Stocking suggestions

[jbirdag96]

I recently purchased a custom tank for our youngest daughter. It's about 10 gallons, but a little less most likely. We put 2 fan-tail goldfish in there about 2 weeks ago and they are doing fine. However, I was recently made aware that the tank is much too small for those fish. I am thinking about what other fish to put in that tank that are more appropriate for that size. Cherry Barbs and Tetras have been suggested. It would be one or the other...not both. It was also suggested to put some ghost shrimp in that tank with the fish. This idea seems ok as the suggested fish are colorful and active.

Would this tank be able to hold 6 barbs or 6 tetras and 3 to 4 ghost shrimp? I have an in-tank filter that is rated for 10+ gal tanks.


Next question. We have a larger tank that is 40 gallons...freshwater. Currently, there are 2 cherry barbs, 1 Zebra danio, and a small commom pleco. Again, I was told the pleco will need a much larger tank and to attempt to trade it in for store credit. As we want a pleco of some kind, bristle-nose and pitbull plecos were mentioned as viable alternatives. We would also like to eventually add some more fish to this tank that are colorful and fairly active...they don't hide all the time like the pleco.

[cocoa_pleco]

good job ditching the goldfish. They need 20g each. For a 10g, id go with 5 ghost shrimp, 5 tetras, 2 platys, and a otto cat.

[gm72]

cocoa_pleco has some of the best suggestions on stocking!

As for your 40 gallon, the common pleco would definitely like more room, they get pretty big. I have also recently been advised that they are very sensitive to ammonia and so are not so good for cycling tanks.

I'd put more than 2 of the cherry barbs in there since they do like to be in groups of 6 or more. Colorful active fish--green tiger barbs, denison barbs, albino barbs, regular tiger barbs? Again, just be sure to group them in schools of at least 6 as in groups of fewer they may become aggressive toward the other fish. Maybe giant dannios? I love watching mine--they are shiny with pale stripes of blue and yellow and are VERY active.

Hope this was helpful!

[jbirdag96]

Thanks for the help. I'm surprised a 10 gallon can hold that many fish. I'll look at the various kinds of tetras at a local LFS I found. I can pick up some ghost shrimp at a petsmart/walmart as they will most likely be much cheaper, but I'll check on that too.

Thanks for the suggestions on our 40gal fw tank. What sort of pleco would be suitable for that tank? As mentioned earlier, bristle-nose plecos and pit-bull plecos have been mentioned on other boards.

[Severus]

I wouldnt put any barbs in your ten gallon. Being that barbs get about 3" and are a schooling fish, that wouldnt be enough room for them. I would lean more towards smaller fish like danios, guppys, tetras, or platys. I like Cocoa's stocking idea as far as diversity and all of those fish will work together.

For your 40 gallon i would definitely go with a Bristlenosed Plec. They stay small enough for your 40 gallon and are very interesting.

[jbirdag96]

Thanks Severus. I've actually heard on other boards that guppys wouldn't be a good idea as they like a salty environment whereas the other fish can do without it. Any truth to that?

[Sasquatch]

Thanks Severus. I've actually heard on other boards that guppys wouldn't be a good idea as they like a salty environment whereas the other fish can do without it. Any truth to that?

Guppies live very well in freshwater and being somewhat smaller than platies are a good choice for a 10g tank.

Tetras and otto cats are also small fish, so you can get more of them in a small tank. Remember that tetras like to school, go get 4-5 minimum.

The ghost shrimp have a very low metabolism, so they don't contribute much to ammonia production and you can get a bunch without overloading your tank.

[bubble_bee]

Guppies are also great since you can get them in so many, and such amazing, colors! Speaking of schooling though, Otto's really prefer to be in schools as well. Luckily, they're quite small, so hopefully you'll be able to fit in a few!