Sparkling gourami in 10 gal

[Beastije]

With the hardscape you have, you are looking at barely 25liters. All shoaling fish that do best in groups of 10+, ideally 15+, do best in longer tanks, even shallow ones, cubes are useless. So you should not keep anything that likes to have super large numbers (like CPD, everyone who has kept them says 20 gallons and up to see behavior and not have them hidden all the time, I would say same for white cloud minnows), no to active swimmers ( like Neon yellow rasbora, microdevario kubotai, they are very active fish, same for any of the pseudomugil I would say).
Maybe ember tetras, 8 of them. They like their schools but can do with lower and they are super lazy, not active swimmers at all. I still would do microrasboras, chilli I think are the best if you were to go with a schooling fish.

Small tank offers small variety. If you were to have a 20 gallon, you would have more choices. As is, you have only few

 

[Beastije]

Or if you were willing to redo the substrate, maybe get rid of the wood or adjust it to thinner branches and do a massive leaf litter, you could do a trio of hara jerdoni along with the chilli rasboras. You would have to feed live microworms/bbs/frozen small food and keep an eye on water maintenance, maybe have an airstone, but that could work

 

[PygmyPepperJulli]

Sorry, the reason I'm being so difficult is I'm really against red (and orange) fish... I just don't like the colour. I also LOVE shiny things- that's why I love neons and most gouramis. Are there any (non-red and non-beta) fish I could do? So far clown killis are sounding the best... or neon blue rasboras, but from what you said they're probably not a go.

 

[Byron]

And byron, if I added 4 or 5, do you think this would work? If not, just say no (I know you already said that, but I just want to be absolutely sure). I really want some and have heard loads of success stories with sparklers in a 10gal but don't want to torture them either.

I would not do this. My experience comes from knowing the species' expectations and behaviours. I would consider five or six the minimum, and this needs a 20g long tank minimum.

 

[PygmyPepperJulli]

Yes, I know I can't keep sparklers at this point. Unless they're in the big tank, but I have a feeling them and the pearls may not get along.

Do you have any suggestion about what can be kept in there? So far it seems to be either a Beta, clown killis, chili/other tiny rasboras, and MAYBE Asian stone catfish.


EDIT- New idea. Could I use it as a breeding tank? I need more pygmy cories (and other cories as well) but they're SO expensive as I said earlier, so could I put a pair in here for a while, and if they breed put them back in the main tank, raise the fry and then move them into the main tank once grown? And do the same with neons as well. If they were only in there temporarily, that would be fine, wouldn't it?

 

[Lcc86]

There's no rush while you're still setting up your other tank, you can keep this one running as a backup for now in case the repair on the bigger tank doesn't hold and then decide what to do with it later on down the road.

 

[AJ356]

If the 10 gallon stays empty for a while just keep the filter cycled with ammonia and have test kits to hand.

 

[TNG]

I understand the advice against keeping fish in a small tank, but if that’s the only tank I have (35cm x 35 x 35), I’ll have 4 sparkling gouramis in it. I’ll have subdue light and a lot of long stemmed plants like elodea that grow to the water surface, as the sparkling like to hide amongst them. The lighting in post 3 is too bright for them.

Cleaning a tank that size and with a lot of plants in it could be difficult though.

I had a few in a 60 odd gallon community tank some time ago, and hardly ever saw them, but enjoyed hearing their croaking noise occasionally. They seemed to enjoy each other’s company half the time, and chasing each other away the rest of the time. They’re gouramis, they don’t shoal like the small rasboras.

 

[Eliza J]

Yes, I know I can't keep sparklers at this point. Unless they're in the big tank, but I have a feeling them and the pearls may not get along.

Do you have any suggestion about what can be kept in there? So far it seems to be either a Beta, clown killis, chili/other tiny rasboras, and MAYBE Asian stone catfish.


EDIT- New idea. Could I use it as a breeding tank? I need more pygmy cories (and other cories as well) but they're SO expensive as I said earlier, so could I put a pair in here for a while, and if they breed put them back in the main tank, raise the fry and then move them into the main tank once grown? And do the same with neons as well. If they were only in there temporarily, that would be fine, wouldn't it?

What about Badis Badis? These are blue and natural colors, there are also Scarlet Badis but since you dont like red, there are a few to choose from.

 

[Eliza J]

What about Badis Badis? These are blue and natural colors, there are also Scarlet Badis but since you dont like red, there are a few to choose from.

Also Neolamprologus multifasciatus, shell dwellers, and they like hard water.

 

[PygmyPepperJulli]

Sorry for the late response.

The natural colored badis look good, I might try them . I think someone said earlier though that I could only have one. I can't have shell-dwellers though my water is very soft.