# 10g mini community setup



## Clay320

I have right now a 10 gallon tank with 4 Glo Fish. One live plant right now, two others are plastic. I plan on converting to all live ones soon.

I want to add 2 more glow fish so they have a better group, two guppies to be the "center piece" fish and a mystery snail to be a mini clean up crew. Aqua Advisor says I'd be about as full as I could go at 105% stocked, am I ok or should I drop a fish or two?

Also my filter is currently a Tetra PH10 and I plan on grabbing something with a bit more umph when I get closer to adding fish.

Let me know what you guys think. Thanks!


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## hanky

With a bigger filter and regular water changes you should be fine, theres others that are way more overstocked, keep in mind a pair of guppies will breed fast unless you just let the fry become snacks.


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## Clay320

Thanks. I was going to shoot for two male guppies to eliminate issues with breeding. 

Also do I need a heater for these fish? Not really sure what all needs warmer water.


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## Goby

Glofish are danios which are tropical so I'm thinking a temp of 70-80 degrees for both the glos and the guppies. Depending on the stability of your room temp you may need a heater...I'd get one. For a hang-on filter I'd go with a PF15-UV. Its good for up to 15 gallons and is about $40-$50. For about $10 more you could get one rated for 25 or 40 gallons. Good luck with your colorful fish! A very interesting history on those glofish for sure!


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## snail

Glofish are are lively fish which like to swim and are prone to getting bored. A slightly bigger tank would be better but 10 gallons will be okay. With the small space though the guppies won't have much room to get away from them and might get picked on. I'd make sure they have plenty of plants/other decor to break up the space and avoid guppies that are too fancy because their tails will slow them down and be tempting to the danios.

How long has the tank been set up for? I think the number of fish is just okay but don't add fish too quickly.


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## Clay320

Sorry for not replying sooner, finals have kept me busy lately!

Goby, ok on a heater. I will be on the lookout for one next time I'm at Pet Smart, hopefully I can pick up a better filter then also.

Snail, thanks for the advice. I do hope to get some more live plants to help the fish be able to hide and such. Good point on the guppies too.

The tank has been set up with the 4 glo's for about 4 weeks.

Thanks for the help guys, I'll try to get a picture up tomorrow.


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## jbrown5217

make sure to get a heater rated for 50 - 100 watts. You would be fine with those fish, but like said before avoid the fancy guppies.


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## majerah1

Once you get a chance,I would move to a 20 long for the glofish.They would love the extra length to move about.


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## Clay320

A 20 gallon would be hard for me as the tank is going to have to be in a college dorm 2/3rds of the year, however I won't rule it out, bigger is better! 




Here is a picture of the tank as is, might get another picture tonight so the color shows better.


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## Goby

Looks nice...love the blue.


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## jbrown5217

Clay320 said:


> A 20 gallon would be hard for me as the tank is going to have to be in a college dorm 2/3rds of the year, however I won't rule it out, bigger is better!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here is a picture of the tank as is, might get another picture tonight so the color shows better.


Check your schools rulebook for the size of fish tanks you can keep. Mine limits me to a max of 10 gallons, but doesn't limit how many I can have.


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## Clay320

I'll have to double check on school limits, I haven't seen a size limit from a quick look but I know a lot of places say no bigger than 10g.


Here's a night picture that shows the color better. The yellow glo's were hiding behind the big long rock.


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## jbrown5217

I love the rocks you have. May I suggest adding one or two taller plants to the back. I think they would look really good.

Also what kind of lights do you have on the tank?


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## Clay320

The rocks came out of the back yard, we had a old barn with a stone foundation that we tore down. Got lots of cool rocks from that.

Also I have some Petoskey Stones(found almost exclusively in Northern Michigan on Lake Michigan). If I can find a few of those that I have somewhere I want to throw a few of them in too.

