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-I have a 10 gallon tank, which i want to use for a Black Ghost Knifefish, a Pleco(probably a regular or common one), and 3 to 4 Guppies(1 male, the rest female).
*The 10 gallon tank is just temporary until i move into my new room, I'm thinking of putting a 30-40 gallon.*
-Also how reliable and worthy is the Eclipse Hood/Filters.

-Would a 25g tank work with those fish?

Unfortunatly no.

A pleco, especially a common, will need a 75 gallon tank, as it gets to be well over a foot long and is a heavy waste producer.

A BKG also needs much more room than a 10 gallon. Guppies will do okay in anything over a 10 given that you have something to do with all the fry .
Have a look thru the profiles section of the site and see what will work for your sized tank. Keep in mind many of the smaller fish will require schools, check back with us to verify stocking we'll be glad to help.

welcome to the family.

^_^[hr width='40%']"Love's the Funeral Of Hearts, and an ode for cruelty,
When angels cry blood, on flowers of evil in bloom
and a plea for mercy,
where Love is a gun separating me from you"

I don't know much about Black Ghost Knifefish, but I do believe they need more than a 30 or 40 gallon tank. I heard 75 gallons once, but like I said, I haven't kept them so I don't know firsthand.

The common plecos get fairly, well, huge, and would need a bigger tank as well.

Do you already have those fish? If you don't, I'd hold off getting them until you had a tank that would be big enough.

If you want a pleco, a bristlenose or clown would work better in a smaller tank than the common one would.

The guppies should be fine, as long as they don't overpopulate the tank.

Well, first things first... the knifefish and the plecos are NOT small fish by any stretch of the imagination. Have you looked up the potential size of these fish? BGK's have a potential to be almost 20" long, while common plecos can be nearly 18" long. The standard ten gallon is 20" long. And besides that, plecos are commonly nicknamed "poop machines" because they are very heavy waste producers.

When stocking a tank, you need to keep in mind waste production and ADULT size of a fish. In this case, I wouldn't put either of those fish in less than a 75 gallon, and would definitely think heavily on a larger tank than that.

As for guppies... the running joke is that all you need to do to have hundreds of guppy fry is to add water. Guppies breed. It's what they're born to do. With guppies, you can EASILY overstock a ten gallon in a month. Just think... one mature female can drop upwards of 25 fry every 28 days! When a female is impregnated, she can drop 25 fry every month for as many as 6-9 months. They store up sperm in case there are no males around... so they can continue the species. Guppies are ALL about continuation of their species.

While all the fish you've chosen are really great fish, you'd need a tank many times the size of a ten gallon to support your stock, unfortunately.

If you can, possibly find a bulldog pleco (max out at around 2" and then stock with all male guppies. That would make for a colorful, fun tank. I have a tank with six male guppies and four female bettas... makes a nice tank if you can find compatible betta girls.

I know how it goes... some of the coolest fish are way too big for the tank you have available... it happens all the time to me.

Good luck... maybe we can help you figure out a more suitable stocking level for your tank.

Sorry for the novel

Edit: Whoops... forgot about the question on the Eclipse system. I have an Eclipse 1 system and well, okay, I personally don't like it much. (But hey, it was free. ) Maybe on a bigger tank, it would be easier to work with, but I find it annoying.

In order to clean the tank, you have to lift up the section with the light. Well... then you can't SEE what you're doing. In order to feed your fish... you have to lift up the section with the light... and again, you can't see what's going on, plus you're shining this bloody bright light all over the place.

The filter does NOT like to start up, and if the impellor isn't spotlessly clean, it may decide to wake you up at four in the morning by stopping and trying to restart. It gets this annoying "chatter" as it tries to suck water.

Keep in mind that my system was used and not new, so it the filter troubles might be simply misuse in its previous home, but good lord, it's annoying.

All in all, if I had a choice, I wouldn't buy this system. However, the free bit kinda saved me money in that regard.

Last edited by kitten at 22-Sep-2005 11:06

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Ok thanks ya'll for the help, i got a few more questions. What would be a good cheap filter for these fish, and a good heater?

Also how's a 25-30g tank?

For those fish you'd need a 75 gallon to start with plans to upgrade to a 125 soon.

"cheap" doesnt mean it'll last . An inexpensive filter for the smaller (55 and under tanks) would be Aquaclear filters. They're easy to maintain and arent as expensive as a canister. For larger tanks I'd suggest going with a canister.

If you're looking to stock a 25-30 gallon tank smaller tetras or barbs will work, and some of the smaller cichlids.

^_^[hr width='40%']"Love's the Funeral Of Hearts, and an ode for cruelty,
When angels cry blood, on flowers of evil in bloom
and a plea for mercy,
where Love is a gun separating me from you"

Don't try to put those fish in a small tank. As already stated, they need a big tank & a 75 gal. is the smallest.

I always recommend Ebo Jager as a heater.


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