# Stock Ideas For My 10 Gallon Planted Tank



## VanishingWolf26 (Jun 26, 2012)

The stocking plans I have for the tank are: 
1. Trade in my rubber lip pleco and add an otocinclus.
2. Add a male cherry shrimp to breed with the female I have.
Any opinions on those ideas are welcome and for the rest of my plans I want you guys to help me out with your ideas if you can.
3. Wait awhile to see if the 2 males and 1 female red belly xray tetras will breed?
4. Either add 4 Long Fin Panda Corys or 6 Pygmy Corys?
5. I also would like to add around 5 or so Black Harlequin Rasboras?
Any opinions and advice are for sure welcome on those fish and any other fish you think I might should add that could replace the corys or the rasboras.


----------



## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

Rather than have 2 or 3 shoaling fish species trie sticking with one and having more of them. Your shrimp and oto idea is solid.


----------



## VanishingWolf26 (Jun 26, 2012)

Thank you, grogan, and I would just stick with my red belly xray tetras and I will keep the three I have because they are great fish with awesome color and they are see through; however, I can't find anymore of them any where and petsmart or at least the ones around here have stopped selling them and the only LFS that has had gold pristella tetras ,which correct me if I am wrong are the same fish, has not had them in a very long time so my only option for more is hope they breed which is doubtful. So what do you think about leaving out the harlequins and just going with one nice school of pygmy corys since they are so small.


----------



## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

Pygmy corys rock. I loved the ones I used to have and hated to trade them in. Get the corys and wait for some more xray tetras. Or use aquabid and save some cash.


----------



## VanishingWolf26 (Jun 26, 2012)

Alright thanks


----------



## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

I'm no expert on shrimp, but my dad just got 4 chrystal reds for our new 6.6g and they like to stick together. Maybe you should think of getting a few more cherry shrimp than one. I would personally go for a group of at least five. That way they will feel saver.


----------



## VanishingWolf26 (Jun 26, 2012)

I know but I have a nice female that is ready to breed so out of one more will come several.


----------



## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

ok, how do you tell male and female in the store appart though? If there is no safe way you might just end up with another female.


----------



## VanishingWolf26 (Jun 26, 2012)

Most of the shrimp or well all the ones I seen where old enough to breed and you can tell them apart pretty easily. Males have flat stomachs and female have a more round stomach and females also have a bright yellow or green saddle that you can see.


----------



## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

Cool, I didn't know that. I'll keep that in mind if I ever want to get cherry shrimp. Do you know how to tell appart chrystal red shrimp?


----------



## VanishingWolf26 (Jun 26, 2012)

Honestly I don't, I would assume it would be similar but I am not sure


----------



## VanishingWolf26 (Jun 26, 2012)

I was curious so I looked it up and what I found was because the coloration of crystal red shrimp it makes it almost impossible to see the females saddle but if you can see it they have a brown saddle but it said the best way to tell is to look at there underbelly which is the same as cherry shrimp if it is round it is a female and if is is a straight line it is a male. Females are also larger.


----------



## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

awesome thanks. Its just because my dad put some chrystal reds into his aquarium (numbers dwindled to three) and I wanted to know if there was a way to tell if I had male and female. He is a complete beginner though so I think he is not actually gonna be breeding anything.


----------



## VanishingWolf26 (Jun 26, 2012)

http://www.planetinverts.com/Crystal Red Shrimp.html

There is the link to where I found the info they have good bio's on a lot of shrimp.


----------



## VanishingWolf26 (Jun 26, 2012)

Just a little update on this guys, I have not yet stocked any other fish in the tank. I couldn't bring myself to trade in my rubberlip pleco, it is just to cool and ate most the algae other than hair algae up plus he seems to be really happy. I have had no breeding action like I figured but anyways to my question. What do you guys think about a pair of Apisto's or GBR's? I am leaning more towards the apisto's if that is what I decide to do.


----------



## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

Apistos or ram are great fish. I love them. I have both and I'm looking into more. But I would only sugest keeping them in a ten gallon if they were alone. Rams stay smaller than apistos, so it may work. I breed both in 10 gals, but don't have other fish with them. I think with what you have you could get away with a pair of rams, but if your hoping to breed the fry will be gone in minutes with the tetras and pleco.


----------



## VanishingWolf26 (Jun 26, 2012)

Thanks, I wasn't planning on breeding them yet either way and the GBR's just worry me because they are a little harder to take care of and with school starting I don't have as much time for my tanks, but it does help knowing you successfully breed both in 10 gals. As for the tetra I honestly don't know how long they will last the female seems to be doing fine but the 2 males have started hiding a lot and not looking as good but it is probably just because there are only 3 in the tank.


----------



## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

They're easy as long as you provide the right requirements. They need a LOW ph. like 6-7. Mine are at about 6.6-6.8. Thats really the main requirement.


----------



## VanishingWolf26 (Jun 26, 2012)

What about the temperature and the 10 has no problem keeping a low pH which I have run out of stuff to test with and need to buy more soon but it was staying around 6.2.


----------



## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

They like a very warm temp. Around 80. Mine stays between 78-80.


----------

