I've decided to turn my old ten gallon tank into a tropical one and I'm sooooo excited ! I'm thinking of doing something heavily planted with some cool lighting. I do have a few questions about fish compatibility though.

I have a large common pleco that I'll be putting in the tank. I was thinking that if I very slowly raise the temperature he'll be fine with the change from a goldfish to tropical tank. Also, he has a history of attacking goldfish, and I've been told that if I get some fast tropicals it should be ok. I'd love to get anglefish, and maybe some mollies and tetras. How would this combination work?

Thanks so much!

I don't know anything about angelfish but mollies and tetras have different water preferences. For example mollies like a bit of salt, they can even live in marine environments if acclimatised slowly. Tetras don't tolerate salt very well at all. Mollies prefer alkaline water (higher pH) and harder water. Tetras prefer acidic water, preferably pH no higher than 7.

I guess that people have kept them together if they find a happy medium that suits all the fish.

One thing that concerns me is that a 10g is probably not big enough for a common pleco, especially if it is already on the largish side.

sorry but the tank is too small for the plec he will need at least a three foot long tank probably more.
angelfish need 10 gallons as well and the tank must be at least 18 inches deep as they are tall fish. the tetras sound like the best way to go and for your size tank then you could get maybe 3 shoals of 4 or two shoals of 6 with a couple of corys for the bottom. heavily planted with a piece of bogwood it will look lovely.

Thanks for the advice so far, I'm only beginning to look into my options so this is all very helpful. The thing about the poor pleco is he's in the 10 gallon now, all he does is hide in his terra cotta pot and come out occasionaly for food. I had to seperate him from my goldfish over a month ago and that was the only tank I had. Maybe I'm better off just looking for someone with a large tank who can give him a good home

As for the tropicals, it is a tall tank but considering angelfish can grow large, maybe they're not a good idea, I've just always wanted them so bad . It's going to be at least a month before I put fish in the tank so I'll keep digging to find out what species will be best.

really, anything that doesnt grow more than a couple of inches. hope you find something you like. and if you get tetras make sure you buy them in small groups.

just a suggestion - why dont you add a pair of dwarf gouramis into the tank? they need about 8-10 gals (learnt everything i know from Sands)
maybe just as a possibility add a few tetras?
Angel fish are lovely, but they do get huge!! and they grow at an astonishing rate!! ive had mine for only a couple of months, and they ar allready HUGE!!

Ooh, Dwarf Gourami! Forgot about them... Grr, it's driving me insane trying to figure out what to keep in my 10 gallon once I get it recycled. My female guppy died last night sometime, I knew she wasn't going to make it much longer *sniff* Not sure why she started getting ill so I'm going to start from scratch, just in case.

For the 10 gallon, somebody also mentioned a few Rasboras, Danios or White Clouds to me in another topic Just thought I'd pass it on! Good luck with your tank! I'm going to see if I can find a few Java Ferns this time rather than using just plastic plants. LoL I have a nice layout all drawn up and I can't wait to get things going again! LoL

Sounds exciting atryeu. I think dwarf gouramis sound like a good idea.

cories

I like those dwarf gouramis, too. My friend kept those giant gouramis (and Oscars) and they had SO much personality! Maybe the tiny ones do, too!

Any decisions yet on what you are going to do? How exciting!

Hiya

we're doin a ten gallon tropical tank too in the next few weeks.

Gonna start with 3 cory's and add to it as we see fish we like, struggling to pick fish...but we've been told, tetra's, white clouds and danio's too Have also looked at betta's

bettas are good too. although you could only keep 1.

If I were to keep a pair of Dwarf Gouramis in a 10 gallon, would there be room for a small school of white clouds and a pair of cories/ottos or would it be to much? I know the gouramis are a bit larger.. 3.5" is what fishprofiles.com said....

your gouramis would be about it i'm afraid.

