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I just recently bough a 10 gallon tetra kit and managed to kill 6 goldfish in less than 2 weeks.

I've cleaned the tank trying to keep previous bacteria there along with the decorations and gravel. I've added an air pump and stone and am waiting on advice to add the heater back based on the fish I choose. Currently the water is safe according to the test strips. The heater as I said will get put back in but I wanted to state that its been 2 days and the water has stayed constantly at 72F. So I'd like an opinion on if I should leave it out or put it in.

I've read through the forums and have been thinking on adding either 2 zebra danios or a single male beta as my centerpiece. This will help me cycle the tank and then after I would need help considering how many and what next to put in.

Fish I've considered:
6 neon tetras/other tetras
3 guppies
2 pelco

Each of those is considered by themselves I like the idea of tetras, guppies, or mollies.

I've also tossed around the idea of taking out the fake plants and replacing with real plants but I'm not sure I want to complicate myself further.

Thanks for any help!

Sorry you had some trouble getting started, welcome to Fish Profiles hope we can get you on the right track!

Few things.

Goldfish don't belong in a 10, not even in a 50. They really need ponds. Don't let it discourage you from keeping fish, you were trying to keep the aquatic equivalent of an Elephant in your shower.

Aquarium heaters will only run when they are needed, so just set it to the right temperature, and leave it. Easy! Even though it's showing a constant 72 for you, it can dip at night sometimes, especially with smaller tanks like your 10. I've got a 10 set up in the library (live plants, a few cherry shrimp and some male guppies). There's a heater in there. Honestly I don't think it ever comes on except for the very middle of winter. The reason it's there is for when the temp does dip, you won't know and have time to get it in, and temperature fluctuations can be quite deadly to fish.


You mentioned air pump and stone, but didn't mention anything about a filter?

10's are small, you really need to understock them with fish and stuff them full of a few interesting plants.

If you can get all male guppies 4-6 would be a nice amount if you've got some live plants. I'd try and pick colors that contrast the greens nicely. Mollies scare me for some reason, so I'd say no to them, but they and other live bearers are pretty much the same, go with a few less mollies than guppies. Few more endlers if your shop sells them than guppies. I'll mention again you want to stay under stocked. The fish have more room, and the 10 can stay stable easier (they are notorious for crashing even in the hands of an experienced keeper

1 male betta would be a good choice, they have personality and will more often than not come and feed directly from you finger. Some will tolerate shrimp or snails in the tank, some will turn them into lunch.

NO Pleco They get too big.


Tetras....eh, I'm not a huge tetra fan. We have a few in our amazon tank but to me they're a bit on the meh side. 8-10 would work with live plants, you could have a few shrimp or snails for the bottom. Personally I'd go male guppies over neons simply because of activity level.

No Female guppies/live bearers , you'll outbreed the tank even if you only buy females. They come pregnant, and can hold onto sperm to drop a baby a few months after you get them home (totally freaked me out the first time )

Golden mystery snails, cherry shrimp both work well in small tanks like a 10. I have a bunch of cherrys that I got at auction and they're pretty fun to watch munching on any bits of algae.

Easy plants include anubias and java fern. They'll grow well in just about any light and fish wont eat them. They get tied onto rocks, driftwood, tank ornaments, I've even tied them onto plastic plants. Leave the plastics in for now (they're covered in your good bacteria after all!), and look to adding a few live plants as well.

Pop the heater back in (the bacteria needs a constant temperature as well). Keep everything running. And every other day add one flake of fish food to the tank to keep the bacteria fed. Have a look around your LFS and see what catches your eye and post back and let us know.

^_^

Easy enough to destroy a tank wih goldfish eh? I do have a filter the tetra one that came with the 10g. I'll put the heater back in and give it 24 hours eh? Then I'll grab my lonely beta from the LFS in a day or two.

I like the input and I'll see if I can find a java fern and aunbias. After that I'll leave it for a bit after playing with it this next week.

I do like the idea of adding 4 or 5 guppies to complete the tank and the golden mystery snail I never though of. How many snails should I add? One or two?

If you have a betta in there you canNOT have guppies.

Male bettas fight (hence the fighting fish part of Siamese fighting fish). Unfortunately guppy fins look like betta fins and they'll be a target.

If you're good with one fish, go with a betta (they can have shrimp or snails as companions, depending on temperament.

If the tank temperature hasn't dropped any 12 hours is good for the heater, 24 is plenty. Make sure to position to heater near the outflow of the filter so that it circulates the water correctly.


Snails, I think you should be good with 1 or 2, do some reading on them, some are likely to over populate the tank (if they're cheap at the shop they'll probably take over your tank). I've only kept MTS and dealt with pond snails.


