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Hello all,
I'm moving a ten gallon tank up to my dorm soon and i'm open to stocking suggestions. I'm going to use live plants (other then some java fern on drift wood don't really know what else is going to go in the tank) and a 125 penguin run-of-the-mill filter.
These fish will need to be able to handle a 1 1/2 hour drive in litte fish bags(or something along those lines)so i can take them home for winter and summer break (have plenty of tank room back home )
I have a few ideas so far but i'm just wondering what others would do without the influence of my own thoughts.
Thanks
-Drew

Non-conformity:
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My principal recommendation is the Ember Tetra, Hyphessobrycon amandae. The reason being that it's small enough (at 4cm max size) to live in a 10 in a proper shoal of 6 or 8 individuals. Reasonably hardy, nice colour, and won't outgrow your small aquarium.

After that, I'd go with 2 Otocinclus catfish. From that point on, add NOTHING ELSE because you'll be fully stocked.

Give your plants a week or so to 'bed in' with the Ember Tetras before adding the Otocinclus, and acclimatise them carefully, as quite a few of these excellent small catfishes suffer woeful abuse at the wholesalers, and need lots of TLC to nurse them back to full health in your aquarium. Once they're acclimatised and established, however, they're long lived and hardy. Stick some small rocks in a jar on the windowsill where sunshine can get at it, and let the rocks grow a nice coat of green fur. Once the rocks have a crop of algae on them, put one or two of the rocks in the aquarium, then introduce your Otocinclus. Keep cultivating algae on rocks on your windowsill to keep them fed for a while as you migrate them gradually to algae wafers and more practical foods. However, if you want your Otocinclus to be truly happy, keep cultivating those algae rocks and pop a new one in with each water change. This will go some way toward your Otocinclus living long, happy lives - one of mine lived over nine years with this treatment.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Well i think the ottos would be great but i have yet to see the ember tetra in any petstore where i live.
any alternatives for a schooling/shoaling fish?

Thanks,
Drew

Non-conformity:
Are you the Sheep or the Guitar Playing Sheep?

Your options in a 10 gallon if you want shoaling fishes are pretty limited. A 10 gallon is going to require some fairly intenseive maintenance to keep pollutnts from the fishes down to tolerable levels even with the stocking options I'm going to hand out, which is why I'm trying to push you toward fishes that place low demands on the biofilter.

Your second problem is that the fishes that are ideal for such a small setup tend to be somewhat different from the 'bread and butter' fishes of the trade. The smallest fish species that is regularly sold in the trade is the Neon Tetra, and strictly speaking, 6 Neons in a 10 gallon is a delicate balancing act. With shoaling fishes, you NEED to have a minimum of six individuals if they're going to be happy in there, and most of the popular Tetras are just too big for a 10 - they're candidates for a 15 or larger.

Having said that, there ARE shoaling fishes that are small enough to work. Rasbora maculata, the Pygmy Rasbora, is one such species - that's tiny enough for you to have 8 of them in a 10G with a pair of Otocinclus, and might be a tad easier to find than the Ember Tetra (though recently I've had no problems finding Ember Tetras here). Other fishes that would live OK in a 10G include the Lamp Eyes - these are shoaling Killifishes that don't grow more than 4 cm long, and there's several VERY attractive species to choose from. Here's the result of a Fishbase search on the Genus Poropanchax to which they belong:

List of available Poropanchax species

For example, this species is a nice one if you can find it. Six or even eight of those will live in your 10G provided you're careful, and do your water changes and gravel vacs regularly. They are little jewels, and don't pose any major maintenance challenges other than the usual ones of keeping the aquarium reasonably clean. If you want this fish, then you MIGHT be able to find it at a dealer's, but chances are you'd be FAR better off hunting down a specialist Killifish society and E-Mailing them for advice on acquiring some Lamp Eyes - you may be pleasantly surprised and find there's someone living not too far away from you who's breeding these fishes!

If you want a challenge, something that's going to be somewhat more problematic, but worth the effort because it's a drop dead gorgeous fish, you could run with Epiplatys annulatus, the Rocket Panchax. I don't usually advise this for beginners, because it IS a fish with stringent requirements: however, its small size makes it an option if you're prepared to treat your aquarium as a sort of fish intensive care unit, with you as the MD in charge. This picture shows why it's known (at least here in the UK) as the Rocket Panchax - that tail fin looks JUST like a rocket flame on males in prime condition! But, I warn you, if you go with THAT fish, you'll be taking on a serious challenge to your skills.

I took a quick squint at the list of known Hyphessobrycon species to try and find another small Tetra for you (i.e., this list of fishes]http://www.fishbase.org/NomenClature/ScientificNameSearchList.php?crit1_fieldname=SYNONYMS.SynGenus&crit1_fieldtype=CHAR&crit1_operator=EQUAL&crit1_value=Hyphessobrycon&crit2_fieldname=SYNONYMS.SynSpecies&crit2_fieldtype=CHAR&crit2_operator=contains&crit2_value=&group=summary&backstep=-2[/link] and found a couple of possibles. Again, they're likely to be special order fishes, but worth hunting down because each of these will make your maintenance chores a LOT less problematic. One of the smallest is Hyphessobrycon griemi, the Gold Spot Tetra - [link=here are some details for this fish]http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/speciesSummary.php?ID=10653&genusname=Hyphessobrycon&speciesname=griemi[/link]. Note it's only 2.6 cm as an adult, and is thus ideal for your setup if you can find it, because you can have 8 of those without any trouble whatsoever! If you can find [link=this fish, namely the Loreto Tetra, Hyphessobrycon loretoensis, your troubles are over because that's a 2.4 cm fish, and you might be able to have as many as 10 of those!

If I were you, I'd start hunting down some specialist Characin societies too, and see if any of their members are breeding some of these nice dwarf Tetras. You might pay more for them than you would the Tetras in the stores, but with these uncommon dwarfs, you'd stand MUCH more chance of success in an aquarium as small as a 10G than you would with the 'bread and butter' trade fishes, almost all of which are simply too big.






Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Well, my ten holds a male betta and a trio of ottos. For a ten, I'd suggest some hardy fish, perhaps a few harlies, a betta and after the tank is established a few ottos.
The water parameters can spike very easily in a ten and I recommend tough fish that can take it, as well as a very strict water change schedule, say 3 gallons twice a week.

Some fish suitable for a 10g tank:

Betta
Dwarf Corys (Hasbrosus or Pygmaeus)
Lemon tetras
Cardinal tetras
Neon tetras
Black Neons
Harlequin Rasboras
Lambchop Rasboras
White Cloud Mountain Minnows
Beckfords Pencilfish
Small Killifish of some kind
Shelldwelling Cichlids
Small Apistogramma species
Blue Ram
African Dwarf Frogs
Shrimp
Ember tetras
Silvertip tetras
Dwarf Gourami
Paradise Fish
Otocinclus Catfish
etc etc.


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Thanks for the very thorough reply Calilasseia,
The goldspotted tetra caught my eye, I'm going to call a couple places to see if they have or can order me a few.
If that doesn't end up working I think i'll go for six Harlequin Rasboras, weekly/biweekly water changes on a ten gallon don't scare me too much.

Thanks,
Drew

Non-conformity:
Are you the Sheep or the Guitar Playing Sheep?