New Community Tank!

[blue musketeer]

I have just started keeping fish... with some mixed success so far, but I am learning fast and have a 10 gallon tank which after a few initial problems is now settling down. By which I mean that the tank I inherited was overstocked and did not have a working filter... so after a few deaths I now have a more reasonable population and a new filter and a water test kit that seems to be correcting my water toxicity.

A neighbour has just told me that her son is getting rid of his aquarium... 12 gallons with all the accessories. They lost his fish after he hadnt fed it for some time (I think weeks ). But the father did keep the aquarium stocked with water and plants and kept the filter running. They have offered me this kit for free and I will continue doing some water cycling until I have decided on the fish I want to stock and done some serious reading.

Here is where I need help... I would like to have some help with the selection for a 12 gallon freshwater set up. I already have the fish listed in my signature below and would like something different.

I am toying with the idea of setting up a goldfish community.... but as a noob I am open to suggestions

 

[catxx]

to be honest your 10 gallon sounds heavily stocked.
how long has it been set up? are the fish still babies or full grown?
4 guppies, 2 corys and the snails would make it well stocked.

maybe think about moving the molly, corys & gourami to the 12 gallon
and have the 10 gallon as a guppy/snail tank.

and a 12 gallon is far too small for goldies, a community would need 50 gallons+ for when they're full grown (smaller can lead to stunting and death). the goldie rule is 20 gallons for 1, 10 gallons for each goldie thereafter.

 

[blue musketeer]

to be honest your 10 gallon sounds heavily stocked.
how long has it been set up? are the fish still babies or full grown?
4 guppies, 2 corys and the snails would make it well stocked.

maybe think about moving the molly, corys & gourami to the 12 gallon
and have the 10 gallon as a guppy/snail tank.

and a 12 gallon is far too small for goldies, a community would need 50 gallons+ for when they're full grown (smaller can lead to stunting and death). the goldie rule is 20 gallons for 1, 10 gallons for each goldie thereafter.

Thanks for the info.... I am glad I asked. I think the previous owner of the tank had been buying fish pretty regularly until the time he passed the aquarium on to me. I have lost 5 fish since then, so you can imagine how busy it was!!!!
I will do as you suggest and split the population of the 10 gallon tank and use this to stock the new one.

Thanks again.

 

[catxx]

you're welcome!

pics when it's done please! hehe.

 

[blue musketeer]

pics when it's done please! hehe.

OK, so I got to pick up the new tank to discover that it was a 20 Gallon tank, not a 12... and my neighbours had even added a few fish as a wwlcome to the neighbourhood gift. I have taken your advice and split the fish as I think is best, but would welcome any criticism.

Firstly, here are the pics of the 2 set ups:

The 10 Gallon Guppy Tank.

The 20 Gallon Community.

The 10 Gallon tank holds 5 mixed guppies (m) and 2 peppered catfish corys (unfortunately the snails did not survive )

The 20 Gallon tank holds 1 mollie, 1 red dwarf gourami, 1 blue dwarf gourami, 1 sand dollar, 1 clown loach, 2 albino catfish cory.

I want to put a coloured background behind the 20 Gallon tank - as youcan see I have green behind the guppy tank. I think that should help hide the wires etc.

 

[Boids-n-more]

your 10 gal looks a lil low on water just for an fyi. Other than that the tanks look nice.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

for your twenty id be stockin with dwarf central/south american cichlids

 

[catxx]

looking good! i think you need to consider a MUCH finer substrate in both tanks for corys, either a fine gravel with NO sharp edges, or sand. they can damage barbles on sharp gravel which can lead to infection, if you got sand you'd see real natural behaviour from them as they snuffle around for food.

your clown loach has the potential to grow to 12" and is a schooling fish like company of its own kind. really their minimum tank size is 55gallons. i would think about rehoming him. http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=34953

i'd check the sex of your gouramis too, if you've got 2 males you could get fighting, a male and female should be ok, and i THINK 2 females are ok. i'm not a gourami expert though.

a sand dollar? the weird flat creature you find on the beach? wouldn't they be saltwater? am i being dense??

 

[blue musketeer]

a sand dollar? the weird flat creature you find on the beach? wouldn't they be saltwater? am i being dense??

Sorry, I meant "Silver Dollar"