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Starting new 10 gallon freshwater tank!

7K views 48 replies 7 participants last post by  Agent13 
#1 ·
Hello all! I am starting a new tank. 10 gallons to be specific! Right now it is all i can afford because bigger is quite expensive. I would love 30 but i dont want to spend anything over 50$...anyways I would like to know (like in my saltwater new tank help) What i need and What i can put in there. I am for sure putting Alpha my Betta fish in there. He has been with 3 ghost shrimp in a 1 gallon with no filter no nothing. Just little rocks and a color wheel. He picked at them and atually took off the front legs of one (they are now all dead). So for this one I am going to have a cave for my little shrimp but what other fish can I add with him? What plants should I get, if i should get any? It is a brand new tank so should I wait to put the fish in it? Any help would be greaT so thank you!
 
#37 ·
It will suck up excess ammonia, that is desirable. Even if you are cycling the tank that won't stop, in fact, keeping the ammonia levels lower will help the fish and the cycle as the ammonia levels dont need to be high.. Enough plants and you don't need to do the whole "cycle" at all. Water, substrate, plants (lots) wait a day or two and start adding fish in small groups every couple of weeks.

Jeff.
 
#40 ·
I'm not sure what this may mean exactly, so I will repeat, add some plants as soon as you can. They will not mess things up, they will make it better, and might even save your fish.
 
#42 ·
update

I Got A hydrophila kompact Plant. That's It. What Do I Put WithIt? Fertilizer? Air Stone? The Plant Is Quite Small. It'sInGreen Gravel
 
#43 ·
I Got A hydrophila kompact Plant. That's It. What Do I Put WithIt? Fertilizer? Air Stone? The Plant Is Quite Small. It'sInGreen Gravel
The "Compact" is a variant of the species Hygrophila Corymbosa, or the Gian Hygrophila, except that the "Compact" form is, well, compact (smaller).:lol: So the data in the profile will apply to this plant [click the shaded name for the profile].

You will probably need a liquid fertilizer, as stem plants are fast growing. Flourish Comprehensive Supplement is what I use. You don't need an air stone, as this is unnecessary water disturbance which tends to drive CO2 out of the water faster than the plants can use it.

Byron.
 
#44 ·
Update

Well it has been a while since posting in this thread. My fish are doing fine. 1 danio and 1 platy died but the rest are fine. I just wanted to give an update on the tank. It has been 7 weeks since getting the tank started. I added the Hygrophila and it was demolished. The fish ate at it SO much. Now it is still alive and there was only 1 leaf left on it. Now a bloom of leaf appeared and it is regrowing. I have not bought any fertilizer or things like that for it. Every wednesday I use nutrafin cycle to help my fish survive. The numbers are looking like this now
NH=.5
KH=180
PH=7.8
GH=75
CL=0
NO3=40
NO2=0
 
#45 ·
Sorry for the thread revival but...

A bit of an update...my tank cycled! And I got 4 new plants! Along with an albino algae eater. But could you guys ID the plants. One is an anubias. The others I will get pictures running soon
 
#46 ·
A bit of an update...my tank cycled! And I got 4 new plants! Along with an albino algae eater. But could you guys ID the plants. One is an anubias. The others I will get pictures running soon
Looking forward to the photos. But on the albino algae eater, be careful. If you can, I would return it, for the reasons in our profile, here:
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/cyprinid-species/gyrinocheilus-aymonieri-192529/
the "albino" is just a variant of the Chinese Algae Eater.
 
#47 ·
Oh my...well ok I will try the next time I can get a ride there.And I got the pictures. One of the pictures is the anubias nana (it will be the last picture)




And this is the Nana
 
#48 ·
#49 ·
Not sure which part of SoCal you are in but I spend a lot of time over there and even though that store might not take fish back there are other stores that will at least give you credit towards other fish to stock the tank properly. Never seen a shortage of aquarium/fish stores in SoCal.
Sorry, just wanted to let you know there are options for the ones that are alive still
 
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