what to put in a 10gal tank?

[DewDropPony]

I have a 10gal with incandesent lighting. The substrate is sand. What would you suggest I stock it with?

[MatsP]

Let's reverse the question: What would YOU like to put in it?

Also, some further details could help:
1. Are there any other fish in the tank at present?
2. What temperature are is the tank (planned and/or current)?

Roughly, you can have fish that grows up to about 4-5 inches in a 10g tank, but smaller is probably better. There are LOTS of different possibilities here, so it's not easy to just point out one. [I did a quick list of sizes, as almost 700 species of the 1700 odd in the Cat-eLog are smaller than 110 mm (4.25 inches roughly)]. That's a lot of choice.

Of course, some of those are almost impossible to find in regular shops. Others are fairly common.

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Mats

[DewDropPony]

Let's reverse the question: What would YOU like to put in it?

I don't know

1. Are there any other fish in the tank at present?

no

2. What temperature are is the tank (planned and/or current)?

tropical

Roughly, you can have fish that grows up to about 4-5 inches in a 10g tank, but smaller is probably better. There are LOTS of different possibilities here, so it's not easy to just point out one. [I did a quick list of sizes, as almost 700 species of the 1700 odd in the Cat-eLog are smaller than 110 mm (4.25 inches roughly)]. That's a lot of choice.

Of course, some of those are almost impossible to find in regular shops. Others are fairly common.

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Mats

I see. can you list a couple that are common. no corries or plecos. I love the look of many pims and pictus but that tank is too small for them.

[MatsP]

You can list them yourself (well, the first 100 at least) by selecting the "Search" option in the Cat-eLog, and sorting by "Hits" should give you the most popular ones.

Unfortunately, we don't have a "not <some>" option in the selection, so you'll just have to NOT select a family or genus, and do the unselection yourself.

A more precise temperature (tropical is anything above something like 25'C) would also help deselect a huge number of fish from that list. The more precisely you specify the temperature, the fewer fish you get on the list, basicly [you can remove ALMOST all Corys by selecting a temp-range of 27-28'C or the equivalen fahrenheit]. Unfortunately, you'll still have a huge number of Plecos on the list, since those are popular and have a more variable temperature range. [You can then select the individual family that you find in that list, and get more choices by removing the temp-range again].

Perhaps some ideas:

Megalechis thoracata

- a very active and interesting fish - although it grows a bit on the big side. [This is in the Callichtyidae family, but not a Cory-looking fish].

Tatia perugiae

may be another choice, perhaps.

Finally, you'll need to compare the list of "possible candidates" with the list of "available to your LFS's", and choose something from that union.

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Mats

[apistomaster]

First replace the incandescent lights with 10 watt screw in compact fluorescents. They are $5.00 at WalMart Pet Dept and get the 6700K. You will have enough cool light to grow plants and bring out the natural colors of your fish. They last a long time and won't overheat your tank.
For catfish ideas; Otocinclus, Parotocinclus or a favorite of mine L10a red lizard Rhinoloricaria for somthing small, colorful and cool.

[MatsP]

First replace the incandescent lights with 10 watt screw in compact fluorescents. They are $5.00 at WalMart Pet Dept and get the 6700K. You will have enough cool light to grow plants and bring out the natural colors of your fish. They last a long time and won't overheat your tank.

Very good suggestion.

For catfish ideas; Otocinclus, Parotocinclus or a favorite of mine L10a red lizard Rhinoloricaria for somthing small, colorful and cool.

Assuming that those don't count in the exclusion of "plecos", then I agree (they are Loricariidae, which is the family of "Plecos", but of course, it depends on what you classify as a Pleco - I tend to equal Pleco with all Loricariidae family species, but that is a simplification, many will not see a "Whiptail" or "Oto" as a Pleco, but a Hypancistrus or Hypostomus is would be VERY hard to push out of the Pleco "group").

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mats

[apistomaster]

Yeah, after you subtract the Corys and Loricaridae that only leaves a few catfish. I suppose I could have mentioned Microglanis bumblebee cats, Rhamdia,Tatia perugiae, and a Banjo Cat would work. Might not see them very often but they would fit in a ten gallon tank.
I have found those lights to be very useful and reasonable in cost for smaller tanks.

[Reginator]

10 gallon (US) is about 50 litres I believe, I have a friend who recently set up a lovely well planted mini-amazon 50 litre tank, he stocked with 5 ottos, an LDA 33, 8 gold tetras and a pair of apistogramma borellis, some nice small-leaf cryptos, java moss (stuck to a coconut shell-cave) and some cabombas. Drop the LDA33 if you don't want "plecos" and you've got a purty little tank

[rahendricks]

Brachyrhamdia - Pim like but stay small.

[Reginator]

Brachyrhamdia - Pim like but stay small.

I've got a meesi and imitator, neither seems to be exactly ideal for a small tank, boisterous at feeding, fast moving and have eaten small fish in my tank. Mine are both in a 290litre and at times it looks a bit small for them, they can do a length of the tank in a couple of seconds....

[MatsP]

10 gallon (US) is about 50 litres I believe, I have a friend who recently set up a lovely well planted mini-amazon 50 litre tank, he stocked with 5 ottos, an LDA 33, 8 gold tetras and a pair of apistogramma borellis, some nice small-leaf cryptos, java moss (stuck to a coconut shell-cave) and some cabombas. Drop the LDA33 if you don't want "pl*cos" and you've got a purty little tank

10 US gallon is 38 liters, 20 x 10 x 12 inches, so a bit smaller than a 50L tank in some direction(s).

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Mats

[daniel60]

Hyalobagrus flavus.