What fish do you reccommend in a college dorm?

Question

Ok, for those of you who say that it's not a good idea cuz people will put junk in the tank... let me stop that answer right here: My room is quiet and very rarely has more than my roommate and I in it.

Now on to the actual question. I love animals and have grown very restless without my dog back home to take care of. And since I live in school-housing, I can't bring in any animals other than fish. So I decided to look around in that area.

I was planning on purchasing a 10 gallon fish tank (AquaTank X Plus- it is Acrylic and comes with 15-watt lighting, a 50-watt heater, and a Power Filter system for $49.99). But I don't know what else I would need. I am willing to do some work (cleaning out the tank once a week would coincide with my weekly cleaning schedule anyway).

How can I stock the tank to be both beautiful and easy to manage at the same time? I should also probably mention that I'm not quite willing to spend too much over $70-80... I am a college student after all!

Would tiger barbs be alright to put in this tank? If so, how many and would I be able to add more fish? I know Tiger Barbs need to be in schools of 3-5 or more...

I suppose I should add this:
"Tropical fish are the only pets permitted in the residential facilities"
- University of Evansville Guide to Residence Life Policies & Procedures

Answer 1

Tiger Barbs can reach about three inches long and are extremely active, making them unsuitable fish for a 10 gallon tank.

Your best bet would be a group of 7 -10 smaller, schooling fish such as small tetras, White Clouds, Danios, or small rasboras.

My 10 gallon dorm tank is planted with Riccia and Water Wisteria, and has 22 watts of compact fluorecent lighting. I have a school of six Trigonostigma hengeli in there to cycle the tank. I am in the process of breeding my Tanichthys micagemmae at home, so I can have those in the tank instead.

Maintenance on the tank is easy. I do 30% weekly water changes, with 75% distilled water and 25% tapwater. This is to make the pH and hardness lower (along with the driftwood I have in there). I add fertilizer to the tank once a week. That's it... It's really easy.

Hope that helps.

Answer 2

No need to keep goldfish, you have a heater and goldfish are really messy. Tiger Barbs will get too big to have a school in a 10 gallon. Plus they are fin nippers, so having even one would drastically limit the other types of fish you could keep. What else you get depends on the work that you want to do researching the fish and taking care of it. Remember you want one inch of fish per gallon of water, so make sure you look up their maximum sizes. Bettas ($5) are great, they are really friendly, they do well with other fish, just not with their own species, so you could keep one. Thats 3 inches. You could also go with cory catfish. They school and have a great personality. You'd need to keep at least 3 of the same species. Panda cories are relatively small and very cute. Three panda cories ($5-6 a piece) would be about 4 inches. Larger cories ($2.50-$10 a piece) get 2-3 inches each and start taking up more oxygen in the aquarium, but you could keep 3 larger cories or 4 or 5 panda cories with a betta and be okay. Avoid neon tetras. On average 80% of the neons you buy will die, and they don't really have a pet personality anyway. Another inexpensive fun fish is the dwarf puffer ($2.50 at petsmart), but they aren't a community fish. You could have 2 dwarf puffers and three oto catfish though and be okay. But, puffers are more fragile. Keep in mind that your aquarium will be too small for semi-aggressive fish, and that if you decide to keep livebearers (guppies, mollies, platties), they will need salt, which some other species of fish won't tolerate (like cories). If was getting a new 10 gallon, I'd probably go with 4 or 5 panda cories or 3 peppered cories and a male betta. Whatever you do, do a little research into your fish first. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Goldfish can't live in bowls - not enough room. A single goldfish requires 30 gallons of space to be properly maintined, so it wouldn't work for your setup. Bettas (Betta splendens) are good for small spaces, buttheir immune systems are compromised at temperatures below 78 degrees Fahrenheit. If you can heat your bowl (with a small aquarium heater) that might be the way to go. Most other fish require at least light filtration and aeration, of the sort that bowls are not compatible with. It might be best to place a small tank with a filter in your lounge instead, or else find a different decoration. If you want to use an aquarium, though, there are some very pretty small-scale setups that you can get. A "hex" (hexagonal) tank is great if you want something to be viewed from all around. alternatively, a bowfront ("bow") tank is a very decorative shape. Even a standard 10-gallon rectangle can be beautiful if set up and maintained properly. How about this setup: get a 5 or 10 gallon aquarium (no smaller) with a little hang-over-the-side filter and airstone (for the pretty bubbles). Decorate it as you please, and fill it with 6 zebra danios (or blue, pearl, leopard or other small danios) or 6 white cloud mountain minnows (Tanichthys albonubes). These species are all small, low-maintenance coldwater (no heater) fish that prefer to live in groups (hence the need for a half dozen or so of them) and are both attractive and fun to watch. They're very active swimmers, don't need much beyond daily food and weekly water changes, and make for great low-maintenance, low-budget fish. They also don't tend to be as sensitive to human traffic as some other fish species, so they won't get stressed in a high-traffic setting like a lounge. If you're willing to invest in a heater for your tank, the possible range of fish increases exponentially. Small tetras, rasboras, and the like are all options if you buy a heater for the tank.

