# Just set up a 10 gallon....



## Jaybird5 (Apr 27, 2013)

Well I have just purchased a Topfin 10 gallon aquarium starter kit that comes with a 50 watt heater, a HOB power filter and LED lights. Pretty good deal for only $50. I put in the rest of my gravel in (need more) and filled it up to the filter tube that sits in the water. Put together the filter and put it in the tank with the heater. Turned on both filter and heater after about 30 minutes. And here I am lol


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## jamnigh (Apr 24, 2013)

Best thing to do is set up would be to read the fishless cycle sticky

http://www.aquariumforum.com/f66/fishless-cycle-15036.html

this will get your tank good for fish 

What do you plan on stocking with?


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## Jaybird5 (Apr 27, 2013)

Well I am going to move my two mollies into it and I am open for anything else.


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## Jaybird5 (Apr 27, 2013)

Well filter issue! My filter is a Topfin HOB power filter. And after running for a while no water is going back into the tank. Why?


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## Jaybird5 (Apr 27, 2013)

Fixed it nevermind


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## jamnigh (Apr 24, 2013)

haha good! Do you have a test kit for the tank? I would say really any peaceful fish. More mollies, guppies, or swordtails. You could also do tetras or anything like that. Check out AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor for what you can stock safely


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## Jaybird5 (Apr 27, 2013)

I sure will! I do not have the testing kit yet money is tight lol and I really would love some shrimp or snails. Never had either lol


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## jamnigh (Apr 24, 2013)

I have some ghost shrimp in my tank with my guppies, they dont bother each other, and the ghost shrimp are usually about a quarter to fifty cents each. They wont breed though since they need to breed in brackish, so they might not last long. If you can get enough money, I would go with the cherry reds. A lot of people have them on here. I also got a couple baby snails (i'm guessing mystery snails though not sure) that hitch hiked in on some plants.


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## Jaybird5 (Apr 27, 2013)

Yeah I probably will get the cherry reds because they are pretty and are cheap. I need to look around for snails though...


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## jamnigh (Apr 24, 2013)

Well if you are gonna have the cherry reds then you should have live plants. If you get them from anybody here, you can always check to see if there might be snails on them. Or if you get from LPS or LFS out of one of their tanks, you will probably have snails as well lol


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## rtmaston (Jul 14, 2012)

mollies and guppies would do well in the 10 gallon tank together.


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## Jaybird5 (Apr 27, 2013)

I might do guppies hmm for a fact it is 2 mollies 3 red cherry shrimp and 2 mystery snails. I have enough room for a small school or a couple guppies idk this is hard! lol


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## Jaybird5 (Apr 27, 2013)

What about hatchet fish? A school of three? I think they are pretty cool.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

I have about 100 Red Cherry Shrimp in my tank, I'll package some up and ship them to you if you pay the shipping.

If you're going to get shrimp though, I STRONGLY suggest you look into live plants. Shrimp are very timid, docile critters that love ample places to hide and forage for microorganisms, things like mosses, ferns, dense ground cover, etc. If they don't have enough places to hide and feel safe, their color will fade and eventually they will die from stress.

With mollies, guppies, swords, platies, etc. (livebearers) make sure you do a 1 male 2 female combo or multiple males to avoid aggression. Also, when you have males and females in a tank together, get ready for LOTS of babies!

Hatchetfish are great additions as they are top swimmers, however I've heard they are jumpers, so make sure you have a good hood/canopy over the tank.


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## dalfed (Apr 8, 2012)

I had problems with my mollies eating my RCS when they would molt so provide them with lots of cover.


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## Jaybird5 (Apr 27, 2013)

Thank you Gizmo I might take you up on that offer later as I am still cycling. And can I plant the plants in gravel? Or do I need a special substrate? I have already looked at plants for RCS. And both of my mollies are males and one of them constantly nips the other one on his anal fin it really bugs me because all I can do is watch while the bigger tank cycles.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Jay,

I'm afraid the aggression will continue unless you get more males or throw 2-3 females in there with the two males.

Plants will grow in gravel provided you give them a root fertilizer tab every so often and don't clean the gravel at all. They thrive on waste from the fish, both water-borne and in the substrate, and only require fresh water at regular intervals and light in addition. Moss doesn't even grow into the gravel.


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## Jaybird5 (Apr 27, 2013)

Alright I'm in a toss up of adding males or females ugh. My plan was the two mollies, 5 red cherry shrimp, 2 snails and a dwarf gourami. That is like 90% stocking level. Adding more males would ruin this ugh I hate my small tank


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## jamnigh (Apr 24, 2013)

you will need either at least 2 males or 2 females...if you go 2 females, be prepared to babies lol.


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## Jaybird5 (Apr 27, 2013)

so adding two more males would end the aggression? I do not want to go through babies lol I do not have enough tanks to store a ton of fry.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

More males won't end the aggresaion,but rather spread it out .With 2 one is dominant and the other weak,with 4 the dominant will have to chase all 3 giving 2 a break every now and then.
Another option would be to see if you can take one back or trade for something else.


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## Jaybird5 (Apr 27, 2013)

My Aquarium








My Filter








My Hood









What do you think?


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## Jaybird5 (Apr 27, 2013)

Is this how all fish act? Two males just compete with each other? Or is this just live bearers?


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## Jaybird5 (Apr 27, 2013)

And there is no dominant male they just fight nip for nip. I guess they do not have a alpha male yet...


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## Jaybird5 (Apr 27, 2013)

Any who after a week of the tank sitting there, with filter, decorations, and everything set up. I put some fish flakes in the tank just for some sort of ammonia source about a week ago. I checked the levels today and ammonia is 4 ph is 7.5 nitrite is 0 nitrate is 0. I have done nothing to the tank since the flakes.


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## Jaybird5 (Apr 27, 2013)

Redoing the pictures...

The Tank

The Hood

The Topfin 10 power filter

Please say your opinions.


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## xmarcox (May 31, 2013)

Jaybird5 said:


> Any who after a week of the tank sitting there, with filter, decorations, and everything set up. I put some fish flakes in the tank just for some sort of ammonia source about a week ago. I checked the levels today and ammonia is 4 ph is 7.5 nitrite is 0 nitrate is 0. I have done nothing to the tank since the flakes.


keep the ammonia level like that and nitrite should come after 3 days to 1 week. I am also doing my fishless cycle now and i already have nitrite after a week.


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## Jaybird5 (Apr 27, 2013)

Alright I guess I will just keep playing with it lol


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