New Aquarium--Stocking Advice

In My Humble Opinion
1

So as an early Christmas present this year, I have received a 10-gallon aquarium kit. I already have a 1-gallon aquarium with two cory cats in it, so obviously these will be moved into their new home. After the tank has cycled and such, what would the aquarium-keeping dopers recommend I stock the tank with. Keep in mind I am a newbie and would like fish that are… hardy. As of now the tank is unheated, so I would prefer cooler-water fish such as the corys. The temperature in my small aquarium is around 70.

So far my ideas are:
[ul]
[li]2 albino, 2 green, 2 julii corys[/li][li]2 albino corys, 2 more corys, 1 upside down cat, 1 betta (maybe)[/li][li]2 albino corys, 2 other cories, 2 gouramis[/li][li]2 albino corys, 2 other corys, 1 butterfly loach (stingray pleco), 1 betta[/li][/ul]

The filter is rated for up to 15 gallons and I am particularly good with water changes, so I think I can afford to slightly overstock.

2

first off, cycling a tank the conventional way (with fish) will take about 4 weeks, start with some hardy fish like Zebra Danios (2 fish would be fine) and keep the bioload low, test the water weekly for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate, your tank will be cycled when you have readings of 0/0/less than 30

at that point, you can slowly add more fish, every fish you add increases the bioload in the tank, add too many and your cycle will crash and enter a “mini-cycle” and have an ammonia spike

the guideline for small aquariums is 1" of narrow bodied fish per gallon (cories are low bioload fish and count for 1" per gallon), however, they do prefer warmer water, 75-80 degrees, it’s better to keep the tank understocked than overstocked

going by your ideas;

2 albino, 2 green, 2 julii corys;(adult size of cories is around 2") 6" of fish, this is fine

2 albino corys, 2 more corys, 1 upside down cat, 1 betta (maybe); 9-10" of fish, getting close here, upside-down cats are 3" adult size, as are bettas, you’d need to keep a close eye on water parameters

2 albino corys, 2 other cories, 2 gouramis; this will greatly depend on what type of gouramis you’re looking at, as they can range from 2" to 6" depending on species, i’d say no on this one…

2 albino corys, 2 other corys, 1 butterfly loach (stingray pleco), 1 betta; if by “butterfly loach” you mean Hillstream loach, they get to be around 2", and like lots of current and prefer cooler water than bettas and cories, bettas do not like current (generally), bioload wise, it’s close, around 9"

if you’re looking at a common pleco, those fish can grow up to 12" long and are not suited for a 10 gallon tank

better ways to cycle the tank are;

fishless cycling; you add pure ammonia to the tank until your levels are 0/0/30, the fish don’t have to deal with cycling stress, but you’ll have an empty aquarium for about a month

Bio-Spira; Marineland’s proprietary nitrifying bacteria, can cycle a tank with fish in 24 hours

live plants; heavily stock the aquarium with plants, they absorb nitrogenous waste more efficiently than the nitrifying bacteria, and you can put a small fish load right away

3

  1. Start with Zebra Danios.

  2. Start with Zebra Danios.

  3. Start with Zebra Danios.