Quick ? on stocking 10 gallons.

[Stingslider]

I been out of the loop for a while on aquariums.

I just miss having a aquarium around. I had a 75 gallons tank for 5 turtles and they just grew too big and I had to give them away after 6 years. It really sucks but at least I know they got a bigger place to swim.

Right now just don't have the room for that 75 gallon, but I have a 10 gallon that I would like to setup with neon tetra and black neons. I just need to have an idea how many. And how slow I should go. Because I know they need to be in numbers of at least 3. I was hoping maybe 8 neons and 4 black neons. If I could go more later on great.

Plus any idea on plants for a 10 gallon. I have no experiences with plants, I don't want the tank to be so densely planted. I am trying to find a nice piece of driftwood that would go into the tank and attach maybe 2 or 3 kind of plants to it.

By the way the setup I have now is the Penguin Biowheel 150b (good for up to 30 gallons), 50 watts heater, and the 24in bubble wand, been running since monday. I put fish food in it for waste to try to create ammonia to start the cycle.

Eventually I think I might get a 30 gallon tank, because I see some fishs that would be so neat to have but I just know they cannot go into the 10 gallon tank even though they a small size now.

Sorry for the big post, I think I just like to type. lol

Thanks for any advice or help you can give me.

[Lady Hobbs]

I would say yes to neons, guppies and maybe two platies. I would say no to black tetra's. They are scooling fish, want to be with several of their own and need room to act normal. A 10 gallon hardly gives them enough room to do their thing. I just took mine from a 29 gallon and put them in a 55 gallon and what a drastic change in them. They love the room to go back and forth and their color has improved 100%.

[Stingslider]

Oh ok so not enough room for black neons to move. Well scratch that.

I wouldn't be against the guppies idea, the males are pretty colorful. How many do you think would go into a 10 gallon tank with like 8 neon tetras.

I was thinkin an algae eater would be cool too but all the ones I have seen seem too grow to big for the tank.

[Lady Hobbs]

The Bristlenose cat stays small. You could also get some cory's or shrimp which won't clean the glass but clean up the bottom. I have no glass cleaners in any of my 4 tanks. I just wipe the glass off when I do a water change and it stays nice enough that way. You also don't want any sucker fish in a new tank as they will starve. Tank should be up for 3 months or so before those go in..........unless it is planted.

Try to stick with all males if you don't want a bunch of guppies. If you end up with one or two females and 10 males the males will drive them nuts. Just pick out the most colorful with nicest fins and most likely these will be your males. Neons'..... you could have a bunch, too. I would say maybe 10 neons, 10 guppies and 3 corys. Stocking like this you will have a layer of top, bottom and middle fish to make your tank look full.

This is a lot of fish for a 10 gallon but the size they remain makes it possible to have this many in a small tank.

However, please be careful adding fish to an uncycled tank. You may want to read about fishless cycle using just pure ammonia and having a test kit. If you don't want guppies, you could have danios......zebra's make a good fish for cycling if you want to use fish for this purpose. Add your fish a few at a time......like 3 or 4, wait for a week or so then 3 or 4 more until you think they tank is stocked to your liking or you will have ammonia and nitrite spikes and all will be killed.

Make sure you get a test kit so you can watch for spikes and be ready to do water changes. Fishless cycling prevents all deaths and all this work, tho.