Hey guys!!!

L0stInTh0ught

Hey guys I am 14 years old and I was thinking about setting up a 5-10 Gallon Freshwater tank. I want to do my research about this so I don't make a mistake can you guys help me? and give me suggestions? Thanks for reading my post and please reply!!!!!

eatmysox

Hey,
Welcome to the forums, the first thing suggested to me was to get the biggest tank that I could afford. What kind of fish are you hoping to get?

L0stInTh0ught

Well I was thinking Maybe a male betta fish with a small school of neon tetras and live plants. Is that ok can I add more or is that all?

badxgillen

go for the 10 gallon...should be about the same price and will be twice the volume...will be more equipment friendly as well...sounds like you already have a good idea of what you want just make suree those neons are extra large as to not tempyour betta....ADIOS...

L0stInTh0ught

Thanks!

Byron

I do not consider a betta to be a good community fish, esp in smaller tanks. If you really want the betta, in a 10g it will be fine with some bottom fish like a trio of corydoras. That's it. The 10g is not sufficient room for larger upper fish, and anything small is likely to be eaten. Plus, suchy fish frequently nip the betta's fins. Even "peaceful" fish like neons can, when placed in small tanks or in less than a group of 6+, become nippy and the betta is too much of a temptation.

Alternatively, forget the betta and go with a small group (6 is minimum for tetras, rasbora, etc) of tetra or rasbora, with a trio of corys.

And live plants in both scenario will help a lot.

Byron.

Ostara

For a 10 gallon tank, a betta and neons with live plants is a great idea. I've kept that setup myself without any problems. Bettas usually make great community fish because they often don't give a darn about the other fish and just do their own thing. Some people say that bettas tend to go after gourami and guppies, but I've kept them with both and they never looked twice at one another. (Not to say that they never would; it depends upon the aggression of the individual betta.) I would say about six neons and a betta, and leave it at that. Get the neons first and the betta last just as a precaution.

Any neon you buy will be FAR too large for a betta to eat even if he wanted to. Bettas have very small, curved mouths that are good for slurping things off of the surface but not for devouring other fish. Mine never even bothered the tiny Platy fry when they lived with livebearers which is saying something, since everything eats livebearer fry.

L0stInTh0ught

Thanks!!!! Would I have room for like a snail or a Ghost shrimp to help clean or would that be too much?