I recently got a 10 gal. tank from my cousin. What is an inexpensive way to make it look good. Also, what kind of fish should I have in it? (I want a cold water aquarium, not warm) My science teacher breeds Guppies and recently got a bunch of new babies and offered me some of them. Is this good for a first time bieginner? Thanks
I just started....
- Thread starter Don Gambino
- Start date
get yourself a bag of gravel, a background, some plastic plants, and a filter aquaclear makes some external filters the kind that hang off the back of the tank. and a small heater. keep it in the high 70s to low 80s and get yourself some tetras or small barbs. that should look nice. then save up for the 300G you will eventually want. welcome to MONSTER FISH KEEPERS
welcome don, remember to cycle the tank, it needs to run set up with filter working for 6 weeks before slime layer on filter clears the water and makes it safe for new pets
I understand not wanting to heat it, but for a good looking fish that could live a long time in a 10 you'll need to heat it. It wont take much to heat the tank because its so small. Guppies would be a good beginer fish, but need heat. I would also recomend neon tetras or other types of tetras.
Keep us posted and feel free to ask any questions.
Keep us posted and feel free to ask any questions.
I agree that warm water is better for even guppies and you will have a much wider range of choices of fish. If you keep the tank at room temp. guppies will do okay but about the only other fish you will de able to find will be rosey reds, white clouds, and dojos, or local fish.
If you heat the tank a little (78F) you can get 3-5 pygmy corys, guppies, 3-5 lemon tetras or other small tetras, 3 danios, and even a dwarf flame gourami and a bamboo shrimp would complete the tank.
A small hang on type filter, 1 1/2" of fine grain gravel, a couple attractive stones, and a sagittaria and clump of java moss and elodea will soften the look of the tank. For a small tank I like the look of patterned blue tinted foil crinkled for texture and taped to the back of the tank as a background.
I disagree about the 6 weeks of cycling for a small tank.
Place in the rinsed gravel letting it slope slightly to the front. Add the rocks. Make sure you use dechlorinated water when you fill the tank and if you pour it in slowly onto a small plate that is then removed it will not disturb the gravel. Hook up the heater and plug it in then do the same with the filter, leave out the charcoal pack (just fill that space with a trimmed filter pad), then let the heater and filter run over night.
The next day check your temperature and if it is okay add the plants then wait one more day to let the tank stabilize. During this day you can, if the temp is near 78F, beg some filter sludge from your science teacher (a tablespoon or two) and add it to your filter. This will establish live bacteria in your filter. Then the following day add your first few fish, a few guppies would be best as they tend to be hardy, wait a couple days and add a couple more fish. then repeat the wait and add cyle until the stocking level is where you want it.
What the waiting and stocking in small increments does is give the bacteria in the filter time to catch up with the increased ammount of fish waste.
It would be nice to get a testing kit for ammonia and pH but for a tank like this it is not critical.
None of the fish mentioned are very expensive or hard to find and you will end up with an attractive tank.
If you heat the tank a little (78F) you can get 3-5 pygmy corys, guppies, 3-5 lemon tetras or other small tetras, 3 danios, and even a dwarf flame gourami and a bamboo shrimp would complete the tank.
A small hang on type filter, 1 1/2" of fine grain gravel, a couple attractive stones, and a sagittaria and clump of java moss and elodea will soften the look of the tank. For a small tank I like the look of patterned blue tinted foil crinkled for texture and taped to the back of the tank as a background.
I disagree about the 6 weeks of cycling for a small tank.
Place in the rinsed gravel letting it slope slightly to the front. Add the rocks. Make sure you use dechlorinated water when you fill the tank and if you pour it in slowly onto a small plate that is then removed it will not disturb the gravel. Hook up the heater and plug it in then do the same with the filter, leave out the charcoal pack (just fill that space with a trimmed filter pad), then let the heater and filter run over night.
The next day check your temperature and if it is okay add the plants then wait one more day to let the tank stabilize. During this day you can, if the temp is near 78F, beg some filter sludge from your science teacher (a tablespoon or two) and add it to your filter. This will establish live bacteria in your filter. Then the following day add your first few fish, a few guppies would be best as they tend to be hardy, wait a couple days and add a couple more fish. then repeat the wait and add cyle until the stocking level is where you want it.
What the waiting and stocking in small increments does is give the bacteria in the filter time to catch up with the increased ammount of fish waste.
It would be nice to get a testing kit for ammonia and pH but for a tank like this it is not critical.
None of the fish mentioned are very expensive or hard to find and you will end up with an attractive tank.
guppy said:
Your right, 6 weeks an extremely long time, thats just my personal preference i guess, done it that way since i was a kid, and make people i help with there tanks do it that way .... definatly overkill, but keeps noobs from killin there fish right off the bat, gives them plenty of time to work temp stability bugs out also, i guess the main thing is dont bring fish home and then set up the tank.
I dont really want to have a warm water tank because of the expense and also I found a website that has alot of info about fish and it said that beginners should just start out basic and have a cold water tank with a few fish and no rocks or gravel or plants until I learn exactly how much they eat, so there is no leftovers to scum up the tank.