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Whats the best stocking for a 10 gal. A stock that doesnt need alot of water change. What can i have what type of fish ( dosent want alot of water changes and treatment). And easy to breed and fry can live with them without taking the pairs out.


BYe

It does not really sound like really want a fish. Buy a lamp, or something else if you wish to put such little work into it.
A plant might fit the space well.

I had a similar idea than pookiekiller12, except I was about to say a plastic fish will do.

But seriously, why do you mention all these restrictions on the maintenance? Is there no time/water for water changes? You should be able to change the water in less than 30min, including filter cleaning and what not.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

All fish require regular care. Perhaps a shrimp tank would suit you. All it needs is a bit of gravel, some stones and/or wood covered in java moss, a small heater and a filter, and you're all set. You can set one up for about $40. Buy 6-10 red cherry shrimp, feed them a few high-calcium sinking pellets three times a week, and clean once a month. I kept my shrimp tank going for a year and a half like that and wound up with about 30 shrimp from an original 5.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Dang, compared to my 29, I love doing the water change on my 10.....it's so easy and quick!

I wouldn't get anything if you don't want to care of it witht the minimum required maintenance. IMO

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

smaller tanks like a 10 actually require more regular maintenance than a larger tank does since the parameters will spike much quicker. If you don't want to take care of it don't get it.buy a pet rock instead

When I saw the part about low maintenance, I was thinking a male betta. With only one, you wouldn't have to do water changes too often (maybe once or twice a month) at the least.
But, then I saw the part about breeding. Most any fish you breed needs extra good water quality and attention. Breeding fish takes the right conditions and many times that means alot more time and maintenance. So, forget about breeding and low maintenance.

Get a male betta and do water changes and gravel vacs once every two weeks.

Or go with the shrimp tank.

Or like everyone else said, get something that isn't living...like a pet rock.

*Kristin*

You could always try a plant set up in a 10g. As mentioned before though, anything you do is going to require some maintinence. Weekly water changes are ideal for any fish, even a betta. You may also want to look into feeder guppies. I have some in my 15g and they don't need too much attention away from the basics, and they breed like crazy

Inky

sounds like you don't really want to take care of your pets/:'

You could get Triops. There little shrimps that swim around and are pretty cool; much cooler than sea monkeys, anyway. You can get them little guys at science stores and they'll be advertised as some sort of prehistoric or dinosaur shrimp or something like that. They'll basically live in any condition as long as there's some sort of water.

And what do you mean by "a lot"? Weekly? Every other week? IMO, every other week doing water changes isn't "a lot", and most fish can live in those conditions.

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

As much as i dislike the use of chemicals, if you were to use Easybalance (the new one with Nitraban), a nitrate reducer, and Liquid Gravel Vac you could probably reduce your water changes to around 4 or 5 times a year (although i dont reccomend it), as long as you have hardy fish such as zebra danios. Also if you dont like the maintainence you should get a python so you dont have to do all of that back-breaking bucket carrying.

Well, assuming you were to actually put the work into fish keeping, you have several options. I trust you know about the 'new tank syndrome' and are planning to cycle the tank first. Once it is cycled, you have several options:
~bettas (only one to tank)
~khuli loaches
~cherry barbs
~guppies
~harlequin rasboras
~neon tetras/black neon tetras
~dwarf gourami (only one to a tank or perhaps two females if you can get them)
~shrimp/snails
~You should probably be able to stock a ten gallon with about 4 or 5 pet rocks without adding too much to the bioload

Fish are like potato chips. . .you can't have just one

Nice post Dreamseeker!

Paul, don't go into breeding fish yet. Just get one setup to look after and see how you go. You may find you enjoy the maintenance but at least you know that you don't have a lot of time to spare. Better than going holus bolus and spending lots of cash then you can't maintain it.

Good on you for doing the due diligence (but please don't get a breeding tank yet)

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

i dont understand people who want 'low maintainence' pets... half the fun of having a pet is enjoying watching it the other half is taking care of it!

i was at my LFS the other day and the guy there was telling me how they do home tank maintainence.. he looked at me kinda weird when i told him i actually enjoyed doing this!

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

I think it is admirable to love messin' with the tank... however I must admit I like the "it's done" feel better than the actual doing.

It is another housework item to fit in with the weekend housework frenzy. Havta get it done so I can study weekends since I work all week.

It isn't my favourite thing to lug buckets of water (no pythons in Australia!) after I have swept floors then mopped floors and carried round laundry, changed sheets etc. it is a bit physically taxing for me to be honest.

I lurrrve being a grown up!

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

ok .. i have to agree with the lugging bucket part which is tiring.. but i have this sneaky way of getn other ppl around to do the bucket lugging!

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

There are times I like working on my tanks and even hauling buckets and times when I just barely manage to keep them topped off. I haul 5g water buckets around daily for my horses. Not to mention 50lb feed sacks, uncountable amount of manure, and about 80 bales of hay a month. Hay bales vary in weight but around 40lbs each average. A few buckets for my fishtank usually isn't a big deal and with a 10g you barely even need a bucket.

Still I prefer hauling buckets for a big tank over trying to stock and keep a small tank stable along with trying not to disturb things when I pour water into such a small, shallow tank. The only thing I use 10g or smaller tanks for is species tanks such as my breeding pair of rams, sparkling gouramis, or shrimp and then I rarely leave them setup for longer than 4months. Shrimp tank is the only exception and I have to admit I don't even do water changes on that tank. It's packed with plants, shrimp, and trumpet snails which turn any leftover food/waste into great plant food. It's stayed stable for a year now with only topping off and trimming plants.

If you want to breed you need to pick 1 small species and only keep those. If you want a community tank with lots of different fish you'd be better off with a bigger tank. Especially if you want low maintenance. A 10g just isn't big enough to mix many fish or to try to raise fry with other fish around. You can get away with 2 different species if you pick small fish, aren't breeding, and do maintenance at least every 2 weeks. On a small tank weekly water changes are usually preferable.