New 10 gal

resRfun

Hello, i just joined this forum to seek help on taking care of my new 10 gallon tank. My red eared slider turtle just moved out of this tank so i was thinking about what to put in it. As you can see in the photos below, i have included a heater, hiding spots, gravel, fake plants, rocks, and a filter (has that activated black carbon stuff in it).

Before i buy fish, What kind of chemicals do i need to add to the water? Chlorine remover?

I have a pretty big Mystery snail (2 inches shell diameter) in there as a stunt dummy (i have 10 more in my turtle tanks), will the fish pick on it?

Do I need to add any more things to the tank? Temperature roughly high 70 degrees.

The light is a "DayLight" flourecent that i got from my 60 gal tank and it was an extra. Do fish need certain kinds of light?

The fish choices i have thought of are guppys and tigerbarbs (i know they are aggresive so i cant put those 2 together).

If you can think of any other fish please tell me (ex-cluding bettas and goldfish because my little brother just lost both of his and he doesnt want to see me raise them [he never did research on his fish])





Thanks! :D [/img]

Lupin

Welcome to Fishforum.com.

Have you cycled the tank? A tank like that will fit small corydoras species, otocinclus cats, ember tetras, threadfin rainbows and glowlight tetras. Not all of course. It is up to you what you want to put there but just make sure your tank is cycled as the above mentioned are sensitive to water conditions.

Goldfish are never recommended for a tank that small. One alone is best kept in a 30 gallons minimum and no lesser than that.

Good luck.;)

resRfun

Sorry for the noobie question but what is cycling? XD Is it dechlorinating the water? Or just re-adding water?

Thanks for the fish list.

Lupin

This will explain.
http://www.fishforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=343

http://fishforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=3738

You need API liquid test kit to monitor your ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. In the end, you want zero ammonia and nitrites, both of which are toxic to the fish when present in the water. Failing to do so, you put your fish to risk of living a shorter lifespan instead.


I miss the chemicals question. Only dechlorinator is to be added.

willow

hello and Welcome
lovely little tank there,i like the rock formation in the
middle. :D
we all started somewhere,so don't worry about asking questions.

tophat665

Nice tank! Good aquascaping. Nice balance and proportion. Dratted turtle is what started me on my long slide to chronic multiple tank syndrome (and sciatica from water changes - Oye ve! - but I digress).

Water treatment: I use Kordon Amquel+ and NovAqua+ together, 5 mls of each per to 7 gallons of water (that's excessive, 2x recommended, but they really do a number on the water at the water authority hereabouts, so better safe). I have seen a lot of people recommend Seachem Prime as a water treatment. The problem is that a lot of water companies add chloramine to the water, and lots of water sources are chock full of heavy metals, nitrates, and unwholesome organic beasties of all shapes and flavors. Now you can get ride of Chlorine just bay aging the water for 24 hours, but Chloramine sticks like a bad habit, so you'll need to juice the water with something to get rid of it (oh, and you water company can add it or change the mix without warning you, so act like they use a ton of it all the time). Read the bottles - if they take care of Chloramine, you'll be fine 99% of the time. If they get rid of heavy metals and dissolved organics too, you can kick that up to 100%.

Fish: A 10 gallon tank is limited in the number and type of fish you can have in it. On the other hand, there are still a metric buttload of different fish you can have. What you are looking for is fish no more than 3" long (no more than 2" unless they're air breathers - like anabantids or cories, or really long and skinny: kuhli loaches), that are not super active (Zebra Danios are right out, for instance - they really need at least 24" of swimming room.)

If you stick with that, then you can use the 1" per gallon rule no worries. You can even bend it to 2" per gallon for small schooling fish (neons or smaller).

With that set up, which is pretty open and light, I'd lower the temperature to 72ºF and get a school of 10 white clouds and a trio of Panda Cories. (I hear the howling in the background, but planetcatfish and scotcat both agree that 72 is in their temp range.) With the snail, that should max out your tank.

resRfun

Would 6 white clouds and 6 neons be alright? +1 large snail. I could keep the water level around 70 and they have hiding spots when they are scared. 6 of each should be enough to school in right? And they probably wont mind the snail since it is bigger than all of those guys =P. I guess i could imagine 12 fish in a 10 gal since they are a bit on the small side.

These fish can eat flakes normally and bloodworms as treats?

I have ONE rosie red in there 1.5 inches, i put him in with the snail as a stunt dummy and i cant really get him out, hes too fast. Will he bother the school fish?(its just a feeder fish guy)

Any more tips i need for tetras and white clouds?

So altogether in that 10 gal tank, 6 neons, 6 white clouds, 1 rosie red feeder, 1 mystery snail.

Im going to try to get them tommorow so if i need anything changed let me know ASAP.

Thanks

Lupin

White clouds and neon tetras will be okay though the white clouds will prefer an even longer tank. You need to feed them a variety of foods, not just one or two. Don't feed too much bloodworms. Tetras are quite prone to bloat.

resRfun

i guess i can stick with tetras. I can start off with 8 but can i mix different colored tetras together?(red+green) Or can i only have one type of colored neons?(green)

Ill try to get other foods, but other than Flakes and bloodworms(treats), what other foods DO they eat? Freeze dried shirmp? Lettuce? Carrots?

Thanks

Falina

You can mix but they'll proosibly hang out in their own wee group. Maybe go with 5 or 6 of each type and the snail?