10 gallon bottom feeder options

blackwaterguy

I'm setting up another tank and just want to check my options. The tank is a 10 gallon (all I had room for). I have plenty of filtration and soft neutral to slightly acidic water. The tank is dirted and capped with playsand. Lots of river rocks and a growing collection of low light plants (anubias, crypts, mosses, and jave ferns). Wisteria floating for the time being as well. OK I think that's all the basics.

Been a while since I had a tank since size, and to be honest when I did i was a kid with no clue. Either my driftwood or substrate is staining my water with tannins so I'm just going to run with it and get a species of Boraras for in there. A species tank isn't out of the question, I wanted to see if there were any bottom feeders that I could include. The only ones I can think of are Otos and the three dwarf/pygmy corys. Are there any others that I might be missing?

Byron

I think corys is the best option here, given the space limitation, and a group of 9-12 of one of the "dwarf" species, or a group of 4-5 of one of many of the other species that don't get too large. There are several in our profiles. Nice thing about corys is that they will not pester the Boraras notwithstanding their small size.

Shrimp would work in the space and with Boraras, but in soft water not prosper.

A couple years ago I had my 10g running well with 11 Boraras brigittae, 9 C. pygmaeus, and a couple shrimp of some kind (not sure what, they arrived in the cory bag, but had disappeared after a few months probably due to the soft water).

Byron.

blackwaterguy

Thank you. I thought that might be the case. I had looked in loaches (Yunnanilus and Pangio), but they are too active for a 20 inch tank. I can't decide if I would like a C. pygmaeus or not for this tank. I have a feeling that all the rocks might not be best for them, since there is less sand to root through.

I might just keep the Boraras alone, or see whether the tank might be big enough for either a smaller group of Brevibora dorciocellata or a single Parosphromenus gourami.

cpwebsite

Red Cherry shrimp, a school of ~8 dwarf corries, and a bristlenose pleco would all work well in their.