Lonely Danio

[supersquirrel]

Hello everyone, I don’t know much about fish and have recently set-up a 10 gallon warm water tank. I bought 6 little glowlight tetras to go in it a week ago and was planning to get a couple of neon tetras to go in with them in a while. The new fish are doing well – they seem to spend most of their time hiding from me but come out and eat ravenously when I feed them. The only problem is that one of them is definitely a zebra danio and not a tetra. Not sure how he ended up in the bag, but he’s really cool – he constantly swims laps of the tank and is the one who encourages the tetras out of hiding to eat. The problem is, will he be stressed out by himself as this species is meant to be kept in shoals, right? I was thinking I might get 4 friends for him, but he’s so active – would it be better to not add any more fish so he has lots of room? Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[twistedlink]

Im just a beginner myself but i can relay this advice.

Yes Danios shoal, the only problem is a 10 gallon tank is stocked well once you reach 10" of fish and glowlight tetras reach 1" each, danios can reach 1.5-1.75", so you might not be able to get the neons.

Also, danios are a bit bully esque, theyre very fast and can scare the other fish.

 

[supersquirrel]

Im just a beginner myself but i can relay this advice.

Yes Danios shoal, the only problem is a 10 gallon tank is stocked well once you reach 10" of fish and glowlight tetras reach 1" each, danios can reach 1.5-1.75", so you might not be able to get the neons.

Also, danios are a bit bully esque, theyre very fast and can scare the other fish.

I won't get any neons now I have the danio, I was aiming for 10 fish total. I'm considering taking Mr Danio back to the shop and getting a dwarf gourami instead as he'll be happy by himself, and maybe 2 corys. I think 5 tetras, a gourami and 2 corys will be OK in a 10 gallon tank?

 

[twistedlink]

Dwarf gouramis are the blue/silver/red fish right? i think they do best in pairs, but dont quote me on that lol, like i said im a beginner myself.

As long as youre in the 10-12" of fish (without tail) region, then you shouldnt have too much trouble

 

[supersquirrel]

Maybe 2 gouramis and no corys then, my substrate isn't fine enough for bottom feeders any way.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Dwarf gouramis are the blue/silver/red fish right? i think they do best in pairs, but dont quote me on that lol, like i said im a beginner myself.

As long as youre in the 10-12" of fish (without tail) region, then you shouldnt have too much trouble

Dwarf gouramis are territorial, so two males in such a small tank are likely to kill each other. Females are hard to get hold of and even a male and a female in such a small tank could cause aggro.

Also, a lot of dwarf gouramis these days are really sickly; they carry an incurable virus, so I'd stay off them altogether if I were you.

 

[waterdrop]

Second time I've heard about the dwarf G diseases and its a sad thing. Here in the US I thought I'd been seeing both males and females in the stores although I have to admit there are many more blue and silver variations of these than years ago. In the 60's the males seemed more predominantly red but still with a pretty strong blue in the stripes. The females were, and I think still are, more silver. I've seen some of the new blue variations and they can be pretty stunning for a DG.

Its especially a shame since I remember a M/F pair of DGs as being a nice centerpiece fish for a 10 gallon and I don't remember them having much trouble with the size. Oh well, I agree the DGs might not be best for you but I'm not so sure you should take Mr. Danio back; danios are a lot of fun, really hardy and a great fish for smaller tanks and I think you should maybe at least add two. Just my 2 cents, waterdrop

 

[funkycat]

It should be ok to get one male DG in a ten gallon (provided its healthy)
Definately to not get a pair, IMO dwarf gouramis should never be in pairs unless they have alot of room.
In a ten gallon the male will harass the female to no end (i made that mistake for a short while)
If you want male and female dwarf gouramis you're better off with a trio (1m 2f) but even then they need @least a twenty to give the females enough room to flee.

You might also look at getting a pair or trio of honey gouramis, they stay quite small.

I agree with returning the danio.