Tropical Fish in a 10 Gallon Tank

Question
I have a brand new 10 gallon tank with everything to go with it, & I would like put tropical fish in it. What kind of fish do you suggest and how many can go in a tank?

Answer
Hi Zach,
Before you start stocking the tank, make sure you know about cycling or establishing your "biofilter" in order to control the ammonia produced by the fish and avoid the all-too common troubles of an uncycled tank and fish loss.

You can read about it here if you aren't sure about it-
http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=559&forum=14

Lots of helpful info provided in that link.

Once your tank is healthy for stocking with fish... these are some good species to start out with-

*Platies
*Guppies
*Tetras
*Danios
*Rasboras
*Corydoras catfish
*White cloud mountain minnows

Platies are a very colorful, active, and hardy species that are common in most petstores and there are many different varieties. They are livebearing fish, with females having about 30 or more fry every month of so. If you decide on platies, its best for females to outnumber males. And ideally keep just one male per tank. The gender differences are very distinguishable. You can tell by their bottom fins. In the female, it is fan-shaped. In the male, it is slender and pointed.

Guppies are very fancy little fish as you probably know. They are so colorful and they are livebearers as well. A tank full of guppies is quite gorgeous

There are many species of tetras available. Some of the most common are; Black skirt tetras, Neon tetras, lemon, black phantom, serpae, glowlight tetras, ect... Most all are good beginner fish. They should always be kept in schools of minimum 6 for them to thrive. They are small fish that produce a low bioload so a 10-gallon could handle a group of 6 with no problem at all and still have room for a few other species.

Rasboras go the same way as tetras as far as stocking. The most common species of rasbora is the Harlequin, a unique patterned fish that although it may appear subtle, it will have a slight glow in its fins of brilliant red/brown color when in good health.


Danios are also the same. They are active creatures, very hardy and very easy to keep in general. They love playing 'chase' when kept in groups of 6 or more.

Corydoras catfish are very docile and simple fish to maintain. They will clean your aquarium of leftover food that might have dropped down but always make sure to feed them just like your other fish. They need better nutrition than just what falls to the gravel--- by-passed by the other fish.

White clouds are very similar to danios in shape, activity level and care. Again they are schooling and their unique trait is they do well in cooler temps than most tropical fish.

I think a good balanced aquarium would be one where it contains a small group of schooling fish. One or two 'centerpiece' fish as you might call them that parade through the school of smaller fish. And a few bottom dwellers like corydoras for activity on the bottom. It makes for an interesting tank to look at when this setup is followed.

A 10-gallon tank that's been cycled and stocked 'gradually' and gets regular consistent water changes and overall good maintenance routine could handle-

*6-7 Small fish like tetras, danios, ect...
*1-2 Dwarf gouramis or Honey gouramis as the 'centerpiece' fish that stands out from the rest
*3 Corydoras (Or 3-4 otocinclus catfish, or 4 ghost shrimp, or 1 mystery snail)

You could also leave out the gouramis and instead replace them with another small group of fish like 6 tetras and 4-5 guppies

Just a thought.

I do hope this helps and best of luck!
If you have anymore questions about anything, let me know!
Karen~