What kind of larger pet fish is fairly easy to care for, in a 10 gallon tank?
9 March 2010
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I’ve got a ten gallon tank, and I would like a few bigger fish, maybe three inches or so, something with some size, i’m a bit tired of itty bitty half-inch fish. I’d like something to LOOK at. But I’m fairly busy, and I don’t want to have a high maintenance fish, because it wouldn’t be fair to them. I’m looking for something relatively easy to care for. Thank you!
Betta, fancy guppies are usually a favorite for Small tanks, also tetras (well they may be too small for you) Danois are fairly small, any type of dwarf species, otocinlus (oto’s) won’t get bigger than 2 inches and clean the tank well, I keep them with My ghost shrimp who are also scavengers, and friendly, they’ll walk right up to the tank when you go over to them. (those are my personal Favorites)
I’d avoid any who will grow larger than 5 inches for a 10 gallon tank, and then limit the number you have to reduce fish waste and water contamination.
I’d avoid goldfish, plecos. Goldfish, even small feeders require 10 gallons per fish, plecos start small at about an inch, but grow up to six inches a year and will eventually need a 55 gallon tank.
It depends if you want many small fish or one large one, Betta’s do best with limited interaction, they get fairly big and are beautiful to look at.
Try this site, I order some of my fish from here, scroll down and see if you find anything to your liking, just make sure it can live in 10 gallons (when you do find something , research it with a fish compatibility chart to make sure they’re not going to be aggressive to the other fish you choose, if you choose any) http://fish4lifemail.web.officelive.com/StockShop.aspx
I would get a male betta, and then 5 cory’s for the bottom. I love both these fish. and the Cory’s will school together and also swim serpearte… you will have a very active fish tank with these two types of fish :) You can aslo get hte Cory’s in tones of colours/patterns…. http://images.google.ca/images?hl=en&q=corydoras&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
Megs
I would get a male betta. They are easy to take care of and very beautiful.
u can go with barbs. there are tiger barbs which come in the basic color, or the albino tiger barbs, and green tiger barbs. they r very pretty, get around 3 inches or so, but they should b kept in schools of even numbers otherwise they odd ball will b chased n nipped @. they r a very active fish. u can also go with the male rosy barbs, they r a very bright red. make sure they r the males n not the females. u will b able 2 tell bc the females r a much duller red color 2 where the males r very bright red. these i believe get around 3-4 inches & they r the same as the tigers. very active, keep in even numbers. good luck pickin ur fish.
Dwarf guramies such as powder blues or kissing gouramies are good also look at hatchet fish or danios
goldfish, they will get no larger than they need to be in a 10 gal tank.
what you can get is an algea eater.
You dont really have to feed them much because they eat the algea off your tank and they also keep it clean. But they usually can come small and grow bigger. Sometimess you can find them bigger.
There are a lot of limitations when it comes to a 10g tank because it doesn’t provide the swimming or territory area than many fish need.
Sorry to say, but I have seen a fair bit here that has been suggested that is just not suitable.
Bettas and Dwarf Gouramis are larger fish, and would be OK.
Absolutely none of the other Gouramis though – only the dwarves. (Colisa lalia). The others need more space than a 10g can provide and aggression in that case is not a question of if – more like when. Same goes for the Tiger Barbs. They need to be kept in groups of 6 or more and in that small space they would shred each other.
Goldfish…. no. Way too small of a tank. They grow too big and are horrible water polluters. Hardly what you are after if you want low maintenance.
For the most part, Plecos are out too. Most of them get very big, and pollute as bad as Goldfish. This is a technicality, but I can’t say "no pleco" then turn around and say to go with Otocinclus. They are in the Pleco family. They would also be fine.
To make the tank more undemanding, I would have something helping with water parameters – plants. But only a very limited selection.
For a nice low demand 10g tank, I would go with:
2 female Dwarf Gouramis – any color morphs you like
3 Otocinclus
and any combination of:
Java Fern
Java Moss
Hornwort
The plants will help keep the water in better condition, and the Hornwort will provide hiding refuge for the Dwarf Gouramis. In my experience if Dwarf Gouramis have several hiding places available, they are less likely to use them. I guess just knowing it’s there if they need it is good enough to give them the confidence to come out and stay visible.
The suggested plants don’t require any special care, they will pretty much take care of themselves. The Otocinclus will police up any uneaten food and also help with prevention of algae.
Oh, and if you decide to put the plants in – no air bubbler.
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