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Hello. I'm new to this forum. Wow! It's very extensive.
Anyway, I just got my 10 gallon completely cycled. All is well, except I think I "understocked" my neon tetras. I only got three. The fish store guy said 3-5 is ideal, but now that I have researched, I see that he was wrong.

Two of them have paired up like boyfriend and girlfriend and seem sooo happy, while the third just sits there in shock. He looks scared, shy, and lonely. My problem is that I want some Cardinal tetras now, but if I have to buy four of those to happily school together my tank will be overstocked.

Can I get one cardinal to pair up with the lonely neon? Probably not, but just thought I'd ask. Oh, and since neons are so small should they really count as "one" fish when doing the one fish per 1.5 gallon rule?

Oh, and one more question: Should my blue dwarf Gourami have a buddy or is he okay by himself? My platy seems to interact with him a little. In advance, thanks for your input.

littletank in louisiana

littletank,
Welcome to the site. Can you tell us everything that's in the 10 gallon right now? While the inch per gallon stocking rule is a good place to start it's not always the best. It's only a starting point.

Depending on what else is in the tank you should have a school of 6+ neons. While cards and neons will get along okay it's not exactly the same as having a proper school. I would not suggest mixing the two tetras in that small of a tank.

^_^
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In my experience, Neons and Cardinals school together quite happily when there are no more fish of their own species available -- that is, they aren't particularly racist... I wouldn't put a total of more than 6 or 7 fish of that size in that tank, though (especially because Neons and Cardinals are rather sensitive to dirty water).

And -- to issue one more alert I keep trumpeting on this site -- WATCH OUT FOR NEON TETRA DISEASE!! Some people on this site have had more luck than I have; but I myself have seen that disease again and again in store-bought Neons -- and it is the most diabolical fish disease I'ever ever encountered; it's universally fatal, and damn near impossible to get out of your tank after it gets in. Which is why I msyelf only buy Cardinals now -- they're still wild-caught, so they carry it vastly less often than Neons (which are bred in communal fish farms where the disease can spread easily). And Cardinals even seem somewhat more resistant to it than Neons (and, in fact, more resistant to it than a lot of other species of fish are -- including some non-Tetras).

Just to let you know what's in my 10 gallon. I have one dwarf blue gourami, one red wagtail platy, one neon mickey mouse platy, three neon tetras, and three zebra danios(what I used to cycle the tank). I wish I didn't have the zebras because I'm not particularly fond of their coloring or personalities, but I was told they were the only fish that could survive cycling. So now I'm stuck with three. I wonder if I could give them back to the store and get three neons instead? Oh and my tank has lots of artificial plants for all of them to hide in and this rock cave decoration as well. I forgot, I hava an apple snail too. I love her! So, let me know what you think. Please keep in mind that the neons and the zebra danios are the small forms not the jumbos. Thanks again.
littletank

littletank,

Welcome to FishProfiles

Bringing the danios back is a good idea.

They should be in a school anyway, and are very active guys who will prolly disturb your other fish.

Bump that neon school up to 6-8. There's a lot in your tank, but they don't add much to the bioload anyway, so I'd do it. >.<

Apple snails on the other hand, will add a lot to the bioload. Make sure you keep up with your weekly WCs and gravel vacs so your levels don't get too high.

GL

EDIT: Forgot to say, male dwarf gouramis (the colorful ones that are sold 95% of the time) will fight with e/o. They are very peaceful community fish, but not when they are around their own kind. Stay with a solo one, because there is not enough room for them to coexist peacefully. They can't establish their territory in a 10 gallon tank.

Last edited by Ferretfish at 25-Jan-2005 13:56

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Welcome. The inch-per-gallon is a pretty good rule to use for small tropicals like tetras.

Inch-per-gallon (correct me if I'm wrong) = One gallon of water for each inch of potiential sized fish. Example: Neon tetras potential is an inch, so that's one gallon.

thank you all for your responses. I think that I will bring back my danios and get more neon tetras. Well, maybe I wont. I'll feel like a traitor. Especially since they are the ones who made it through a month of cycling drama before I added the BioSpira. I don't know, we'll see. They really do bore me though.
littletank

Yeah, go with the above advice. If you can though, I'd take back the platies as well. Though they don't produce too much waste, they make more of it than the tetras, and are quite active. Ten gallons isn't a whole lot of room for a fish that will eventually reach two inches. The danios need more room as well, as they are even more active than platies.

This is the maximum amount of fish I'd keep in that tank:
6 neon tetras
1 dwarf gourami
1 apple snail
Any more than that, and you may run into problems. As has been said, neons aren't very hardy for tetras. If your filter gets overrun by too much fish waste, they will be the first to go.

Last edited by sirbooks at 26-Jan-2005 12:56

---

And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Thanks for the advice, but I'm keeping Biscuit and Sunkist, my platies. They are my favorites. I love platy fish. They have great personalities and are very peaceful. They never bother the other fish. I don't know why they've got such a bad rep as being a "bother" to other fish. They are curious, but not annoying.

Anyway, I'm bringing back the danios and keeping the neon tetras in a school of four. So now I've got a blue dwarf gourami, two platys, 4 neon tetras, and one apple snail. Everyone seems really happy. The tank is a great rectangle, so there's more space than in a hex. I have a filter that came with the tank "Top Fin 10" and I also attached a separate filter that came with a 2.5 gallon desktop tank. So it's got 2xs the filtration and I'm a "clean freak" so all will be well.
littletank

What the heck is tetra disease? I've never heard of this before. Can someone explain...

Thx --- Rae

In my opinion, you still have too few neons, 4 is a very small school. You might have to get rid of something in order to make room for more, or else the neons can become very stressed very easily.