in big schools. I plan to understock this tank.
I thought it would be a real challenge to maintain a planted 10 gallon, but for now the challenge is to find a fish that can tolerate 20 inches of length. I have been looking at fish in the Tropical Fish Profiles, and just found one that meets the requirements - Otoclinclus - but obviously I will need to find a couple more denizens of my aquarium. Any suggestions?
Do you know your water pH and hardness?
There are many dwarf fish- but counting out livebearers they are pretty much all soft water fish. Posted via Mobile Device
Hmm, go to pet shop and get it tested. Or call your water supply place and ask them for numbers.
Celestial pearl danios are soft water fish than can do well in an over 7 pH. There are also a few other similar fish. Posted via Mobile Device
9.3!? That's crazy. That's like what salt water needs.
I don't know anymore. A lot of large rainbowfish could handle that, maybe some smaller types. Posted via Mobile Device
Well, I guess either there's no CO2 in that water and it stabilizes when it gets into my tank, or I will have to loweer it by a lot to get to pH 7.3. I was just considering spaghnum moss...
This issue of the GH, KH and pH was dealt with in your other thread [you know that, this is just for the info of Olympia and others reading] so this is a situation for soft water fish.
And there are many options among the Cyprinids, a few characins, some catfish, the smaller rainbowfish, some Badids, a few anabantids, killifish... you've the whole tropical region across the planet to choose from.:lol:
So many with a 10g have hard water that severely limits options. People like us with very soft water are in this sense lucky.
No typo, his water supply uses Alkalinity to raise the pH to 9.3 to avoid corrosion in water pipes, appliances, water tanks, etc from the soft acidic water. I have something of a similar situation here in Vancouver. Our water is even softer, at about 0.5 dGH with similar KH, and a pH around 5 or perhaps lower. So since 2001 they have been adding soda ash (sodium carbonate) and the pH out of the tap varies but mine is 7.0 to 7.2 with near-zero GH and KH. So in the aquarium it lowers fairly quickly. My tanks run around pH 5 except for two that I deliberately buffer with aragonite to keep the pH at 6.4 and 6.8 respectively.
That's interesting. 9.3 is crazy high, sounds like overkill from the water company to me.
Is this a case where water should be aged before being put in the aquarium, so the pH can lower?
As far as I know, the pH will not lower much without something to impact it. If I leave my tap water sit out, the pH does not fluctuate. But in the aquarium the biological processes quickly change it. Water changes with pH 7 water in a pH 5 tank, and half the tank, only cause a slight rise for a few hours, maybe .2 or .3, then its back to 5.
I like the idea of a centerpiece fis, like a Dwarf Gourami, with a small school of smaller fish,but there's also the appeal of 1 or 2 schools of little fish. What do you like for a 10g.?
Be careful with Dwarf Gourami, this is a fish many donot recomend acquiring due to health risks. Many stores (reputable anyway) won't even stock it if they don't know its origin. Profile explains this a bit.
Centrepiece fish in small tanks (anything below a 20g is small in this regard) usually do not work. Anything large enough to be a "centrepiece" will likely be too large for the tank, or be inappropriate for the other fish that are suitable. The impact on water alone from such larger fish in a small space is significant, as well as the physical space.
Thanks for the heads-up. Thinking about the impact on the waterquality, it sounds like a small school would work out the best that I know of. Tell me if you have any thoughts about it.
Hi again, Byron. I'm wondering at this particular moment whether it would be good to have no surface agitation, just water movement, in the tank. I have an Aquaclear 30 (150), and I'm sure you know what they do.
Answering your last two posts, last one first. If there are live plants, I would go with minimal water movement. In a 10g I use a single sponge filter, the Hagen Elite is my favourite because it can be attached to a rear corner at any hight (is adjustable). I use this in my 10g, and a dual Elite in both my 20g and 29g, and the tanks are crystal clear.
To the earlier question on fish, with your soft water I would have plants and some of the "dwarf" species that do so well in 10g tanks but get lost in larger. I think this came up in another thread, but if not just have a look at the Cyprinids section in the profiles, the characins (Ember T, some pencilfish), Badids, Anabantids and Atherinids. There are some dwarf species in all of these.
Thanks Byron. Why do you use only one sponge on your 10? I use two. I guess it's because the bacteria compete with the plants for oxygen. I'll have to take the second one out after I get the tank set up with plants.
I was trying to put a pic I took of my tank, but it gave me a prompt for an Internet address and I couldn't get it to work.
Thanks Byron. Why do you use only one sponge on your 10? I use two. I guess it's because the bacteria compete with the plants for oxygen. I'll have to take the second one out after I get the tank set up with plants.
I was trying to put a pic I took of my tank, but it gave me a prompt for an Internet address and I couldn't get it to work.
When you click "Manage Attachments," the window that pops up has a "Browse" button at the top, this will take you to your PC files. Find the photo and click "Upload."
A start is the beginning. I would just suggest a background of plain black construction paper, like you can buy by a sheet in an arts or crafts store. I use this on my smaller tanks.
Byron, is the black construction paper about too much light from behind the aquarium? I thought it was cool to be able to see the back side too, and there isn't that much light from the window. I don't know if I'm ready to lose that.
Byron, is the black construction paper about too much light from behind the aquarium? I thought it was cool to be able to see the back side too, and there isn't that much light from the window. I don't know if I'm ready to lose that.
Not sure I follow, I thought the window was reflected from the front (the side you took the photo from). You should not have 4 sides wide open, this may cause stress on the fish. Also, for viewing, I would find it difficult with light coming from behind. I had an experimental tank like this a year or so back, a 10g in front of the window. No tank light, no filter, and my fist sand substrate. I didn't like it because I could never see the fish well during the day with the light behind them.
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