Help With Bottom Feeder For My 10G Tank

[bsud]

I have my 10g tank cycled and running with a betta and 6 rasboras, they are all doing great! I would like a bottom feeder to go with those, I had 2 ghost shrimp in there but i found them dead,the betta probably killed them. Are there any other better choices of bottom feeders that would work for me? Thanks!

 

[BenVernon]

Pygmy corys are the only bottom feeders suitable for a 10 gallon. Three of them will see your tank fully stocked however they would prefer groups of 4 or more. Your only other option is to get more shrimp. Amano shrimp will do a great job of keeping algae levels down to a minimum as long as you have a few of them.  

 

[gmc1]

Oto catfish.mine do an amazing job of eating algae.they need quite a lot of room
though.

 

[AshleyNZ]

Oto catfish.mine do an amazing job of eating algae.they need quite a lot of room
though.

Otos would not be suitable for this type of tank

 

[Lillefishy]

Otos would not be suitable for this type of tank

Oto's are also not bottom feeders they use all levels of the tank

 

[Wills]

There are a few options though I worry that this tank is fully stocked. Your ideal three options for bottom dwellers in this kind of tank are, Rosy Loaches, Dwarf Anchor Catfish or as mentioned above Pygmy Cories. I would look at the Rosy Loaches or Dwarf Anchor Catfish as they do well in groups of 5, though the Anchor Cats are ok in groups of 3 as they are not really schooling fish. Where as Pygmy Cories ideally want to be in groups of 10 which isnt doable in this tank due to the existing inhabitants.
 
You could look at shrimps again, have you tried using a shrimp hide? Its like a pyramid of tubes that are just big enough for the shrimps but too small for most fish this allows the shrimp to breed and that way the numbers will never drop too low. Cherry Shrimp are good for this as they breed quickly and are quite small so the shrimp hide can be quite small.
 
Wills

 

[AshleyNZ]

 

Otos would not be suitable for this type of tank

Oto's are also not bottom feeders they use all levels of the tank
 

Exactly. Not really a point in mentioning them in this thread (I did not suggest them) 
Otos would need a 20G+ tank, hence me saying they would not be okay in this tank.

 

[bsud]

Ok so acording to Name Removed if i add 3 cory catfish that will put me at 98% stocked with doing a 25% wc a week, which i already do a 50% wc a week. So should i just go with 3 corys or should i just go the ghost shrimp route again and just get a big number of them like 6 or 8??

 

[Lillefishy]

Corys are a shoaling fish & should be kept in groups of 6+
I would go the shrimp route

 

[bsud]

Hi folks my lhs was out of ghost shrimp and they wasn't sure when they would get more. So ive ordered 8 cherry shrimp and a shrimp hide cube house so hopefully they will work out better that the ghost shrimp. We will see.

 

[TallTree01]

Good luck with the shrimps!

 

[bsud]

Well the shrimp just don't seem to be working. The eight cherry shrimp i got and put in there with a shrimp hide is not working, I have 4 left out of the 8! I actually watched my betta attack one in front of my eyes! I thought about snails but i do not like the fact they put out a lot of waste. I would really love something to kinda keep the bottom clean of uneaten food or what not, but other than cories I have no idea what would work?

 

[TallTree01]

There really shouldn't be too much uN eaten food, if there's enough that it causes problems, try feeding less.
Fish's stomach are really only about the size of their eye so they don't need much to go on.

 

[sawickib]

I agree with tall tree, you should only feed as much food that will be eaten within 5 minutes or less. Remove any unbeaten food with a siphon. Tbh I would maybe get a mystery snail that's it for your tank, otos really don't belong in 10 gallons unless you really know what your doing. Cories only have like 2 species that can go in a 10 gallon but a school of 6+ would overstock your tank. So I would just add a mystery snail and call it stocked

 

[bsud]

I agree with tall tree, you should only feed as much food that will be eaten within 5 minutes or less. Remove any unbeaten food with a siphon. Tbh I would maybe get a mystery snail that's it for your tank, otos really don't belong in 10 gallons unless you really know what your doing. Cories only have like 2 species that can go in a 10 gallon but a school of 6+ would overstock your tank. So I would just add a mystery snail and call it stocked

Well i don't really over feed them usually what i give them the seven fish has it gone within two min or less, but sometimes a few small peices falls to bottom before they get it. I crumble the flakes up real fine. I almost got a mystery snail at lfs other day but decided to try the cherry shrimp. So i may just do like you say get one snail and call it done. I didn't waste money on the shrimp hide cube cause my betta loves swimming through the holes Lol!