I have an empty 10 gallon tank and was thinking about natives for it. I have a few concerns.
1. 10 gallons might be too small for most fish.
2. I want a fish that is going to be colorful.
3. My mom is going to want to kill me!( I just took down my old tank.)
Is there a native for me?
Started by
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, Dec 24 2012 09:01 PM
27 replies to this topic
#3
Guest_keepnatives_*
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Posted 24 December 2012 - 10:27 PM
There are many satisfactory natives for a ten gallon. 4 or 5 smaller darters; rainbows, bandeds, redlines, snubnose...., or shiners; a small school 5 or 6 rainbows, sailfins, flagfins, greenheads...or pygmy killies, pygmy sunfish, least killies...could even keep a few of each of these little ones. Or a few redbelly dace, a couple smaller madtoms, and a trio of lined killies. Search through some of the regional reports and see what tickles you.I have an empty 10 gallon tank and was thinking about natives for it. I have a few concerns.
1. 10 gallons might be too small for most fish.
2. I want a fish that is going to be colorful.
3. My mom is going to want to kill me!( I just took down my old tank.)
A couple weeks of sincere acknowledgement for all mom does for you would go a long way to # 3.
Edited by keepnatives, 24 December 2012 - 10:29 PM.
#5
Guest_EricaWieser_*
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Posted 25 December 2012 - 11:41 AM
I suggest that you read this before deciding on pygmy sunfish. http://www.nanfa.org...Egilberti.shtml
It's more about keeping a colony of pygmy sunfish alive than it is about one single individual. They must breed successfully or soon you will not have any.
In my experience, feeding them flake food and freeze dried foods does not work. Be prepared to feed them what they need.
Frozen bloodworms are $5 for 30 cubes at Petsmart (that's about a month's worth).
Grindal worms can be cultured as described here: http://forum.nanfa.o...ks/page__st__20
Microworms can be grown on oatmeal. They're easier to harvest if you lay down a coffee filter on part of the oatmeal. You can scoop them right off it.
And sometimes the babies don't survive well with the parents, so you might need a second tank to remove the parents to so that the babies grow up okay. The strategy there is that once the babies are full grown you remove all but a male or two to the tank with the adults and wait until they spawn. Once you see babies, remove those adults to the adult tank. Thus the colony keeps breeding.
With the proper care they are wonderful fish to keep.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnVXXwbIU5U
It's more about keeping a colony of pygmy sunfish alive than it is about one single individual. They must breed successfully or soon you will not have any.
In my experience, feeding them flake food and freeze dried foods does not work. Be prepared to feed them what they need.
Frozen bloodworms are $5 for 30 cubes at Petsmart (that's about a month's worth).
Grindal worms can be cultured as described here: http://forum.nanfa.o...ks/page__st__20
Microworms can be grown on oatmeal. They're easier to harvest if you lay down a coffee filter on part of the oatmeal. You can scoop them right off it.
And sometimes the babies don't survive well with the parents, so you might need a second tank to remove the parents to so that the babies grow up okay. The strategy there is that once the babies are full grown you remove all but a male or two to the tank with the adults and wait until they spawn. Once you see babies, remove those adults to the adult tank. Thus the colony keeps breeding.
With the proper care they are wonderful fish to keep.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnVXXwbIU5U
Edited by EricaWieser, 25 December 2012 - 11:49 AM.
#6
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Posted 25 December 2012 - 11:50 AM
Heterandria formosa fit in a 10 gallon tank. They come in wild type and gold color morphs.
I feed mine flakes, grindal worms, and microworms. Once I started culturing worms I never really stopped, because they're so easy to grow and the fish love them. I'm not sure they're necessary for H. formosa. They readily eat flake food with my guppies at feeding time.
I feed mine flakes, grindal worms, and microworms. Once I started culturing worms I never really stopped, because they're so easy to grow and the fish love them. I'm not sure they're necessary for H. formosa. They readily eat flake food with my guppies at feeding time.
Edited by EricaWieser, 25 December 2012 - 11:51 AM.
#8
Guest_Auban_*
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Posted 25 December 2012 - 04:06 PM
blue fin killifish are a good one. colorful, active, and curious. another bonus is that they display a wide range of color patterns, with fins that can be blue, red, yellow, orange, or a mix of all. even their body color varies from individual to individual. some of mine have a golden body while others are almost blue. its probably a great fish for a breeding project.
they breed readily if they are fed well and kept in good water. im constantly rescuing fry from my main tank.
a video of them in my tank. some of the males were showing off.
http://s1242.photobu...nt=IMG_0747.mp4
another video of them eating grindal worms. i used to feed them this much every other day. lately i just feed them blackworms.
http://s1242.photobu...nt=IMG_0753.mp4
they breed readily if they are fed well and kept in good water. im constantly rescuing fry from my main tank.
a video of them in my tank. some of the males were showing off.
http://s1242.photobu...nt=IMG_0747.mp4
another video of them eating grindal worms. i used to feed them this much every other day. lately i just feed them blackworms.
http://s1242.photobu...nt=IMG_0753.mp4
Edited by Auban, 25 December 2012 - 04:06 PM.
