So my lovely friend decided to buy my daughter a 10 gallon fish tank for her 3rd birthday. Looking for some LOW maintenance fish and plants.

Is it okay to add the plants later on?

Is a back ground necessary?

It says it's a tropical fish tank, and comes with a heater and lamp, also came with 2 different water cleaner things and a waste reducer thing. Do I need anything else to have tropical fish?

I would really like to have a clown fish, are these good community fish?

How many fish can I have in a 10 gallon tank?

Clown fish are saltwater fish... that's a whole other world to tropical fish.

Salt water fish require.. well... salt water. Tropical just means fresh water but heated.

You need to have the tank set up for a few weeks before adding any fish to let the water cycle.
It would be better if you could have some plants in there, even just fake ones because it gives the fish somewhere to hide.

And I'm not sure how big 10 gallons is sorry :o

I have Mollies in my tank... they are hardy and come in a lot of different shapes and sizes. Pretty fish, very friendly too, mine come up to the top of the tank and nibble your finger at feeding time.

Great thanks Shazzy, I am not ready to tackle slat water yet... 10 gallons is 36 liters. Are Molly's in expensive?

Chlorine removing chemicals and PH adjusting chemicals/test kit, thermometer. Temp 72-80F; nominally 76.

5-10 fish depending on size.

Filter media needs to be changes periodically. Gravel needs to be rinsed thouroughly when purchased. You also need to remove about 1/4 of the water every month and replace after removing chlorine, getting the temp about right and adjusting the PH.

With any tank, before adding fish, please allow the tank to cycle for at very min. 2 weeks. You can add live plants. Live plants will cycle your tank faster. You can also add live bacteria once every couple days during this time to help make the water healthier for fish.

Make sure you have a good filter system with a bubbler to oxygenate the water.. Also a heater. Most tropical fish like the water at 75 degrees or warmer.

Easy fish to start with would be Zebra Danios. They are very hardy fish and can withstand a lot of changes within the water chemistry. Purchase about 3 of them, let them sit in the tank for a good week maybe two then you can start adding other fish.

Easy fish to care for would definitely be mollies and platies.. These fish are brackish though, so you're going to need to add freshwater salt. They do a lot better in salty water. Also, salt adds electrolytes to the water and helps keep disease under control as far as ick or any type of fungal and/or bactieral infections. Not to mention it does keep stress levels low.

When adding fish.. do two or three at a time over a month span. Adding too many will put your tank into shock and kill the fish. Always keep in mind that it is 1 inch of fish per gal. So don't get any big fish ;)

Change the water by 25% every week and a 50% water change every month. Never empty out the entire tank and scrub it. Doing that will reset the biological culture in the tank causing the tank to cycle all over again. When tanks cycle, the nitrites, nitrates and ammonia levels spike dangerously high.. Those levels should always be at zero.

A good water conditioner that I really like is called PRIME by Seachem. It's a red bottle. It has live bacteria in it along with additives to help control nitrites, nitrates and ammonia not to mention clean out the chlorine in the water.

Test your water before adding anything else such as PH balancer, bioclear (waste control). The less you need to add to your tank to maintain certain levels, the easier its going to be. Once you start messing with chemicals such as PH, then it will always and forever be an on going thing. The only thing extra I put into my water is salt.. and my fish are all fat and happy. PH balancers are typically used for the more fragile fish that need to live in perfect conditions in order to survive. Mollies, platties, danios and other community tropical fish don't need that. They will do fine in the water that you provide.

You can take a sample of your water into the petstore and they should test it for you to see what the tank is doing. Unless PH or anything is off the chart, don't even worry about it.

I think that should get you started...

Bella, my Mollies were about $4 each... nice and cheap!

http://www.grandaquatic.com/images/molly/Sunset-Sailfin-Molly.gif
Sailfin Molly

http://www.mermaidaqua.com/fish%20catalogue/catalogue/molly/p_89835_balloon_molly.jpg
Balloon Molly

http://www.irananimals.com/fish-page/pic%27s%20fish/molly01.jpg
Regular 'Ol Molly

OOO I like the regular old Molly the best!

Thanks guys, I really appreciate all the info! What types of plants should I get, and how many?

Get as many as you want and whichever ones you want. You can't go wrong with plants.. The more plants, the more oxygen in the tank. Plus, with lots of live plants, your tank will have that "natural" look to it.

Great thanks Lucky,

I went and bought 4 today, they are just little ones in little pots. Should I take them out of the pots or will they be fine as is? I have gravel not sand. I am going to get a background this week end too.

You can keep them in the pots if you want to... makes it easier to feed them. But its up to you.. either way they'll be fine.

Crap, what do you mean feed them? You have to feed them?

You need to feed them at first. There is no fertilizer in the tank for them to grow. At the pet store, they should have plant fertilizer either liquid form or in tablets. The liquid form is iron... the Iron will turn your water a different color.. kind of like a light yellowish-brown. Its safe for fish.. If ever the plants start to turn a little yellow, that's when you want to add the plant food.

