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I havent been on here in almost 2 years. Moved cross country. And just getting started keeping fish again.

Right now Im starting over with a 10 gal
equipment- Basic HOB filter, heater. Hood has a daylight flourencent bulb that goes over entire tank. Substrate- basic brown smallish gravel.

Current stock- 5 black khuli loaches
current Plants- 1 lotus, 1 apon ( kind you buy the bulbs for) and a small 1/2 piece of drift wood, hollowed out that makes a great cave thats covered in java moss)



Questions- Stocking suggestions? and how do I figure out my watts per gallon on lighting??

thats a lot of kuhliis for a ten gallon tank so you can't add that much more, maybe a pair of rams would do good in there aor a few male guppies or platy's.
To get the watts per gallon you divide the number of watts by the number of gallons in this case ten. The watts are found printed on the bulb.

-Vincent

Yeah I know its alot for a 10, but Id rather have a nice shoal than them get lonely.... so i bought the whole group... right now they are just about an inch long- and hilarious= playing all over the tank
Just looking for something to compliment them on the mid/ surface of the tank.... That Im going to plant pretty well

Mts is kicking in again- but im saving up on a down payment to buy a house.... Then i wont have limitations on how big of a tank , or how many tanks i can have...

2 platys by them selves max or you could do something like 5 ammano algea eating shrimp and 5 or 6 cherry shrimp

33 gallon 7 neon tetras-5 platys-3 bleeding heart tetras-2 corys-1 rainbow shark-2 L83 gibby plecos

I think rams would get way too big to be kept in there with the kuhlis. I've seen some blue rams that I wouldn't keep a pair even by themselves in a 10g because of their size. I'd only add 1 if you do go with rams. You could also do a single dwarf gourami or if you can find them a trio of some of the very small gouramis like sparkling. 1 male betta would work or multiple female bettas. I would skip most schooling fish since adding 6 or so fish to make a full school would probably overstock the tank. The tiny threadfins might be an exception since they have so little body mass. There are a few nonschooling tetras but emperors would probably be my only suggestion. They are somewhat larger tetras but not very active swimmers and quite content as a pair or trio. Mine were even happy enough to spawn when I left a pair of them in a 5g. Cherry barbs are a nonschooling barb that could also be kept in a pair or trio.

To determine the watts per gallon on the tank take the total amount of watts of light and divide by the number of gallons. You also have to take into consideration the type of light you have. If your using the bulbs the tank came with then most 10g hoods have incandescent light and not as suited to growing plants. If it is using that type of bulb though you can easily replace them with screw in compact fluorescent bulbs from a hardware store. Make sure they say sunlight bulbs and you can often put up to 25w bulbs on the tank. That would be a bit over kill for your current plants though and probably lead to a huge algae outbreak along with sending your kuhlis into hiding. Two 10-15w bulbs would be enough and give you around 2-3wpg.

i think that 5 kuili loeches is enough fish, as for the light, i'm not to sure how to find out the wats per g. if you have the box then that might tell ya.

barb boy watts per gallon is dividing your light beetween how many gallons of water in your tank eg. 50 gallon tank with 150 watt bulb has 3 watts per gallon 50 into how many watts you have

33 gallon 7 neon tetras-5 platys-3 bleeding heart tetras-2 corys-1 rainbow shark-2 L83 gibby plecos

Ok, ive got an 18 inch daylight flourencsent bulb, cant find the watts on the bulb....

I Dont want to over stock the tank, I just want something at the top to middle of the tank, cuz all the action is at the bottom. I guess my best bet is a single betta, id love to have a few females, but dont have room to rehouse them if they dont get along.
I thought about a dw gourami, but- Ive had a few nastys before, and i dot want anything in there that will scare the khulis into hiding.....

18 inch bulb is usually 18 or 20 watts, so on the 10g you've got about 2wpg with is good for low to midlevel plants, I'd suggest getting some DIY CO2 started. Check home depot for a hose barb adapter and silicone it into the bottle cap, seals it up perfect.

I wouldnt suggest a gourami for a 10, that's a bit too small for them. Rather than a single betta since you're going with planted why not try a small (5-6) school of some of the smaller rasboras? Look around and see whta your LFS has to offer.

^_^

even though im planting the tank, Isnt 2 schoools to much for a 10 gal?
as far as rasboras- only available ones here are scissor tails ( to big) and harlies, which i think are to active for a 10

What about sparkling gouramis?? Could i fit a pair or trio in there?? None avaailable locally, would have to order them online, but Ill be making a plant order soon any way.
I know a few pepole on here keep them, any info would be great!!

Sparkling gouramis should work fine but keep them in at least a trio. They'll sometimes pick on each other a little but so long as there is 3 or more it's usually spread out enough not to lead to one of them getting too stressed and they very rarely do any physical injury to each other. They take up minimal space, aren't real active, and don't add all that much to the bioload. Just make sure to keep up on waterchanges since that will be a well stocked tank. They prefer fairly warm tanks but do fine at 78-80F if you aren't trying to get them to spawn. They do like a planted tank especially if you have much light on the tank or they can be rather shy. I'd just get another pack of apono bulbs and stick a couple on either end of the tank. They ship pretty well(I got most of my dozen online) but I'd order around 5 so if you do lose 1 or 2 you still have at least 3. Considering what little body mass they have and the fact kuhlis aren't that big of waste producers either I would think 5 would still fit in the tank without issue so long as you keep up on tank maintenance.

Sounds great!!
I'm planning on planting this tank pretty well, And ive already stuck in another pack of lotus and apon bulbs..... Just to get something started in there. When they get growing, Ill order the rest of my plants and some sparkling gouramis 5 or 6, so if i do loose a couple in shipping, Ill still have atleast 3-5. And Tank maintance will be kept up on.
So for the care of sparkling gouramis they prefer--Warm water- 78-80, clean water, shade from plants ( the lotus and apons will take care of that till others grow in )and company. Im assumming they'll eat small flake food, like a betta??