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I have a 10gallon tank thats been empty exept for
one otto for atleast 6 months now, its a planted tank
i'm running two filters, one submerge for a 20 gallon and one hang on back filter thats also rated for 20 gallon.

I wanna try something different this time, instead of a betta, gourami, guppy tank any suggestion would be helpful

Hmm well there not preditors but...
How bout a pair of 'Lamprologus' brevis (shell dwelling cichlids)
go to http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1743 for more info on them.
or a species-only tank of 4 or 5 cherry barbs. (and the ottos)
That otto would also be much happier if it had at least 3 more of them, too.

And as far as I know, most of the preditory fish can't fit into a 10g, but you might want to wait for one of the veteran fish keepers to come and correct me

That's all i got besides that I have no other idea than the plain ol' betta / gourami/ guppy tank.

Good luck!


~Morgan~

You could look at crustaceans, quite a lot of those are wonderful hunters and might be something different for you. I think alleni might be small enough, and I think you guys have much smaller macro shrimp that could work very well. I have not met a more effective hunter.


Otherwise, the brevis would be a good option if you want cichlids, or you might be able to crowbar some multies in instead. I'm not sure if they are the sort of predators you are after though, they are gutsy, territorial little fish, but they aren't "muscle fish" IMO.

*thinks*

Maybe badis? Though that is similar to bettas in the aggression stakes.

Some of the wild bettas might do it, but they are hard to find and a bit exxy.

The unfortunate thing about most predators that fit in a 10 is that they are only scary if you happen to be a bloodworm


Outside of that try one of the smaller fish.

Danios are evil little things that are highly underrated IMO. I think they might give some of the cichlids a run for their money if they were a bit bigger! A 10 might be a bit squishy, but you could do 3 and some kuhlies or something.

Microrasboras would be perfect if you want a school Add some cherry shrimp and you are set.

Can you get blue eyes over there? If you plant it up, you could try something like that, but they are quite territorial, so you'd have to be a bit careful.

What about killifish? gardneri are beautiful, and blue gulgaris are even better. I'd stay away from the more common golden ones, they get quite big.




For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

I had a Badis burmensis for almost a year in my 10. They are highly predatory, and I can't stress enough that they absolutely have to have live food. Mine died after about 3 weeks of not having any guppy fry to give him... wouldn't touch anything that was not moving. He appeared to take thawed bloodworms, but I tried to feed them quite often and he still wasn't getting enough. Sometimes I'd give him adult male guppies (although it took him a lot longer to get those down his gullet, and there were a limited number I was willing to sacrifice...)

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have u ever looked into some natives like smaller sized sun fish? u could get like 2 or 3 and the will eat live fish if its small enough to fit in there mouths or u could get some crays they are fun to keep get one cool blue or white one.

You've got a couple options. The South American Leaf Fish is probably your best bet for an actual predator. It gets 4" in length; now, most fish that get that large would be inappropriate for a 10 gallon tank permanently, but since SA leaf fish are ambush predators they are not very active.

The African butterflyfish is much more common and do not get much larger than SA leaf fish. It may also be an option, but keep the tank tightly covered as these are jumpers!

The leopard bushfish or spotted ctenopoma (Ctenopoma acutirostre) is a more active fish, but is similar to the SA leaf fish. It also gets larger, reaching about 6", but it has a nice spotted patterning. It would require larger than a 10 gallon aquarium, though.

There are various inactive catfish species that also fit the bill.

As for something DIFFERENT, a 10 gallon tank is an appropriate breeding tank for a number of fish.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

How about black darter tetras (Poecilocharax weitzmani)? for such a small fish, they have really large mouths, and the males look incredible.

Another predator that could fit in a 10gallon is an african butterfly fish. They get a bit big, but they rarely ever move. I currently have one, and hes easily become one of my favorite fish. Mine is so tame that he'll actually jump out of the water to catch crickets from my fingers!

shinigami, ive wanted to look at the african butterfly fish profile for some time but cannot find it on this site, perhaps a latin name or link will help.could you post one?

the south amrican leaf fish will do fine but definatly not the ABFs they are way to active i have one im my 55 and hes a swimmer. heres a profile like to a abf.....

http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/488.htm

ok thankyou very much riri, reason i couldnt find it for years was because i never looked in "others"

hahaha yea i have owned to many abfs and they are pretty active.

hey thanks for all the replies=)
i don't really want tetras anymore because i've had alot of them in my old 50gal, I really like the Lamprologus' brevis
if only i can find them at my local petstores. i like the african butterfly but do they live well in 10gal with a fast water current?

no abfs do not i have so a lot fo current in my 55 and they dont stop swiming..... they eat live crickets and if u get them dainos or guppys small enough to eat them.

my otto died=(
he was 2 years old, anyways i just got an african butterfly fish, he's the only one on the tank and its only been 15 mins and i fed it with one cricket, can i still more?

An african clawed frog would work, or a smaller staying crayfish.