Answer 4

It would be a bit small for tiger barbs, they are very active and like 20+ gallons.

Stocking plan 1:
5 White Skirt Tetras
1 Dwarf Gourami
4 Panda Cories

Stocking plan 2:
4 mollies
1 betta

Stocking plan 3:
6 neon tetras or White Cloud mountain minnows
4 Cories

Stocking plan 4:
Guppies
Cories

It depends on what you want, just do some research and figure out what you want before going to the pet store

Answer 5

Bettas are good. A friend had a 5 gallon tank with a few differant types of fish and a betta and there was no problem. Pet stores can give you a list of types of fish that do well together. Or at least they should.

I recomend finding out if fish are allowed. They wern't in my rez so we all (a quarter of rez where I was had fish) had to be careful of who found out.

Answer 6

well, yea bettas go great in a dorm room, they love you watch t.v and listen to music- not kidding! they would be cheaper for you to get and mantain too. cleaning anything over 10 gallons when you have exams and junk is a pain in the you know what. but if your up to the task. you could get almost anything you wanted. just do research on what ever you are thinking about buying.WARNING!!!! BUT IF YOU BUY FISH DONT BUY FROM WALMART!!!!!! these fish are poorly feed, cleaned, kept. they will cause you so many problems in the long run just from diseases. go to petsmart or petco- they are more closely watched by "them." dont beleive me- count the dead fish in the tanks at walmart compared to petsmart. also- if you dont know which fish to get- just go to petsmart and just look at the fish, decide, ask questions, research, they buy- good luck!

Answer 7

well,
they are tons of fish to chose from a beta is a good fish but you can only put one in a tank because they will fight. what ever kind of fish you get ask a person at the store if the fish(s) you are geting can stay in the same cage.

Hope you find some good fish!!!

Answer 8

I have seen some very big, very pretty angel fish in dorm rooms. I dont know what kind of care they need though. I always like the little frogs you can get... they are always fun to watch. (make sure you have a lid on the tank though.. as a kid I remember some of our fish commiting suicide by jumping out of the tank.. was very strange!)

BTW.. gold fish are dirty.. they will dirty up your tank and make it smell very quickly.

Answer 9

I would suggest goldfish and or neon tetras. Neons are very cute little fish and easily to mangae. You can make the tank pretty in many ways! Colored stones at the bottom add a very nice touch. You can also put a poaster the size of the tank on the wall in the back of the tank to make it appear in the tank. There are also fake plants you can put in the tank and other decorations. These are easy and just need to be cleaned sometimes (maybe 1 time a month).
Good Luck!

Answer 10

When I was in college I had 2 gold fish, they lived for many years. I would cart them home with me every semester for break. They lived through all of the commuting, for a while at my parents house, and then came to live with me at my first real apartment. I cried when they died.