Easy-to-care-for fish ideas?

Question

I've only had a betta before, which is the limit of my fish experience. We have room for a ten-gallon aquarium - fresh water. We're gone a lot for a couple of days at a time, so fish that would be fine with a day or so without feeding on occasion would be great. We'd like a few different types of fish that do well with a minimum of care, are readily available, and are compatible.

Lol, to those who replied concerned about the aquarium-- the water will be circulated, heated if needed according to what fish we select, and properly prepared. We aren't just going to fill the tank with tap water and drop in the fish.

Thanks to all who replied! There are some great ideas here.

Answer 1

Most fish can easily go 2-3 days without being fed. Most fish shops only feed every 2 days to help keep water conditions in their crowded tanks good.

Do not be tempted to use those "holiday feeder" things either, they rot and release ammonia into the tank. better to not feed the fish for a week rather than use these.

Can i firstly say do not buy either gold fish or Pleco's, both these fish will easily grow to 30cm or more and be too large for your tank, chances are they will die in their own waste before reaching this size.

With that sorted the next thing to concider is what type of equipment you are willing to purchase. Most fish will require at minimum a heater and a filter. I'd recomend a 50watt heater at minimum and 100 watt is probably better if you live in a partiuarly cold place. The filter sould be a hang on back or small canister filter and should cycle the water 4-6 times per hour or more (more is better) for example a filter should circulate 40-60 gal per hour on a 10 gal tank. The advantage here is that hang on back (HOB) or canisters are very quiet. Air driven filters (undergravel, sponge etc...) can be very distressing in a living or bed room.

Also ensure you look up "cycling" and dont put fish into a new aquarium.

If you can't provide heating or filtration then keep to a Single male betta or a duo or trio of females.

If you want plants you will also need a good light, see you Local Fish Shop (LFS) as to what is best in terms of wattage etc.

Provided you have met the above requirements then you have many options in terms of fish you can keep

*Bristle Nose Catfish
*Live bearers (Mollys, plattys, guppies etc.)
*Tetras (Cardinals, Neons, Lemons)
*Corys (Panda, Peppermint etc.)

All the above fish are fairly easy to keep but the key is to find one you like and research heavily on it. If you have any questions visit www.fishprofiles.com. They have heaps of info and the people on there are very patient and dedicated. Remember that many of these fish (tetra's and Cory's especialy) are school fish and should be kept in groups of at least 6. In a small tank i would not really go for a commuity tank go with one or two schools of small fish.

If you would like somthing really different then go with an african shell dweller like a caudopunktatus or multifasciatus.

Look up african shell dwellers and the above names, if you think you can handle these guys they would love a small space and are relativly easy to care for but "DO SOME RESEARCH"

Answer 2

Well, I haven't had a 10 gal in a loooooooong time. My list of fish may be slightly off, but here are my suggestions:

3-4 neon tetras(or other small tetra)
5-8 ghost shrimp(for filtration, they work wonders and dont count as 'fish')
2-3 Zebra Danios
1-2 Mollies/Platys/Swordtails/Guppies(any will work)
snails

Most any small schooling fish will work well in a 10gal. You can even have a betta in with your fish, because the betta wont attack another fish unless its a betta. You just have to worry about the betta getting his fins eaten by species of the barb family.

Good luck! (dont get goldfish, they need about 50gals per adult fish)

Answer 3

No one can really answer this unless they know what the water conditions are going to be in your tank. Swordtails would do well in hard water but not so well in soft water. The opposite is true for tetras.

That said, as a newbie, I would go with a buffer to keep the pH at about neutral to slightly acid and go with small fish. Rasboras, tetras, small danios, may a dwarf gourami. Avoid the plecostomus mentioned before. With a few exceptions they get HUGE. WAY too big to thrive in a 10 gallon tank. Also, silver dollars get fairly large too and, be aware, they will chow down on plants like a starving dog on a Filet Mignon! So if you are putting plants in, do NOT add a silver dollar.

Answer 4

Make sure you cycle the tank before adding fish. Look up tips on fishless cycling and get a master test kit. A good combo might be 3 kuhli loaches, 4 buenos aires tetras, and a small group of danios or white cloud minnows.

Answer 5

there are these tablets that can feed fish for a certain amount of time like i think there are 3 day and 10 day or something like that and i think they make them for aquariums of fishes i'm not sure what type of fish you should get but that would be a good option for feeding your fish while you are away... hope that helps!!!!!

Answer 6

10 gallon and you wanna rear hardy fish ? and fresh water ?

okay, any aquarium needs good circulation of oxygen. i think you need to read up more before going for it.

any fish dies in dirty water !!

Answer 7

My roommate had a betta fish that was in a clear vase that had a peace lily growing in it. The fish fed on the roots of the plants, and it was so beautiful! Hmm,,, glad you brought this up, may go get one tomorrow!

Answer 8

There are several fish you can have.:
bettas, rainbowfish, tetras, gouramis, raspboras, guppies, silver dollars, mollies, platies, and the list goes on and on. Hope this helps.

Answer 9

get one fantailed goldfish. maybe two. but better off with just one as they are dirty fish. there very hardy though. hard to kill.

Answer 10

catfiish are good for this, you usually can get them at your local walmart, catfish enjoy the dirty surroundings and can go about a month without feeding or changing water. the only drawback is that they grow fast. dont abuse those little guys.