First Planted Tank.
 

I have been keeping freshwater fish as a hobby since I was a kid. Currently I have a 55g setup with two green severums (about 5 inches in length) and a pleco (about 6 inches in length). Anyway, I have a 10g tank and stand sitting around and I'd like to try my hand at a basic planted tank. I'd like to stick with plants that are fairly easy to care for, and keep the setup fairly simple. I was thinking a thickly planted 10 gallon, with maybe six neon tetras and 3-4 small corydoras. What are your opinions/tips/suggestions. What types of plants would be best? I'm open on suggestions as far as fish/plants. What would be a good planted setup for this tank size? I know its small, but I don't really have the room for another bigger tank. Thanks for your time.

As far as fish I would not do neons because even though they are small they like to swim alot and like lots of room to do that in. I would suggest Ember Tetra, Sparkling Gourami, and dwarf or pygmy corys depending on your waters ph and hardness. You can read more about these fish in our profile section at the top of the page. For plants that are easy I would suggest java fern, java moss, small swords such as Echinodorus ‘Kleiner Prinz’ , cryptocoryne wendtii is also nice because it comes in green, bronze, and red colors, and anubias are nice and easy as well.

I second Amanda's suggestions on fish and plants.

Keeping to small fish species is better in a 10g not only because of the physical space but it allows for more fish, and that creates more interest. Along with Amanda's fish ideas, there are the dwarf rasbora species in Boraras. Some of the pencilfish remain fairly small and are not active swimmers anyway.

For plants, pygmy chain sword is ideal in a 10g. Brazilian Pennywort is a stem plant but it makes a nice floating plant, and all these fish like cover.

There is a series on the natural planted aquarium at the head of this section, "A Basic Approach to the Natural Planted Aquarium" in 4 parts that might give you some background.

And, welcome to Tropical Fish Keeping forum. Glad you joined us.

Byron.

And I owe all I know to Byron he is a great teacher. ; ) I forgot about the ones he mentioned they are lovely fish but are not readily avaliable in my area, and the pennywort is an awesome plant as well. ; )

Thanks for all the info, I appreciate it. But can you recommend any fish species that are easier to care for? Most of the fish you suggested the species profile suggests they are very sensitive to specific water parameters and such. Just wondering if there are other suitable species that are easier to care for.

We should have asked this previously...what are your water parameters out of the tap? Hardness and pH specifically. You can ascertain this from your water supply folks. This will allow us to be more specific. Matching fish to your water is usually much easier that attempting to adjust the water.

I agree thats why I added the,"depending on your waters ph and hardness," part to my suggestions. ; )

It will take me a few days to get my water parameters. I need to get a new test kit. Ok, let me ask this question, if any of you were going to do a planted 10 gallon, what would your setup be? (Plants, fish, lighting, etc.)

A pH kit (API's liquid is reliable) is worth having; pH is about the only thing I test now. Hardness isn't worth the money unless you intend adjusting the hardness in the tank. So this number you can get from your water supply people, many have a website. It can be under sevderal "names" like general hardness, hardness, calcium hardness, total hardness. You also want to know the bicarbonate hardness (KH), sometimes called Alkalinity.

I'd skip the fish and do a heavily planted shrimp tank. Or if you really want fish, a dwarf puffer tank would be cool too.