Question About Catfish!

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PhantomHawk700

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 29, 2011
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United States of America
I am about to redo my 10gal tank (only has two goldies in it with marble substrate, bubble wand and a filter. did research n found thats not good)'

I know that I have limited space, and had planned to get a some otos, tetras and maybe one or two other small fish. Maybe a couple shrimp. Then add plants with rocks to grow on, and sand substrate.

I was at petco (horrible, I know :( .) but they had some corys that they marked wouldnt grow past 2.5 inches, is it possible to put some different type corys together? Or corys and otos?
Or will they harm each other?
My LFS has some corys, but is is not marked how large they will grow. The otos they had were TINY, barely an inch.


But first I just plan to redo the tank, add some tetra or other small fish, and let the tank establish it's self with some algae growth before I add any catfish to it.



I am a complete fish newb, this is my first tank, and I want to do it right, any help is extremely greatly appreciated!




Oh! p.s. - The pant I was going to get was something with a sword in its name, at petco. Their plants actually looked nice... but alot of their fish tanks had sick fish stickers, so I don't want to buy fish from them. Their plants were seperate however!
 
All fish are the same anywhere if you get a Cory at petco or from your local fish store its still a Cory l(aside from health), anyway yes you could keep bout 3-5 and keep diff types together. But get rid of your goldies they need coldwater as corys need tropical water (75-82F). U could also keep some other fish with corys.
 
Thank you! And I am planning to give the two goldies back to my LFS tomorrow, and pull out the heater I have, it's not in-use now since the goldies are coldwater.
 
I recommend for beginning fish keepers 1" of fish per gallon. While this rule is not exact, and you can usually add more I would aim for 10-15" worth of small fish.

You should be aware of stunting too. When a fish that gets large is put in a small tank, it will never reach the size it should. This is harmful to fish and can cause premature organ failure. Now your goldfish should reach 12" each. Goldfish also need more gallons per inch than regular fish, and I would recommend at least a twenty gallon tank for a single adult goldfish. Goldfish really limit what can be put in the tank, and IMO should be only kept with other goldfish.

What I would do, it get fish that grow no larger than 4" that like tropical temperatures (74-82 typically). Most tetras, danios, barbs, community catfish etc are excellent and hardy tropical fish that stay in this size range.

Also, you will need a heater to keep 95% of fish in the hobby. So I would:

A) Rehome the goldfish (or find a friend who wants them)
B) Get a heater and heat the tank to 74-82 degrees
C) Once the temperature is stable, head to a LFS and ask for advice.
D) Clarify that your tank is 10 gallons and you don't want fish that get large or pushy.

And start with a few fish at a time. Like I said, 10-15 small fish are a decent limit and never put more than 5 in at once or else your tank's internal environment could crash poisoning the fish.

Ask your LFS if they test water samples too, new tanks fluctuate a lot and ammonia and nitrite both build up and are very harmful to fish.

+1 for researching and asking questions! You are on the right track!
 
Industrial;4840992; said:
I recommend for beginning fish keepers 1" of fish per gallon. While this rule is not exact, and you can usually add more I would aim for 10-15" worth of small fish.

You should be aware of stunting too. When a fish that gets large is put in a small tank, it will never reach the size it should. This is harmful to fish and can cause premature organ failure. Now your goldfish should reach 12" each. Goldfish also need more gallons per inch than regular fish, and I would recommend at least a twenty gallon tank for a single adult goldfish. Goldfish really limit what can be put in the tank, and IMO should be only kept with other goldfish.

What I would do, it get fish that grow no larger than 4" that like tropical temperatures (74-82 typically). Most tetras, danios, barbs, community catfish etc are excellent and hardy tropical fish that stay in this size range.

Also, you will need a heater to keep 95% of fish in the hobby. So I would:

A) Rehome the goldfish (or find a friend who wants them)
B) Get a heater and heat the tank to 74-82 degrees
C) Once the temperature is stable, head to a LFS and ask for advice.
D) Clarify that your tank is 10 gallons and you don't want fish that get large or pushy.

And start with a few fish at a time. Like I said, 10-15 small fish are a decent limit and never put more than 5 in at once or else your tank's internal environment could crash poisoning the fish.

Ask your LFS if they test water samples too, new tanks fluctuate a lot and ammonia and nitrite both build up and are very harmful to fish.

+1 for researching and asking questions! You are on the right track!
Click to expand...


^^^ what he said

and also a 10 gallon is very small... and once you start getting more into the hobbie the more you want

research, think, then buy.

also check CL for bigger fish tanks you can find really insane deals sometimes and check it often
 
Thanks guys :) for some reason it didn't post the reply I had done earlier. So to summarize, recap, and add;

I had researched the large comet goldfish a while ago, and found they need a TON of room, and had already decided to give them back to the fish store, who said they would take them. They will get about 10, maybe larger, since they were stunted when I got them. And I don't want them to die from it :( (researched that too)

I do have a heater, just need to get it up and running again.

I actually just talked to my LSF lady today, she owns fish herself (ALOT), and I plan on talking to her alot, she's really nice.

My tank is def 10gal, my parents used to have a 55salt, and used my 10 for feeders. They got rid of the 55 a loonggg time ago unfortunetly, all I have is the 10 and some stuff for it.

So, after revising my plan, this is what I have come up with;

-Returning my goldies tomorrow, and buying some supplies.
-Then sometime this week adding sand, rocks, plants, and the heater. And a new hood lamp-mine stopped working.
-waiting a couple (like two) weeks to make sure that the plants are doing fine and such.
-adding a few tetra (four-ish) waiting a 2-3 weeks to make sure they adjust well to the tank.
- adding a few other small fish (maybe a few more tetra, like 1-2?) letting the tank settle down a bit, for a weekish.
- adding a few catfish after it is obvous that I have an established algae place.


I have a Marina S10 filter, for a ten gallon, It has slide in filters. Right now I have goldfish filters in, made to help keep amnoina (forgive my horrible spelling please) down. Should I switch back to the tropical filters?


I have already asked about larger tanks, my parents said no. I have limited space since I share a room with my younger sister, who just has crap EVERYWHERE. But hopefully when I get a loft, I can move my desk under it (which now serves as my fishstand), get a real stand and maybe a slightly larger tank.

Thank you to all that have answered already, you are unimaginably helpful!
 
Do yourself a favor and get a 20 gallon long. Infinitely better footprint than a 10 and they can be found for $20 on sale most of the time. Use the 10 as gallon as a hospital tank.
 
I agree with Industrial for the most part (basically everything but the stocking suggestion, since the amount of fish you can keep is based on the species you keep, not the sizes of the fish).

And another thing to add: do not buy anything without first doing a fairly extensive amount of research on the species. This is especially important if you plan on getting cories. There are literally hundreds of different Corydoras species, ranging from under 1" to nearly 5", all of which need to be kept in groups of 5 or more, so it's very important that you find out exactly which species you're looking at before buying them.
 
drgnfrc13;4841256; said:
I agree with Industrial for the most part (basically everything but the stocking suggestion, since the amount of fish you can keep is based on the species you keep, not the sizes of the fish).
Click to expand...

You are correct, but in general for the new hobbyist it makes sense. If a hobbyist really does follow it strictly enough to want to put a 10" pacu in a 10 gallon, chances are they shouldn't be fish keeping.

There is no formula that is 100% correct for all species, but for the most part if you are buying typical community fish it seems to work out pretty good.

But yeah, when it doubt, ask on MFK!
 
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