Sadly most people don't really understand anything about fishkeeping and get introduced to goldfish in small tanks to start with and it just leads to bad things. Luckily I found this site to be really helpful and it set me on the right track waaay too long ago


What you have to decide is do you want

1 male betta with possibly a few other critters on the bottom and some decor

or

A few small fish, possibly with other critters as well.

Then plan stocking out from there.


Didn't ask before but do you have test kits for ammonia nitrIte and nitrAte? If you do post up your numbers, if you don't go buy them! The dropper tests are a little more expensive, but last a lot longer and are tons easier to read. We want to make sure that the tank hasn't started crashing due to fluctuations caused by fish deaths.


^_^

I do have some test strips and was looking into getting the master kit from Al's. I just want to wait before I drop more money into my setup.

What if I had a female betta? Are those more docile? I would like a main fish or pair of fish and then a few others.

I was looking into a male/female betta and some tetras or something else. But if that can't happen I gotta rethink what to put in. I know now that I'll have a snail or maybe a shrimp or two (probably just one so they don't reproduce).

I'll post some numbers later when I play with the tank and check the temp and location, I may move it further away from the windows in my son's room.

Female bettas can be kept together, but I wouldnt go for it in a 10, its a little small for them territorially. They don't fight as much as the males but they can be a bit nippy when they don't have their own room.

Also they're pretty difficult to find in shops since they're not as desirable by most people.


Master test kits are good to have on hand, and big als has them for really cheap these days.

I've never kept a betta with neons myself, but it should work. They come from different aquatic environments but these days most all fish can handle average water conditions. It does depend on the ph. I'd made sure you have a lot of plants if you want to mix like that. Java fern tends to reproduce fairly well in a good tank so one or two pieces will give you lots of 'baby' plants you can attach to decor.


^_^

Good news all of my test numbers were in the safe range. I put in 3 live plants, Anubias nana, java fern, and a marimo moss ball.

Currently there are 3 guppies in that I put in today. 1 cobra, 1 half-black, and 1 multi-colored. I plan to add at least 2 more in a few weeks to make sure I don't stress them out this time.

Hopefully my tank survives this cycle!

That sounds good. The plants will help with the ammonia and nitrIte spikes, and the low stocking that you've got right now will minimize stress as well.

When you say 'good' what were the numbers? Do you have NitrAte?

Feed minimally and you should be good. (Yes, they will always act like they're hungry, fish are like that ).

When you put the anubias and java fern in, did you plant them in the substrate or did you tie them onto wood/rock/ornaments? They both have a rhizome that doesn't like to be buried and will rot and kill the plant if planted.


^_^

I tied those plants onto my fake plants so when they grow they should latch onto the bottom of the fake ones. So they are close to my gravel at the bottom of my fake plants in between the fake branches.

Exactly what I've done in our 120, they should be good


^_^

Updates so far! My three guppies are doing great! They get fed once a day and very little. I've done a water change once a week for a bit and the tank now has a hood on it. I've also got some test numbers to list, so here it goes.

Nitrate 20
Nitrite 10
Hardness 75
Alk 120
pH 7.2

So I'm guessing they are going through a cycle right now? As my nitrite numbers are at their max my strips can detect.

Yup, looks like you're cycling to me.

Keep doing what you're doing, but keep a close eye on their behavior, you can tell when a fish is stressed, they'll gasp and pant at the surface, may hang out right near the filter outflow or an airstone at the surface. They won't act normal.

Doing water changes will make the cycle last a little longer, but it's gentler on the fish.

^_^

A 10g is exactly what I started with! Now to be completely honest I've only ever once had a problem with cycling a tank (it was that the LFS sold me fancy goldfish to cycle a 30g which as Babel has already told you is WAY too small!) Nowadays I simply grab some plants or whatever is in the tank (or from a tank at an LFS) that is crawling with bacteria and put it in a tank full of dechlorinated water. It works wonderfully every time. Now that I have tanks it works to transfer some decor, plants, gravel, rocks, etc from an old tank to a new one (tips for when you upgrade to a bigger tank, trust me it will happen!).

As far as your stocking it sounds good to me. FP members tend to stay on the low stocking side of things, which is honorable to keep your fish full and healthy without bio-overload. If the Guppies get too boring for you and you want more activity... I absolutely love Zebra Danios. They're cheap, very active, live long lives, and can be quite stunning (long fin varieties shouldn't be kept with a Betta though!).

I'd love to hear how the tank is progressing, maybe get a picture or two?

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

On a side note, you can typically find Female bettas in most of the chain pet stores nowadays in the US, but Babel is right about the territory issue. I tried to keep 3 in a small tank in high school, it ended badly! Might work with lots of plants and decorations to break up the line of sight but its really hard to say.

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