10 gallon; my opinion of tank mates. O.o HELP?!

[kiddomagic]

well, i'm already thinking of getting ghost shrimp, so that's all good.
i don't have a betta yet soo... yeah. sad, ikr?

african dwarf frogs= NO, NO, NO! i'm scared of frogs! NO MATTER WHAT! they're jumpy.. o.O

mystery snail= they're ok, but those HUGE looking ones creep me out... and i get paranoid, they might escape my tank...

neon tetras= i've heard they can be nippers? but i've also heard, the more there are(neon tetras are schooling fish), they might lose interest on nipping the betta. not sure.

pleckos= people say they are good, but some can die easily from the water pH.


help, anyone? which tankmate would work great for my "FUTURE" betta?

[Welsh]

I have tried every single one except ghost shrimp and have had great success with them all

[Fermin]

I can only speak for myself, but I would not introduce a new betta to tankmates without first figuring out his/her personality. He/she may turn out to be a sweetheart, or he/she may turn out to be a mass-murderer. Some people in this forum rank their betta from 1-10, with 1 being the most passive sweetheart and 10 being an extremely aggressive loner.

What I would do is start cycling your 10 gallon tank. In the meantime, get your new betta and house him/her in a critter keeper or small temporary tank (ex. 2.5g). It is during this time that you can understand his/her personality.

In about 4 weeks, your main tank will be cycled and you'll also know your betta's temperment. You can then transfer your betta to his permanent home in the newly-cycled 10g and then go from there.

Good luck!

[kiddomagic]

how do you cycle a tank? IT'S SO LONG! GRRR.
any tips on making it faster?

[Welsh]

Adding filter media, substrate and decorations from an already estabilished tank can make it faster, also feeding the tank with fish food.

I have been doing this since Tuesday and only today my tank has started to cycle

[kiddomagic]

is that the fishless cycle? why would we put fish food in the tank, when there's no fish?

[wallywestisthebest333]

Here are some really good pages about fishless cycling and cycling in general:

http://www.drtimsaquatics.com/fishless/fishless.html

and here's one:

http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

You can speed up a cycle by using media such as gravel, decorations, and filter media (like sponges or bio-media of some sort) from an already established tank.

You could also speed it up by using something like Tetra SafeStart or DrTim’s One and Only Live Nitrifying Bacteria. =]

[doggyhog]

On the side note, there is NO type of Pleco that can be housed in a 10g.

Have you thought about Cory Cats?

[Amour]

I don't recommend putting a bunch of fish in a ten gallon tank all at once.

[wallywestisthebest333]

My reccomendation on tank mates are as follows:

Shrimp and snails. =]