Hello All! List of Fish for a Ten gallon

[SchizotypalVamp]

Hi all,
I'm currently involved in creating a list of fish suitable for ten gallon tanks, mostly because I simply have an interest in small fish. I spent tonight scowering Planetcatfish to see what catfish, besides some smaller species of cory (I actually only put pygmy cories on my list), are both suitable for a ten gallon and available. I took available to mean a caresheet came up within the first two pages of googling. I realize that there are rarer species of catfish out there which one can get occasionally, but as they are on the borderline of unavailable I would prefer not to list them. Are there any which I have missed and are these species appropriate?

Parotocinclus maculicauda
Microglanis iheringi
Otocinclus cocama/mariae/vittata
Akysis prashadi
Honeycomb Tatia

Thank you very much!

[Birger]

Ancistrus claro

are available with a little looking
microsynodontis such as

Microsynodontis sp(1)

are occasionally available

Hara jerdoni

I see often

all would be quite comfortable in a ten gallon

Birger

[SchizotypalVamp]

Thanks for the reply!

Ancistrus claro I looked up on google and found that the max size listed was 3.5 inches. Can you clarify this for me?
How available are the microsynodonti? I looked for caresheets for all of them and found nothing.
I forgot to mention that I already knew about hara jerdoni...heh

[MatsP]

You can get a pretty good list of fishes by using the search feature in the Cat-eLog:
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/search.php
Then enter whatever you think is the size you want to target. Fill in a minimum size of non-zero, as this will prevent you from getting a list of potentially large fish that we haven't got a size for.

As guideline, you assume the minimum tank size is 4L x 2L x 2L where L is the length of the fish. This means that you divide the long side of the tank by 4, and the shortest side by 2. Whichever is the smaller will be the max size of the fish. So for example a 10 long is (in inches) 24 x 9 x 13, so the max size is about 4.5 inches. In a 10g the other format, you will get 20 x 11 x 13, so a max size of 5 inches (20 / 4 = 5, 11/2 = 5.5, so choose the shorter 5 inches).

The list of fishes up to 4.5 inches would be between 600 and 700, so you probably would want to put other restrictions. Sorting it by "hits" on the cat-elog page pretty well sums up what is most commonly available [more people look up fish that they have seen or can get than those they can't get or haven't ever seen].

Here is a list of the 50 most popular of all species, up to 115 mm (you can use inches, I just choose millimeters in this case).

You can also restrict the temperature in your search, which would reduce the number of candidates to more match what you can have in your tank.

--
Mats

[racoll]

You will find a great many more

Otocinclus

available in the trade. They are not easy to identify, and are often mixed in shipments. Might be easier to just list Otocinclus spp.

Parotocinclus jumbo

and

Parotocinclus spilosoma

are also widely available and well suited to small tanks.

[Richard B]

Microsyno's are quite available over here, I know of a couple of lfs who have them at the moment.

If they are on Mats' 115mm list i'd recommend

Synodontis batesii

,

Synodontis contractus

,

Synodontis lucipinnis

,

Synodontis robertsi

(perhaps although it's small enough but notreadily available & is better off in a large tank),

Synodontis sp(2)

from the synos.

Also,

Kryptopterus minor

,

Gagata cenia

,

Pareutropius buffei

[MatsP]

On the top 50 list, S. lucipinnis and S. nigriventis makes the cut, but the others are further down the list. Microsynodontis batesii also gets on the top 50 list.

Jools probably won't like me too much for this [it's a bit heavy on the database to list everything], but Here is a list of all the fish up to 115 mm (4.5") fish. It is currently 677 of them, but given a day or three it may grow a few more [because I've been adding data for a few new species].

--
Mats

[SchizotypalVamp]

I actually used the search feature and looked up every single one that had data on it in google. It took me about three hours, heh. I like doing things right.
Honestly I am personally against keeping fish over 3'' in a ten gallon tank unless the fish is really, really sedentary. I would need to know if it was.

Again, thank you! /off to do research

[MatsP]

I actually used the search feature and looked up every single one that had data on it in google. It took me about three hours, heh. I like doing things right.
Honestly I am personally against keeping fish over 3'' in a ten gallon tank unless the fish is really, really sedentary. I would need to know if it was.

Again, thank you! /off to do research

Yes, the 4.5" is an "absolute maximum", and probably most suitable for fish like plecos that don't swim very fast. For fast-swimmers, you need more space.

--
Mats

[Birger]

Ancistrus claro I looked up on google and found that the max size listed was 3.5 inches. Can you clarify this for me?

This is a breeding female, note the size comparison to a ordinary 3 or 4 inch green bean, the fish is probably 2 inch SL

Birger

[MatsP]

I think part of the confusion on size here could be related to the different ways that you can measure fish. The Cat-eLog lists fish in "standard length", which is the tip of the nose to the end of the body, not counting the tail-fin. Many people use total length, including every last bit of the fish, and some people use something called "Fork lenghth", which is to the middle part of the tail fin, which makes a difference on those fish that have a V-shaped tail-fin, or long filaments on the edges of the tail.

So a 2.8" standard length may well be 3.5" total length.

--
Mats

[OldMan]

One that I see missing from the list is the corydoras habrosus. About the same size as a pygmy, available locally or on line. I got some locally and when they ran out got he rest in the mail. These are some very nice active fish that do well with other small fish. I like these guys in my fry tank and my endlers tanks beacuse they really pose no threat.