I'd like to buy a PAIR of fish for my 10 gallon tank but what?

Question

I currently have 4 fish; 2 cherry barbs and 2 corydoras catfish. I have a ten gallon, heated tank. I would like to purchase a PAIR of fish but I want SOMETHING TOTALY DIFFERENT than most people want to purchase. I want something easy to take care of and easily pleased.

Could you please leave some information about the fish (compatibility, tank size and etc.) so I know how to take care of it? Thank you....I just want something easy and different!

Answer 1

The problem is that most of the fish that meet your criteria would be better suited to a larger school than a pair.

If you insist on the pair, then I'd go for the dwarf gourami, I'm particularly fond of the honey sunset gourami. They grow to 2.5". Here are 2 links with information: http://www.fishdeals.com/anabantids/gourami/honey_sunset_gourami/
http://www.elmersaquarium.com/10gouramis_honey.htm

With the combination of your tank, you might prefer something like the harlequin rasbora. It would prefer a school of at least 3 - 5 like the barbs but might adapt to only 2 if stress is limited. They are top dwellers which should round out the appearance of your tank nicely with the barbs more mid-level and the corys hanging out on the bottom. They grow up to 2" each. Here are links to more information:
http://www.elmersaquarium.com/10rasbora.htm
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/cyprinids2/p/harlequin.htm

Answer 2

Well, its kinda all in what u want. I happen to like having frogs because they are different and very easy to care for. Dwarf African clawed frogs stay small, so they are perfect for a ten gallon tank, and they dont bother your fish, whereas albinos get large and eventually eat fish. I like the odd ones that u dont see a whole lot, like goby dragons, which are easy enough to care for, but do best in 78-82 degree water, so i kept my tank at about 80 when i had them. I like tiger barbs, which are common but pretty, and just kinda a little bit of everything. the most important thing to keep in mind is that roughly one inch of fish per gallon of water. otherwise, the tank will be overcrowded and then a couple will die off until the overcrowding is taken care of. so i know the corys are prob about an inch each, and your cherry barbs are prob 1-2 inches, so if you go with 2, you have about 4 inches to work with. So with that in mind, the goby may not be your best bet since you want a pair, but the frogs would be okay, or any smaller fish. Frogs are fun to watch, great community fish, but they do like to hide sometimes, so have some hollow rocks or something for them to hang out in. They like shrimp pellets and i've found that mine also likes the slow sinking goldfish pellets. I think those are about the same as shrimp pellets except smaller.

Answer 3

The cherry barbs and corys would be much happier if there were 4 or more, as these are schooling fish. 4 cherry barbs and 4 corys = maxed out 10 gallon tank (and then some).

I'd consider planning on getting a 20-29 gallon tank as a 10 gallon tank is severely limiting.

Answer 4

The first thing you should add is more cherry barbs. They really do need additional members of their same species to do best.

Assuming you know that already, but wish to let them be in that condition as you add other fish, I would suggest a pair of dwarf gourami.

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/anabantids2/p/dwarfgourami.htm

MM

Answer 5

if u have a heated tank or tropical one u could always get some clown fish there easy to look after dont need feeding every day and are amazing to look at!!!! these always like to come in pairs so they can feel there with there own kind still or theirs some small shark fish!!!! x

Answer 6

Fancy tail guppies, you'll need more females than males, cuz they really populate the tank. You'll have to thin them out occassionally, they can fill up a tank pretty fast, but, its so much fun to watch them give birth and the little babies, fight for their lives. You can put in a breeder net, once the mommy has the babies return mommy to tank. Keep babies in breeder til old enough not to be fish food.

Answer 7

Cherry barbs, are aggressive . You might want calmer fish like neon tetras.

Answer 8

its hard matching cherry barbs -- you need a school and they very friendly and get kind of big for 10 gallons.

some fun small fish you could look for are badis, dario, sparkling gouramis, croaking gouramis, pygmy sunfish, lots of different killifish, dwarf or pygmy rasboras,

Answer 9

stick with the barb family many different types and some real pretty ones

Answer 10

Go to the pet store and look at the fish. Choose the coolest ones. I saw some really cool ones that were about a dollar they were red and orange.