10g tank- dwarf puffers, small cory's..?

Question

So for a few days I have been looking for fish and thinking about getting some
I want some Indian Dwarf Puffers (1 male and 2 females?), some Cory's (2 of them- 1 spotted and 1 julii, should both be of the same gender or opposites?), and if possible some fancy male guppies (2 or 3) or would guppies be too much for 10 gallon?
So how would I go about feeding them if their are different kinds of fish?
I know the Puffers eat bloodworms (ew), shrimp, frozen krill, small snails, etc. How much each? Can I just stick some snails in there and always feed them one kind of the foods or do they need variety? :\
what do Cory's eat? and how much each?
I'm sure the guppie's will eat some sort of flakes I can find at the pet store
I've heard Dwarf Puffers can be a little aggressive and nip at the fins of other fish- Will this be a problem?
What temperature will be suitable for all these fish together?
How often will I have to clean this tank?
Please answer EVERYTHING! :]
please don't just list a site

Answer 1

Dwarf puffers (any puffer species really) need to be kept by themselves. If they have other fish in the tank, they are likely to nip their fins and cause them a lot of stress. They also shouldn't be added to a tank that's less than 6 months running (with other fish which will later be moved) because they're sensitive to ammonia and nitrite, so the tank needs to be cycled and mature to keep these. They should also have about 5 gallons per fish, so a male and two females in a 10 gallon is pushing things a bit. But it would be better to have two females than just one. You should also have a lot of plants in the tank for them. You can find out more on keeping them at these links: http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Freshwater/C_Travancoricus/ , http://www.dwarfpuffers.com/

I would suggest keeping just the puffers, or the combination of corys and guppies. Corys should be at least 3 (they like to school), and the ratio of genders isn't that important to them - you may not be able to tell the genders apart, depending on the age of the fish when you get them. This is one group where different species will school together if they don't have others of their own kind to school with. Corys also like bloodworms, and will eat food that gets by the guppies. You can make sure they have enough by using some sinking pellets for them. The guppies will eat these as well as flakes. Give all fish enough that they can finish in 2-3 minutes, up to twice a day. For the corys, sand works the best so they can use the barbels (whiskers) to search for food on the bottom - this also keeps food from falling between pieces of gravel so they can get to it more easily.

As far as feeding the puffers, if you're using prepared foods, the same 2-3 minutes per feeding applies, but snails are alive so you can add these to the tank and let you puffer eat them as he finds them. Since you should have a well planted tank, you might want to find Malaysian trumpet snails to use as feeders - these stay small (usually less than 1 inch), are plant-safe, and have harder shells than most snails, so they'll keep your puffers' beaks well trimmed. They are livebearers, so if you have another container, you can breed these easily yourself, and only put the smaller snails in for the puffer to eat.

A temperature in the mid 70s would be suitable for any of the fish.

All tanks should be cleaned weekly by doing a partial water change of around 25%. If you use a gravel substrate, using a gravel vacuum can take a little practice so you don't siphon up the sand as well. Hold it about 1/2 inch or so above the sand and bend the hose a little - you can control the "pull" of the siphon by how much the hose is bent (you might want to practice this before you add the fish!). See this for more about cleaning sand bottoms: http://www.aquaworldaquarium.com/silent_killer.htm

Answer 2

I would recommend some guppies and tetra...the guppies and tetra eat the same food (tropical fish flakes) so it makes for easy eating. make sure that you have a heater though because the the fish will die if you do not have a heater. If you want the Maximum of fish in the tank get 5 guppies and 5 tetras. Here are also some fish that would be good (they all need 5 or fish because these are all schooling fish). If you want your fish to be REALLY happy get 10 of one kind. Sword tails Mollies African dwarf frogs ( get one or two for a 10 gallon tank ) Danios Platy fish I hope I helped!

Answer 3

Your combo sounds really good. Your dwarf puffer would eat the blooworms. Your guppys would and your cories. I would prefer you get the cories and guppies so they could settle down.