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i'm an intermediate at fishkeeping (for a school project i take care of 3 blue gouramis and 1 pink kisser) and i got a new aquarium. it just went through its first nitrogen cycle, and so far so good...i just want to know if in a ten gallon aquarium(well planted, and with hiding spots) if 3 tiger barbs, a rainbow shark, an upside down catfish, and a dwarf gourami is overstuffing it? the barbs are all about 7/8 of an inch long, the catfish is about two, the rainbow shark is one and a half, and the gourami is about one?

-a solidary predator, the firetruck stalks its prey

all of these fish will grow and surpass the size of the tank...

that is already a bit close quartered... but with any growth you will soon lose al of those fish!

you also cannot rely on the heavy planting or heavy filtration to surpass the tanks ability to hold more life as most tanks can only hold so much and pushing it is just asking for a quick error and an extreme loss!

i wouls say drop the barbs abd the rainbow...

the gouramis will fill up that tank rather quickly!!!

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Hmmm, IMO that set-up would be better without the rainbow shark. I haven't kept rainbow sharks but I have this idea, especially due to some of their more aggressive relatives, that they have a territorial need. They also get a little more sizeable than the other fishes and may need something like a 30 gallon, but don't take my word on that. Your fish are young now, so there's not too much cause for concern at the present, but in the future that rainbow shark may be an issue. Someone else who has kept rainbow sharks could probably give you more info.

In respect to the rest of your stock, though, a dwarf gourami and a upside-down cat would fit rather well into a 10 gallon with a bit of room to spare (not much). Larger tiger barbs may be trouble in the 10 gallon; they can get surprisingly large when you compare to your average tetra. Admittedly I haven't housed any barb species either, though. That's one tiny gourami, though; I've never seen one as small as you claim yours to be!

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

I'd say yes Tank stocking is based on a numvber of factors, but the two main ones that will come into play here would be waste output and maximum potential size.

A 10 gal tank is pretty limited in that it can really only take certain types of filtration and small quantities of substrate and decor, and therefore can only process a small amount of waste. The fish you have listed would output more waste than the tank could realistically deal with. You may be able to squeeze a few months out of it, but as the fish grow, so does the quantity of waste.

As a very very general rule of thumb (which is fundamentally flawed but useful nonetheless don't you just love those type of rules?), you can work out your stocking by the "inch per gallon" rule. That is based on the maximum potential size in captivity for each fish.
So just as a rough guide
Tiger barbs - 3" each - 9"
Rainbow Shark - 6"
Upside down catfish - 4"
Dwarf Gourami - 3"

So say you have 10 gallons of tank space, and have about 3gallons/inches of wiggle room (10 gals are more of an art than a science IMO), you are still over the safe stocking limit. Maintenance would be a real pain and you'd have to either keep trading down to smaller fish (which means more potential for introduced disease and saying goodbye to fish you may have a bond with ) or looking to upgrade to a 30gal in the near future to house the adult fish.

Those issues aside, other things to look at are turning space, cause a full grown rainbow shark will have difficulty swimming and turning easily in a 10. In future, try to aim for at least 3x bodylength if you can.
Tiger barbs are notoriously nippy in groups of less than 6, so your gourami could be in for a beating if they get grouchy. They are also very active and although the water volume should support them biologically, they might get quite frustrated at the lack of swimming/territory room. make sure there are markers throughout the tank that could be used to signal the edges of territory. It is important in all tanks, but particularly important in small tanks as it'll help avoid carnage just pop a small rock or a plant about 1/2 or 1/3 of the way down the tank, the fish'll do the rest.
I think upside down catfish prefer small groups also, but they are a bit of a niche fish so someone else will have to let you know how they handle solitary living

Ideally, IMO, I'd ditch that fish list and go with something a bit more long term and small scale. That way you won't have to grovel for larger tanks/space or give away your fish in a few months once they grow larger, or worse have to deal with the effects of long term WQ problems

Do you have any/all of the fish already?

What filter are you running (type or pref. make and model number)?

What type of gravel/substrate do you have? If gravel, how large are the stones?





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 have an aqua-tech 5-15 gallon filter (100 gallons per hour)

the substrate i have is a turquoise and blue gravel stones( i'd say roughly about 7mm)

i do have all the fish already
i plan on moving the catfish and gourami to the tank at school( which is a 55 gallon tank) and hopefully by the end of the school year i wouldve upgraded to at least a 35 gallon)

-a solidary predator, the firetruck stalks its prey