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Old 07-09-2007, 09:17 AM   #2
Zoe
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Ottawa
Age: 22
Posts: 1,029
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Before adding fish, you should consider your current stocking levels. The pearl gourami is not suitable for a 10 gallon tank. An adult pearl can hit 4" easily. They aren't a particularly heavy bioload (compared to thicker fish of the same length), but they are too much for a 10 gallon tank, and need more swimming room. Thirty gallons would really be the minimum for him.
Also, kuhli loaches should not be in a 10 gallon tank. For starters, they're schoolers, and two is not enough of them to keep together. You could get away with it, but considering you won't see them very much, it's not worth it to waste the entire tank on the kuhli's. 20 gal long minimum for a trio of Kuhli's, I'd suggest.
That said, if you got rid of those, you would have room for a few platies.
How about something like this:
6 rasboras
1 dwarf gourami
2 bamboo shrimp
2 female platies

That's a little tight, but with regular water changes, you can pull it off.

Quote:
once the fish in my tank die or get moved to another tank
Do you have plans to transfer them, or are you just waiting for them to die? Many fish are more long-lived than you might think... Don't count on them dying so you can get something else.

If you want a platy-only tank, you'll need something bigger than 10 gallons, unless you want only two platies. Most platies won't grow more than 2 inches, but they have the potential to grow to 4". I've seen some 4" monsters that were that big simply because they were kept in a larger tank, given more swimming rooms, lots of food, and lived long enough to grow that large.

Anyway, if you do need to stick with the 10 gallon tank, you could do 1 male platy and 2 or 3 females.
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90g pltd: angelfish [black, leopard, platinum, silver zebra & gold vt] · glass catfish · harlequin rasbora · neon & rummy nosed tetra · sterpai & spotted cory · bristlenose pleco

28g pltd: scarlet badis · oto cats · bristlenose

16g pltd: flame & honey gourami · cherry barbs

8g (soon to be 18g): 15 lbs LR · 10 lbs LS · YSP · zoas · shrooms · flame & hammer corals · brittle star · scarlet & electric blue hermits · firefish
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