I think I want to put some plants by the filter to help hide that, one in the back left corner, and maybe something short in the middle coming out between the two stacked rocks. If I can, I want to get a cheap background to hide the cords on the back.

The light is what came built in with the tank hood, it has two tube-shaped lights. Tag on the hood said: Marine Land, Model 20 HFH-I, 120 VAC, 60 Hz, 30 Watts.


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## hanky

tank looks cool, just a tip about adding rocks, are you familiar with testing rocks with vinegar to see if they are ok to put in the tank? just pour a little on the rock and as long as it doesnt fizz or bubble up your ok.


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## Clay320

Yep I checked with vinegar and they were all ok.

Got down to Pet Smart today, got a backdrop, two plants(Cambomba? something like that...), a little thermometer sticker(read 76f last time I looked), some more gravel, and lastly two mystery snails. Heater and a bigger filter will be the next things I go for.

Here's a picture with everything put in. I think it looks pretty sharp.  One snail is in to top right, the other is behind the big rock, There is about an inch of space around the back.


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## ShrimpDiver

Looks really good  But, for me at least, the cabomba kept falling apart. Be prepared to rinse the filter in case there`s a build up of the little hairs


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## Clay320

DISASTER HAS STRUCK!!!

So everything was fine till today. Nothing was going wrong and everything was ok.

I use those 5 in 1 strips and last night the Nitrate was reading about 30 (with over 40 being the start of the danger zone on the chart that goes with the strips).

So this morning I did a water change, 20% (2 gal) to correct the nitrate levels.

I walk by two hours later and 3 of 4 glo-fish are flat out dead and the snails aren't looking good ether.

I just about panicked and my first thought was that something was in the tap water that I had put in. I had some bottled water and immediately moved the snails to a cup of bottled water and one glow fish that was showing life into another.

What could have happened??? I'm sure it is something I haven't thought of but here is what I have checked.

Last night the strip said: Nitrate 30ish, Nitrite 0-.5, Total Hardness (GH) 200-300, Chlorine 0, Alkalinity 300, PH 7.8ish.

Just now I checked the tank water and the Nitrate was lower and everything else was the same. Checked the tap water and that showed no issues.

I am checking all the rocks again with the vinegar test but I did that before and everything was fine.

After moving the live fish and snails to bottled water they seem to be doing better after 20 some minutes. None of them showed any signs of illness or otherwise before the water change.

I have no idea what happened, I have always used tap water and had no issues, however something went on with the water change no clue what though....


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## beaslbob

What's your ammonia level?

sorry this happened.

Also FWIW 0 ammonia, 0 nitrItes cut some initial nitrates is a classic planted cycle. Because the plants consume ammonia directly. then after the initial cycle nitrates come down.

You just added some cabomba which is a fast growing plant and should have helped.

Sorry for your losses and I'm sure the tank will recover.


my .02


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## snail

Did you remember to use dechlor? Maybe a contaminate on your hands, in the WC bucket or in the air near the tank, like some cleaning product, soap, perfume, furniture polish, bug spray etc?


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## Clay320

I had also posted this situation in the Tank emergency forum section, see that discussion below. 

http://www.aquariumforum.com/f5/did-water-change-fish-died-hour-35257.html#post179657

We have well water and a water softener filter system for the house. The best I can figure out is that we had recently added salt to the filtration system which helps on the softening process. This extra salt along with the softener taking minerals out may have made the water not very ideal for the fish. So basically I'll have to use store water (59c a gal) and not tap water.

So I've got new water and rinsed things out. The lone surviving glo fish is going in tonight and the snails will return tomorrow.


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## jrman83

Use water before it hits your softeners. You should have a by-pass valve to attain this, or you may have to get water from outside. Softened water can be very dangerous due to sodium levels and stripping the hardness from the water can make the tank difficult to hold a steady ph. A fluctuating ph alone will kill fish.


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## Clay320

Ok there is a valve before the softener, I will see what I can do there.


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## sonardesigns1

Nice tank


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