FishProfiles.com Message Forums

here it goes.. beaten to death but what the hell!

i have a 10gal desktop tank, about 38-40L for those in metric.

i have no idea what to stock it with. it use to house 2 guppies but they have since passed on.

i dont really like planting it because the light can make it go green fairly quick. so a rocky enviroment is best i think ..

any ideas?

If unplanted is ok with you, switch your substrate to sand, get shells, and go with shellies

Hard water with a high pH would be necessary but the substrate and shells will contribute towards buffering.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is water at the bottom of the ocean

hmm shellies. although the ide aof sand substrate is good, i dont know about shellies.

got any links on them?


what other small sand loving fish could i keep?

Shelldwellers are awesome. There used to be an article here... But it appears to be gone now. In any case, they basic rundown is that they are small Tanganyikan cichlids from the Lamprologus or Neolamprologus genus (people switch them all the time, so I couldn't tell you which is the correct genus) that live in snail shells. They're not all that common but they can be found online. Unfortunately, Shelldwellers are relatively territorial and you wouldn't be able to keep any other species with them.

Khuli Loaches are small and like sand. Unlike shelldwellers, though, they probably wouldn't make for a very interesting species tank, but you could keep other small fish with them.

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

My deskside tank is a shellie tank, and I love it. They're fascinating little fish. I have multies -- officially neolamprologous multifasciatus -- and they're endlessly entertaining.

I aquascaped the tank with sand and rocks, plus a couple dozen extra-large escargot shells. The fish spend their days moving sand around the tank by taking mouthfulls and spitting it out; there are also endless little dramas as they defend their territories which consists of a lot of posturing and darting; they do NOT hurt each other. And judging from the frequency with which fry arrive, they're doing a few other things, too.

The only drawback to a shellie tank on a desktop is that it's so much more interesting to watch the fish than to work ...

Here's a link to a site with lots more information specifically about shelldwellers:

http://www.shelldwellers.com

thanks for the info guys,

i;ve had a read and look into shellies, and considering my location and lack of decent LFS's i don't think shellies are for me,

back to the drawing board, any other ideas?

Guppies! I'm new to this and everyone says guppies aren't cool, but they really are. They're super fun to watch and love playing in the bubbles. Guppies are my friends.

already had guppies in the tank that just passed on, and i don't like keeping the same species for to long, so i think guppies are out .

thanks for the idea though.

There are dozens of small, attractive species. Some ideas include puffers, killifish, small rainbowfish, blue-eyes (genus Pseudomugil), and of course there's no harm in the gourami, tetras, barbs, and cories we're all familiar with.

If you go tetra, hunt for Rosy Tetras. They're quite awesome. However, if you can get them, Blue Eyes are definitely hard to beat; they are definitely not as popular as they should be considering their brilliant colors and small size. They're natural colors aren't out of their league with those of artificial guppy strains.

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