Even though you cannot order from this website, it still provides lots of good info about fish and plants.. about what is compatible with what, how to care for it and what size tank is required. Aquarium Fish: Tropical Freshwater Fish and Saltwater Fish for Home Aquariums (http://www.liveaquaria.com/?ref=4395&subref=AA&mkwid=sRROgmuOO|pcrid|5729805612&cmpid=PPC-_-G-_-4395)

In my tank right now, I have platy's and guppies. Beware, if you buy either chances are there pregnant, and then you have to either let the babies die (be eaten) or by a bigger tank. Buying livebreeders was a bad choice, but.. I guess I love them, new babies every month to name! A ten gallon will fit about 5-8 molly's/guppy's. Another great fish are tetra's, you can get blue and pink ones :), also a single betta would love you for giving him a ten gallon... hmm.. well at the moment I can't think of any more easy to care for fish that would be happy in a ten gallon (It is a pretty small tank.. )

Thought I would add a few photo's, I started with 2 guppies, and one platy, in a one gallon tank (I didn't know!! ), I updated to a 10 gallon, and now my 30 gallon, I am waiting for it to "fill out" a bit, as it seems there is no fish :P

None of the plant's are real and the rocks I stole out of my mom's garden SHH don't tell her!

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The only problem with putting a Beta fish in with other fish, is the other fish might pick on him. These guys need to be in slow moving water. I have heard of them actually dying due to stress just because of the powerful flow from the filter.

You can have an entire assortment of fish from tetras to platties and swordtails. Mollies are very popular. You can also get cory catfish, dwarf aquatic frogs (very popular with kids) and some neat looking barbs (just don't get tiger barbs).

Just remember, add the bottom dwellers dead last, such as the cat fish, frogs and algea eaters. In fact! Don't even get an algea eater until you see algea in your tank. Cat fish are great at keeping the bottom clean.. but still should be added last. If anything goes wrong in the tank, those guys are the first to go.

"a single betta would love you for giving him a ten gallon", I meant for him to be alone (If that's what you were referring to).

My betta didn't mind the filters flow, but I adjusted it so it barely caused a current.. it just moved the water slightly.

"a single betta would love you for giving him a ten gallon", I ment for him to be alone (If thats what you were reffering to).

My betta didn't mind the filters flow, but I adjusted it so it barely caused a current.. it just moved the water slightly.

Do you have algae eaters?

I have one in my main tank which is a 30 gallon, but no there wasn't one with my betta.

I have one in my main tank which is a 30 gallon, but no there wasn't one with my betta.

I hope you don't get snails. They are the hardest thing in the world to get rid of. Clown Fish will get rid of snails.;)

Snails are gross, there all slimey and icky looking.

Snails are gross, there all slimey and icky looking.

Seems like when you clean out the snails and think they're gone , you look and see them on the side of the tank and they love plants.:eek:

I hope you don't get snails. They are the hardest thing in the world to get rid of. Clown Fish will get rid of snails.;)

Clown Loach :p They get crazy huge though! And mean!

Goldfish love snails...

Also, you can trap them by baiting a broken piece of potting plan with zuccini.. They all migrate to one place to eat... then just throw them away.. or give them away... Or stick them in a different tank...

I hate snails!

Clown Loach :p They get crazy huge though! And mean!

Goldfish love snails...

Also, you can trap them by baiting a broken piece of potting plan with zuccini .. They all migrate to one place to eat... then just throw them away.. or give them away ... Or stick them in a different tank.........

I hate snails!

Good idea Lucky:)

Its been known to work! Lol

Thanks for all the great ideas and information guys! So, so far I have only had one fatality, but it happened with in hours of putting him in the tank. I originally bought two Hifin orange and black sword tails (that's the one that died), a dalmatian molly, and 2 King Blue Tetra's. My friend bought me a few more Tetra's and orange and a yellow Platy.

One of the Platy's she thought had fin rot, and had a few white speckles that she thought might be Ick. So I separated him, and he is in a big punch bowl. She told me to flush him and she would bring me a new one. She works at a pet store.

Well you all know me, I can't even flush a dang fish... Is there any point in keeping him in the bowl, is he going to die anyway? Is there anything I can do to keep the water warm enough and maybe have it filtering some how, on a VERY low cost?

Umm.. He may be fine for a short period in the bowl, as long as there is air. Treat him and see. It'll at least give him a fighting chance!

Sounds good!

I know here you can by sponge filters, there like $10.. Walmart has them, they just stick to the side of the tank (or punch bowl :p) there really cheap and easy to use.

You didn't just dump them in the tank, did you?

That's a no no.

The fish need to float in the water in the bag they came in for a while. Like 10 minutes. Make sure some air can get into the bag.

The fish need to acclimate to their new surroundings.

Let the fish swim out of it's bag on it's own. In other words gently release it after it has acclimated to the surroundings.

No I didn't dump them in, I followed the instructions to a T in the informational DVD that came with the new tank.

