Double 10 gallon Stocking Questions

[pianofish]

Hey everyone. Instead of setting up a 20gallon long, I decided to use the 2x10 gallons that I already have. I'm doing this project alongside my girlfriend who is all for fish tanks (Hoorah!). We have decided to do one of the tanks heavily planted with crypts and the other will be scarcely planted with more rocks and cover for breeding whichever fish we feel like at the time. We've decided on some preliminary fish that we think would be good for the 10 gallon community planted tank but wanted some opinions if anyone else had experience with these. I've done a lot of research on them already, I just wanted anyone with more experience than I to give me a few hints/suggestions on what they think.

Planted 10 gallon (will have eheim 2213 filter)
-3-4 kuhli loaches
-6-8 Cory habrosus
-supreme Red cherry shrimp
-a small schooling fish -probably CPDs or another small Danio.
-a few ottos


10 gallon breeder tank
-a pair/trio of red licorice gouramis or scarlet badis (these would be in the breeding tank.)
-probably more shrimp with these and also a few ottos
- been thinking about breeding Otto cocama (zebra ottos) any opinions? (Not at the same time as the aforementioned fish)

[Virto]

That's a lot of fish for a 10 gallon tank.

I'd see no issue with doing any one group of those fish, but all together that'll be quite a mess.

I'm a sucker for cories, so that would be my vote if you had to pick and choose. I suppose you could also get away with some small schooling fish as long as there aren't too many of them. The biggest issue would be the cool temps the cories prefer - maybe WCM would be good tankmates.

[mnemenoi]

-3-4 kuhli loaches (see below)
-6-8 Cory habrosus (Like cooler temps, never had any luck with these)
-supreme Red cherry shrimp (always a great choice, get them breeding before adding a lot of possible predators and provide a lot of moss/cover)
-a small schooling fish -probably CPDs or another small Danio. (Will prey on shrimplets, changing these out to a Bororas species might see better results)
-a few ottos (hardly ever go wrong with otos, Nerites do a terrific job with algae as well)

I myself like Kuhli loaches in a densely planted tank (we have 4-6 in our and never see them other then feeding time) and have heard in softer water tanks they will accidentally breed on occasion.

I have never bred the zebra otos, there should be articles online and most likely similar to the normal ones. I'm guessing very low Ph and soft clean water are a must.

[LB79]

The cories and the loaches inhabit the same general area, so why not put give each species its own ten? Then you could have CPDs in one and the badis group in the other. And the otos and shrimp.

Key to breeding otos: Lots of food (algae, cucumber, and such) and lots of water-changes. And a lot of plants would help too.

[mistahoo]

Originally Posted by Virto

That's a lot of fish for a 10 gallon tank.

Not really since he's got a 2213 on it. I only had 2 hasbrosus and they're quite tiny. In a 10gal well planted, you'd probably never see them until feeding. They're awesome! One died to a mistake on my behalf, but they're quite easy to care for. Temp in my tank is 74F. They can do well in higher temperatures (76-78F) as well. With your stocklist so far I'd do temps around 72-76F and they'd be fine.

I'd skip on the danios and CPD with the RCS unless you breed them out beforehand and have plenty of cover for them to hide in. As Mnemenoi said, they'll prey on the shrimp. Kuhli loaches and cories should do fine with them.

[pianofish]

I think that I may put the shrimp in the breeding tank with a large sponge filter on it, and also start out my main tank with shrimp as well that way if my heavy planted tank's population dies out I have another one in the breeder. I think that I may start out trying to breed some regular ottos in my breeder tank. I'm excited. So many possibilities!