about how many fish should i put in a 10 gallon tank.?

Question

right now i am thinking about getting 5 guppies, 2 female bettas, 4 platies, and 2 sword tails. i checked and they are all green on the compabality chart from petco.com

that is 13 fish. i will be getting fake plants and hiding places in the tank also

thank you to every one who contributes

Answer 1

You may be starting with 13, but three of your species, to quote an answer I just read "breed like rodents". So you'll end up with dozens.

You're already pushing your limit just with the 13 fish - it might be possible to keep them all, provided you have them in a well-filtered, cycled tank, don't overfeed, and clean and do 25% water changes twice a week.

I would suggest that you limit your choices for now, and cycle your tank before adding any of these. If you're not familiar with the idea of cycling, I'll add a link for you at the end. I'd get all male guppies (they're the more colorful ones anyway), and male platies. Add a third female betta, since they will be somewhat aggressive, but not to the point of males. Having a third will spread out the aggression a little better. And skip the swordtails. Although they might be okay with the others in a less crowded tank, males will tend to be a bit more territorial than the others, and if you get females, there's always a chance they'll already be pregnant.

Answer 2

That's too many fish. Aim for 10" of fish as a guideline. A small tank can't be overcrowded or it's really too hard to maintain any kind of water quality. Swordtails and betta's will grow to be 3" long so your best bet is to stick with some guppies and maybe a couple platies.

Don't forget you need to get the tank up and cycled before you start putting in a lot of fish.

Answer 3

Nix the female bettas, and three of the other fish, and you won't be overstocked. They may be compatible (the females bettas not, I'll get to that), but you have to stock the tank properly. With fish that small, you can use the inch per gallon rule.

In reality, female bettas rarely get along. They only get along in a properly set up 'sorority' tank, in groups of six minimum. Why do you ask? They are still aggressive! Don't believe what people tell you about them getting along like best pals. With two, the more dominant of the two will likely become very aggressive towards the weaker one. I am posting a link below on setting up a sorority tank, and more reasons you should not put two females together!

Answer 4

I would drop the swordtails and in their place add (3) oto cats or (3) pygmy cory cats for the bottom swim level of your tank.

(5) male guppies
(2) female bettas
(4) platies
(3) cory or oto cats

Answer 5

im sorry, but thats far too many fish. also, as a side note, petco is totally wrong about anything associated with fish care usually, and they have extremely poor quality stock. i suggest buying from a local fish store. id scratch off everything but the 5 guppies if I were you. stocking lightly means healthy fish. also, remember to cycle your tank!

Answer 6

The two female bettas should be fine, but that's 6 inches of fish. Swordtails need a larger tank and overall you should not even have 10 inches in a ten because it's too small to maintain a good quality of water for them. Check out cycling here:
http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php
and here:
http://www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/profiles/misc/fishlesscycling.html
and tank size needs for various species here:
http://www.peteducation.com/category_summary.cfm?cat=1911

Answer 7

about 10 no more then that

Answer 8

acuallly it just depends on size, but for the most part, i would about 7 or less

Answer 9

The rule is to have one gallon for each inch of fish. Those are great starters. Hope this helped.