Fish you ignorantly put in a 10 gallon

[midasman714]

My first fish tank was a ten gallon as a teenager. My sister in law's Dad had some beautiful yellow and gray fish he was giving away. I took 5 3" fish since I had a whopping 10 gallons to put them in. They must have been in there for a good 6 months. They were Midas cichlids

Those hardy fish survived the cramped, sometimes cold, horrid conditions with monthly 100% water changes which includes washing all filter media with tap. They eventually moved into a 55 where a pair formed and had offspring is their own. Tough fish!

Today, I would only think of keeping a solo male in a 90g at minimum, 125 would be ideal

Lots of us started with 10 gallons. Tell us your 10 gallon story.

 

[Coryloach]

A few baby carp in a 5G tank...They were from the food market but still alive so I stole them from my mother's fish for dinner to "save" them. Needles to say what happened to them in that size tank. That was a very long time ago but is still painful to think about.

 

[EntoStentor]

My betta got eaten by pictus. Still have him (the pictus) today with lots of other pictus bois in a 55. But yeah I turned on the lights just in time to see him get bitten in half and both halves eaten.

 

[Tobiassorensen]

Well my first tank ever was when i was 12 years old and holded 540L. I had all tetras in it until one day i was going with my granddad to buy some new fish i saw a beatiful carpintis cichlid and my grandpa bought that for me. It grew quite quick and the rest i think you can figure out. I was left with an lonely cichlid within months. Haha.

 

[Gourami Swami]

By the time I got a 10 gallon, I had read a bit and only got a dwarf gourami for it.
But, for my whole childhood my family had a shubunking goldfish which was a chunky 8", in a 20 gallon tank. Also I kept an angelfish in a 5 gallon for a while until it died, when I was just a kid.
We all learn at some point though!

 

[AnthonyFish20]

My first tank I had a 10 gallon 2 irridesent sharks an oscar a wild caught fish, 3 pictus catfish, and just 2 sponge filters to support it and a heater man thinking of it now that was so terrible

 

[EntoStentor]

Ouch

 

[Nick Park]

My first tank was a 10g, and the pet shop sold me 3 clown loaches and 5 dennison roseline barbs to put in it. Trying (and failing) to keep those fish alive almost gave me a nervous breakdown. And to think I got a fish tank because I thought it would be relaxing!

Still in the hobby today, and that 10g is home to a stable population of little tetras.

Meanwhile, I determined to persevere with clown loaches and am now growing out a school of six of the guys in a 200g - they're all up to just over 4 inches now. Also have a 115g full of sex-crazy Africans that are experiencing a population explosion!

 

[Victoria Love]

I never had a 10 gallon. My mom did when I was very little, with kissing gouramis but when I grew up and got into the hobby I went right for a 55 gal, which eventually 2 of my sons pulled down with bungee cords and it came crashing down, when my sons grew to be teens they told me they were pretending to mountain climb. Now I have a 120 gal and a 30 gal hex. Theres a 20 long in my room but the tank doesnt have fish in it. I have a leucistic axolotl named Bobbi in the 20 long

 

[Plec123]

When I was 12 my 10 gallon was a torture chamber because of how little I knew. In addition, this was at my mom's house, where I spent maybe kne weekend a month. It started out fine, with a dwarf gourami, 2 kuhlii loaches, and some neons... but eventually it was home to the original fish, a pictus cat, a molly, some hatchetfish, a whiptail cat, a kissing gourami, an opaline gourami, and a rainbow shark.

This was all with one incandescent light bulb, white gravel, and black plastic plants.

The pictus somehow grew to a full adult size and ate the neons, and most of the other fish died, but god bless those kuhliis. They survived everything and were the final inhabitants accompanied by a sailfin pleco and a hell of a lot of detritus worms. Took the tank down not too long after those 3 were the last ones in the tank.

Man, kuhliis are tough little buggers!