10-15 gallon stocking ideas?

[Riley_Mar]

Hello!
I'm new to fish keeping and am looking to get a 10-15 gallon tank! After some research, I was thinking of keeping the following in it:

1 Zebra Nerite snail
3 Amano shrimp
3 Pygmy corydoras
1 Male betta

Is this a good number of fish for a tank this size?

 

[fluttermoth]

Hi there

Before we can properly recommend species, we need to know the dimensions of your tank, and the pH and hardness of your water (if you don't know those, you can find them on your supplier's website).

 

[Byron]

Agree with fluttermojth, but while waiting and in case I miss this thread later...pygmy cories must have a larger group, at least 8-9. All cories need a group, most of the larger species can manage with minimum five (but more is always better) but the pygmy and other dwarf species need more or they will be stressed. They also must have sand; play sand is perfect.

Male betta are not community fish, though they sometimes (I say sometimes) manage with cories. This is not a guarantee however, as the pygmy cory like to spend much more time in the upper water level, and this can annoy some Betta. It would be safer to not combine species with a Betta.

Byron.

 

[Riley_Mar]

Hi there

Before we can properly recommend species, we need to know the dimensions of your tank, and the pH and hardness of your water (if you don't know those, you can find them on your supplier's website).

Hey!
The dimensions of my tank are 24 (L) x 8 (W) x 16 (H) inches, the pH of my water is 7.5 and the hardness of my water is 13 mg/L

 

[Riley_Mar]

Agree with fluttermojth, but while waiting and in case I miss this thread later...pygmy cories must have a larger group, at least 8-9. All cories need a group, most of the larger species can manage with minimum five (but more is always better) but the pygmy and other dwarf species need more or they will be stressed. They also must have sand; play sand is perfect.

Male betta are not community fish, though they sometimes (I say sometimes) manage with cories. This is not a guarantee however, as the pygmy cory like to spend much more time in the upper water level, and this can annoy some Betta. It would be safer to not combine species with a Betta.

Byron.

Do you think it would be possible to keep 8 cories and a female betta? Or would it be better to just have a few more cories and shrimp together and no betta?

 

[Byron]

Do you think it would be possible to keep 8 cories and a female betta? Or would it be better to just have a few more cories and shrimp together and no betta?

Female betta are less aggressive, so can work sometimes in community tanks. You will lack the beauty of the male though. Personally, I would forget the betta. Other options would tend to give you more interest. There are nano type fish well suited to small tanks (either the 10g or 15g is small here). You have soft water (13 mg/l = 13 ppm, which is equivalent to just under 1 dGH) so there are a lot of options open. The dimensions in post #14 work out to a 13 gallon (US) tank.

 

[Riley_Mar]

Female betta are less aggressive, so can work sometimes in community tanks. You will lack the beauty of the male though. Personally, I would forget the betta. Other options would tend to give you more interest. There are nano type fish well suited to small tanks (either the 10g or 15g is small here). You have soft water (13 mg/l = 13 ppm, which is equivalent to just under 1 dGH) so there are a lot of options open. The dimensions in post #14 work out to a 13 gallon (US) tank.

Thanks for your help!
If I instead stocked with 5 pygmy cories, 6 harlequin rasboras, and 3 amano shrimp would that be too large of a bio load for a 13 gallon tank?

 

[Byron]

Thanks for your help!
If I instead stocked with 5 pygmy cories, 6 harlequin rasboras, and 3 amano shrimp would that be too large of a bio load for a 13 gallon tank?

You need more pygmy cories to prevent stress from too few, and as I mentioned previously 8-9 would be minimum. You've no problem with this many, or a few more; I have a group in a 10g tank and they spawn regularly so there are 15-25 at any given time.

Rasbora generally are good species for "quiet" tanks which this one would be, meaning fish that are not active swimmers or boisterous. But there are better suited species than the Harlequin, given the space. This species is Trigonostigma heteromorpha, and there are two others very similar but smaller and better suited. T. espei (sometimes called lambchop rasbora) and T. hengeli (my personal favourite). Data here:
http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/trigonostigma-espei/
http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/trigonostigma-hengeli/

Smaller rasboras are the dwarf species in the genus Boraras. Boraras brigittae is one often seen, and there are a few others less common but similarly beautiful.
http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/boraras-brigittae/

If you choose Trigonstigma espei or T. hengeli, you could have the dwarf rasbora as well. They all get along. And the pygmy cories of course, and the shrimp. I don't know much about amano shrimp, they might get eaten by fish though not likely the cories or dwarf rasbora.

 

[Riley_Mar]

You need more pygmy cories to prevent stress from too few, and as I mentioned previously 8-9 would be minimum. You've no problem with this many, or a few more; I have a group in a 10g tank and they spawn regularly so there are 15-25 at any given time.

Rasbora generally are good species for "quiet" tanks which this one would be, meaning fish that are not active swimmers or boisterous. But there are better suited species than the Harlequin, given the space. This species is Trigonostigma heteromorpha, and there are two others very similar but smaller and better suited. T. espei (sometimes called lambchop rasbora) and T. hengeli (my personal favourite). Data here:
http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/trigonostigma-espei/
http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/trigonostigma-hengeli/

Smaller rasboras are the dwarf species in the genus Boraras. Boraras brigittae is one often seen, and there are a few others less common but similarly beautiful.
http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/boraras-brigittae/

If you choose Trigonstigma espei or T. hengeli, you could have the dwarf rasbora as well. They all get along. And the pygmy cories of course, and the shrimp. I don't know much about amano shrimp, they might get eaten by fish though not likely the cories or dwarf rasbora.

Thank you so much for your help!