#9
Guest_Wuwuwu54_*
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Posted 25 December 2012 - 04:48 PM
I like those bluefin killies, but my mom would kill me if I did try to ask for them. I read the thread on collecting culturing and isolating live foods and was wanting to use the 10 gallon filled with mud and pond water, culture some beasties, and maybe put a few bluefin killies or minnows into it to start a little ecosystem. probably only 2 or so to limit the amount of water changes I would have to do. Would a few minnows decimate the beastie populations?
#10
Guest_EricaWieser_*
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Posted 25 December 2012 - 04:56 PM
In a 10 gallon tank, definitely. I have a 75 gallon tank that I keep two mandarin dragonettes in with a self sustaining population of copepods. After having seen what it takes to keep that up, I can say that 10 gallon is definitely not enough. You will have to feed them with external food.Would a few minnows decimate the beastie populations?
Edited by EricaWieser, 25 December 2012 - 04:57 PM.
#11
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Posted 25 December 2012 - 06:00 PM
Okay, here is the plan: Get a 10 gallon with pond mud and water and scum and some plants like hornwort or duckweed. let that settle and isolate some of the critters in that to culture seperately to feed to the 2 minnows I would put in after. Maybe put in 2 salamanders. Should I use a filter? When should I do water changes?
#12
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Posted 25 December 2012 - 06:10 PM
When nitrate reaches 30 ppm. Or if there's ever a measurable ammonia or nitrite concentration.When should I do water changes?
You're kinda making this harder than it has to be.
1. Some fish eat flakes. It really depends on which species you pick whether or not you need live food.
2. Live cultures don't have to be aquatic. You can set up a grindal worm population in a plastic shoe box. Springtails and wingless fruit flies also exist, although I've never tried those.
3. Even if the fish does need live foods, you don't have to culture them yourself. Petsmart sells blocks of bloodworms and tubifex worms you can store conveniently in your freezer.
What you need is highly variable depending on the exact species of as you have been saying, 'minnow' you choose.
Also, I have heard that salamanders and fish don't live well together, especially not in a 10 gallon tank.
Edited by EricaWieser, 25 December 2012 - 06:14 PM.
#14
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Posted 25 December 2012 - 06:17 PM
Live food doesn't have to be aquatic. In fact they are often not. In the wild, a lot of the diet of insectivorous fish comes from unlucky flying insects that land on the water's surface. The advantage that non-aquatic live food cultures have over aquatic ones are numerous. They're easier to keep, easier to clean, and don't take up tank space. You don't necessarily have to set up a tank if you want to culture live foods for your fish to eat. That's all I'm saying.i know, but I would want to culture these things anyway. I have other tanks,and I like to culture aquatic organisms for fish, even if they do eat flakes
I have four plastic shoe boxes of grindal worms and five tupperware containers of microworms and find them to be quite useful. There are also Petsmart frozen bloodworms and tubifex worms in my freezer, and I'm in the process of ordering frozen blackworms online. You don't have to give up tank space to feed your fish live foods.
Of course if you have the tank space to spare, the setup with renewable live food in the tank is my lowest effort tank. I'm referring to my 150 gallons of saltwater with copepods in it that currently houses two mandarin dragonettes. All I do is add some yeast and blendered up plants and marine algae every few days. The lights are on a timer and due to the low fish load and high caulerpa prolifera (plant) population, the whole system is water-change-free. Yes, those setups are nice. But you're not going to achieve that in 10 gallons.
It took me several tries to get it right. I had a 55 gallon tank with 84 Elassoma gilberti that ate their blackworm population down to nothing. It turns out there were leeches in there that were eating the blackworms and competing for food with the Elassoma. So I switched to grindal worms. And then it turned out that a lot of the fishes' shyness was due to not being hand fed. When they can hunt for food in their tank, all you are is an annoyance and a source of fear. When your face is associated with food dropping into the tank, all of a sudden the fish get far less shy and much more visible. The two mandarins in my two 75 gallon saltwater tanks? I never see them. They don't need me to see them for them to eat. That's one of the reasons I recommend against having the food culture in the tank with the fish. They can get away with hiding from you every chance they get. Fish fed every time you approach the tank eventually become tame.
Edited by EricaWieser, 25 December 2012 - 06:32 PM.
#15
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Posted 25 December 2012 - 06:27 PM
Ok, thanks. What I meant was that I like to culture aquatic organisms for microscope purposes otherwise so the fact of feeding them to fish is a bonus.Live food doesn't have to be aquatic. In fact they are often not. In the wild, a lot of the diet of insectivorous fish comes from unlucky flying insects that land on the water's surface. The advantage that non-aquatic live food cultures have over aquatic ones are numerous. They're easier to keep, easier to clean, and don't take up tank space. You don't necessarily have to set up a tank if you want to culture live foods for your fish to eat. That's all I'm saying.
I have four plastic shoe boxes of grindal worms and five tupperware containers of microworms and find them to be quite useful. There are also Petsmart frozen bloodworms and tubifex worms in my freezer, and I'm in the process of ordering frozen blackworms online. You don't have to give up tank space to feed your fish live foods.
Of course if you have the tank space to spare, the setup with renewable live food in the tank is my lowest effort tank. I'm referring to my 150 gallons of saltwater with copepods in it that currently houses two mandarin dragonettes. All I do is add some yeast and blendered up plants and marine algae every few days. The lights are on a timer and due to the low fish load and high caulerpa prolifera (plant) population, the whole system is water-change-free. Yes, those setups are nice. But you're not going to achieve that in 10 gallons.
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