LoL That's what I though. Bummer. I'll stick with just a schooling fish then and the cory/otto pair Thanks sandy! LoL Wish I could afford a larger tank -_- Can't keep much anything in a 10 gallon *sigh*

lol. make sure you take pics when you get them!!!

Well, my tank is almost ready!! I bought a bunch of live plants yesterday and some drift wood, the bottom is river rock and gravel and there are some large rocks in there. I can't believe how great it looks , I'd take a picture but my sis took my camera out of town. It's underneath my goldie tank and I'm afraid it might show that one up, hehe.

Anyway, the pleco is loving it. I'm bringing the temperature up gradually over the next week or so. I've decided on mollies and tetras for the tank. I fell in love with marbled mollies at the pet store yesterday. Also, they guy there was telling me that if I make the tank brackish it will open up my options as to what species I can put in.

Hopefully soon I can get my , yay!

If you go for the brackish tank then you cant have the neons or plec.

I heard that about plecos as well, but I've also heard a lot of people say they do fine with salt. I don't think I'm going to go brackish, I thought about it and it's just more maintence that I don't need.

I just got three marbled/dalmation mollies!!! Called them meni, mini and moe, haha. They are so great, I think later this week I'm going to add swordtails and an anglerfish!!! Pics will come soon, haha.

ummm, i think you need to slow down a bit. I dont want to look mean but your plec is taking all the room of the ten gallon as his waste alone will be more than enough for your filter. The mollies are pushing you over that and adding even more fish is looking for trouble.
i think you mean an angelfish? well, these need ten gallons on there own and need really deep tanks.

Don't worry, you don't sound mean
I forgot to mention that I found a home for my pleco, my friend has nice big (30 gallon) tropical tank and took him in for me! I'm so much happier, even though I miss him, he has a nice big home now.

Anyway, I made the tank brackish and the guy at the store was showing me an anglerfish in the tank today that can go in there. Very cool fish for sure.

Angler? I was reading about those...... LiveAquaria.Com I think was the site. They require lots of care and need larger than a 10 gallon it sounded like o.0 Some of those things get huge!!! They are carnivores too and will eventually eat the other fishies in the tank

I wanted some Swordtails too, but a 10 gallon is to small *sniff* Swordtails get a bit to big so you wouldn't be able to have more than 1 or 2 males alone


EDIT: Here's the link to the page I seen the other day with some angler info, if that's what you were talking about: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=19

An anglerfish is the ones that shoot water from their mouths at insects. they are very difficult to look after and not suitable for a ten gallon.

The mollies that you were looking at would be ideal for a brackish tank.

Angler's do that too? All I know about them is they have that long thingy they lure fish with LoL. My grandma was going to buy one but they don't get along with Lionfish so she didn't (she had such a pretty Lionfish in her 125 gallon marine tank a long time ago!!!!)

I agree that my 10 gallon is definatly too small for an archer, maybe if I upgrade. Also, I read that they can shoot at your lighting and mine don't have a good cover, so that could be very bad

To update, I added 2 fancy guppies to my tank and that was going to be it. THEN I got up this morning and what did I see? FRY I thought one of my mollies looked pregnant when I got it...well I was right! I can only see about 5 but I"m sure there are a lot more in there, it's heavily planted with large rocks and wood. I have a seperater but I honestly don't know if I could catch them! For now I'm just adding extra brine shrimp and a few algae pellets in hope that they will eat enough.

I have been in love with harlequin rasboras... very neat little guys!

but for a brakish... I have a 6 brackish, and bumble bee gobies are a hoot! also, ghost shrimp are awsome little additions, and love the salt. I also have a small group of pond snails who are doing well

heres a REALLY good webby

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/brackish/brackish.html

helped me ALOT!

Wow that is such a helpful site! I'll remember it if I ever decide to go brackish with my 10 gallon!

congrats on the fry!

Thanks for the congrats! From what I can tell, there are at least 6 fry doing very well . I'm going to take some pics this week and post them, I'm so happy with my tropical tank!!!