Small aquarium

[IndyJones]

I found my old 10 g aquarium tonight been thinking about what kind of fish I should get. It is freshwater and I do have a heater and filter. Any ideas for fishies fairly easy to care for?

Red tail shark, mollies? maybe a few neons? I remember having neons when I was little they were always fun to watch.

 

[Biomehanika]

I’m biased but whenever I’ve had a 5-10 gallon aquarium setup I’ve always had it house a single male betta. They are so pretty and love having the extra space and enjoy live plants that are super easy to keep alive with basic lights (Java ferns, Anubias). Plus they have the funniest little personalities and are so relaxing to watch.

 

[game misconduct]

just remember to allow the tank to cycle along with keeping up with water changes etc.depending upon where you live its always fun to run a big net and scoop up a net full of algae and water weeds from any local ponds or lakes. dump it into a bucket and put it all into a tank and watch it come alive

 

[IndyJones]

I have it set up with plain water now, Im leak testing it because it has been in storage for a while.

I found I have two different style pumps, the aquaclear which does a really good job and a submersable one with just a sponge in it.

The light needs to be replaced as the old one was so rusted up it no longer turned on. I saw a rgb-w one with a remote on amazon. I might get that and some glofish gravel. It will be in the same area as my gaming rig so might look cool to match the lights up (no strobing of course)

 

[Furballsmom]

Betta are wonderful

 

[amethyst]

I haven't had a tank in years, but I did do some research recently, some of my personal favorites are the neon and cardinal tetras and the zebra danios. Guppies can be fun too, they come in lots of different colors and styles, but can get out of hand quickly if you aren't careful, since they breed and give birth to live young.

One thing you need to keep in mind is what size tank fish actually need to be happy and healthy, a lot of pet stores sell fish in crowded tanks and most are babies not full grown adults. For example one you mentioned, the red tailed shark, they need a much much larger tank, like around 50+ gallons once full grown, they only grow to about a foot long +/- but are very active and need space. I remember the 10 gallon tanks were a popular size back in the 90s when I had fish but people seem to be better informed now on what fish need to live happy healthy lives, and realize 10 gallons tanks are really too small for most fish. Unless you are just wanting something that can live solo like a betta, 20 gallon tanks are really the suggested size for a smaller aquarium now especially if you want multiple or different kinds of fish. The smaller fish like neon tetras are a schooling fish, so you want a group of them for them to be happy, and a 10 gallon tank could house at most about half a dozen tetras, but that's about it.

A very general rule of thumb (species and temperment matter too) is each fish needs at least 1 gallon of water per inch the fish is long, so at least 1-2 gallons of water per fish for small fish. If you over stock the tank not only does that cause stress and can cause aggression in the fish, but also conditions in the tank can go badly quickly. For example if there are too many fish they can run out of oxygen in the water, even if you have an air pump, if it dies or the power goes out the whole tank can go belly up in a matter of hours.

Also the shape of the tank matters too, depending on the kind of fish you get some do better in tanks that are long vs tall.

 

[Kieka]

I'd do a betta and some nerite snails to help keep it clean. Bettas really do have some great personalities and are fun to watch. Nerite snails can be fun to watch too. Although, if your betta is more aggressive it could go after the snails.

 

[Ella Spell]

I used to have a 30 gallon aquarium with sororities of female bettas. I was able to have odd numbers between 9 - 13 of them and never had a problem with them fighting. Some of them lived several years. I also had single tank male bettas at the same time. Funny but I'd kind of forgotten how fish-obsessed I was about ten years ago, and I just thought of it yesterday wondering if I should do it again.

I think I've got my hands full with five cats and a dog.

RIP to Fincent Fin Gogh, my longest living betta boy who was about five years old.

Mollies and neons do look fun!

 

[IndyJones]

I have 3 neons and 3 embers for now along with real plants.

 

[Furballsmom]

Let us know how things go - if you can, I'd love to see a pic of your setup

 

[catapault]

Think about adding marimo moss balls when you have your tank set up. I have a small jar with three marimo. Here's a picture after I had changed the water and they began making bubbles

I change the water every few weeks (we have a well) and they've been doing well since March 2020. Here's a care guide from a place that sells them: Marimo Moss Ball - Care Guide

 

[Furballsmom]

marimo moss balls

Marimo are such fun, I think especially so when they do the rise and sink that they're famous for

I moved mine from a vase that I had them in for several years, to my snail tank that I set up a couple months ago. Both the snails and the marimo do better in cooler temperatures than betta prefer, as mentioned in that article linked above, but I don't know about the temp requirements for other fish.

 

[IndyJones]

My ember and neon tetras are tropical and have a heater not sure a cool water plant would do well in my tank. Its actualy a 7 gallon tank I think. Its bigger than a 5 gallon but smaller than a 10 gallon.

Excuse the mess next to the tank.

 

[IndyJones]

 

[Furballsmom]

Love this setup!

 

[Ella Spell]

That's really nice. I should definitely stop looking because I have a few old tanks downstairs in the room I'm supposed to be cleaning later today ...

Hmmm..

 

[Lennybells]

So cute! Love the setup. We have a 20g tank. We love our Chinese Algae eaters, Shui (hope I’m spelling it right, I think it’s Chinese for water), and our Rainbow fish, Napoleon. The Rainbows are nice (there are different types) as they are more explorative and they come out quite a bit. Napoleon doesn’t mind coming out as our cat curiously watches.

 

[IndyJones]

I had a algae outbreak about a week ago so I went to the LFS instead of petsmart for advice. They were very helpful there and I got an algae eater. He doesn't have the tank like apperance of most of them. He is an otocinclus. Beteer known as an oto cat. He cleaned my tank for the most part within 3 days. I also bought a magfloat to clean the glass. I also was feeding too much acording to the lady who helped me. Fish only need to eat about every other day or one pellet per fish every day. Seems like such a small amount but nothing left. I also was told for a 7 gal tank partial water change with gravel vaccume once a week. The water that came out was suprisingly gross!

My poor plants. I had to pluck some of the leaves off the ones on the right side because they had died from lack of light due to the algae blanketing them one was so bad I had to remove it. Now they look so much happier (can a plant be happy?) But spindly in places. They are coming back now though thanks to my oto cat.

 

[Furballsmom]

There's a really excellent body condition chart available for betta, would there be something like that for your fish? That quantity sounds like it might not be enough, but I dunno for certain with that type of fish.

 

[Dewey]

Think about adding marimo moss balls when you have your tank set up. I have a small jar with three marimo. Here's a picture after I had changed the water and they began making bubbles

View attachment 471232​

I change the water every few weeks (we have a well) and they've been doing well since March 2020. Here's a care guide from a place that sells them: Marimo Moss Ball - Care Guide

Fish make bubbles when they have low oxygen. Maybe try adding a bubble pump. Hope this helps!