Crank your heater up to 85 degrees... Add salt to the water and medication. Remove filter media and start to treat the tank. A good all around medication is PIMAFIX or MELAFIX. Both are all natural and kill a broad spectrum of fungi and bacteria. Fin rot is a bacteria. It happens in the fish stores because of the high volumn of fish in the tanks. Lets face it, no matter how good the filtration system is, problems are still going to arise. Fin rot is easy to cure. Just follow directions on the bottle of medicine... Don't forget to change the water out by 25% after 7 days. If the symptoms don't appear to be gone, then do it again. Continue treatment until the symptoms are gone. You might want to treat your entire tank for a full 7 days just to kill any bugs that might be growing.

Let these guys settle in before adding more fish. You kind of added too many at once. Only add 3 at a time every couple weeks.

Good Luck

Psst lucky, the sick guy is in a punch bowl... I was going to go to Wal Mart and get one of those filtered gold fish tanks for $15.00 But I will pick up the treatment stuff. How long can this guy survive in a punch bowl? I'd have to cycle the gold fish tank too, so is it worth it? I mean this is a $3 fish...

The first batch were added on a Thursday, and the second batch were added on Sunday. But I won't be adding anymore for a few more months any ways, that's even if there is still room, I don't want to over crowd them. They all seem happy, especially the Tetra's. They schooled together and seem to be doing great.

Poor fishy :(

Have you got a lamp you can put over the punch bowl? That will help keep the water nice and warm.
You don't really need to worry about a filter too much And if it is a shallow, wide punch bowl he should get enough oxygen from the surface to keep him going for now.
If you are going to keep him in there for any length of time I'd invest in an air pump rather than another filter.

If you don't have a filter you can just take a cup of water out and replace it once a day. An air pump however will put extra oxygen in the water.

Perfect! Thanks Shazzy. I have an old air pump from an old fish tank, and I was able to put the tube in and wedge it in between a fake plant. Yes he has a fake plant and gravel in there too. It is a wide shallow bowl. I'll attach some pics.

Am I going crazy for a stupid fish? LOL

Fish pics.

A few more:

One more question, I have a big chunk of coral, and I had it in another tank where the fish died. How do I clean it so it can be safe for the new tank?

He should be OK in a punch bowl. Mollies, platties and swordfish can learn to breath from the surface. But to keep stress levels down (which will create a bigger sickness) just put an air bubblers in the water.. You can get an airstone and air pump at wal mart for probably $20 bucks or less. Treat him as directed.

A piece of coral? Did you have a Marine tank? Or is it just a decoration that LOOKS like coral? I'm assuming its fake since live rock does need to be in water... To disinfect ornimates, soak for 1 day in bleach water (there should barely be a smell of bleach) and then another day in clean water. Let the item sit in the sun and basically bake for a good couple of house... preferably during the heat of the day. Then it should be good to go in your tank.

I guess it must be fake, but very believable looking. I put boiling water over it and let is soak, and then with a clean tooth brush I scrubbed it down, but I didn't bake it, I just put it in after rinsing it. I put some cycle and a touch more water cleaner stuff in.

Wow, it looks really pretty! I love the rocks.
I have one of those Dalmatian Molies, they look awesome.
Your Dalmatian Molly is a boy, and the orange one in the big tank is a girl.
The one in the punch bowl looks like a boy in the top photo and a girl in the bottom photo lol

When I dusted out the old ornaments they got a rinse under the tap and plonked in the tank... the fish are still alive :o

Ohh how do you know they are boys or girls?

I called the Molly Be Bop and the fan tale Rock steady. The others don't have names yet lol :o

Ohh how do you know they are boys or girls?

I called the Molly Be Bop and the fan tale Rock steady. The others don't have names yet lol :o

Name one Brett and the other Axle Rose:eek:

Boys have a pointy anal fin, the girls have a fanned one.

If you look under them the males look like they have a skinny, solid fin underneath them ;)

The on in the bowl looks female to me, not to sure because the bowl makes it look weird :P

Have fun if you have males and females!

My fish have ick :(

I bought that stuff that turns the water green. I did my first dosage today and it says to repeat in 48 hours. How many times do I need do repeat the process?

Turn your heater up. 85 degrees usually kills the parasite.

Add salt.. Freshwater salt. Salt helps the fish relax and heal faster.

Get a copper based medicine such as Coppersafe by Mardel.

Its not recommended to do a lot of water changes during treatments. Typically, you want to do the treatment, most ask for the medicine to be re added to the same water in 2 days without a water change. In 7 days.. do a partial water change. During this time, take the carbon out. The carbon will deactivate the medication. After the 7 days, if the symptoms haven't gone away, do it all over again until its all gone.

This website has some good info.

Understanding and Treating Ich or White Spot (http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ich.php)

Just an update, all my fishies survived the ick! I had one casualty, well I think I did, because one of my male sword tales is totally MIA. Not sure if the tetra, the molly, the female sword tale or the pleco ate him, but he is gone :(

I am now a back yard fish breeder! My red eye tetra had a baby! :D

My fish just had a drop the other day! It's okay, were both backyard fish breeders!