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Anonymous
I've been wanting to start an aquarium but I'm not experienced with creating and maintaining one. What's a good size for beginners? What other kinds of fish go good with danios?
>> Anonymous
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barbs, small catfish, rasboras (same family), quick hardy tetras, swordtails and platies etc

they mix well with most fish. just keep them away from bettas and gouramies unless you have a group of at least six, as I've found them to be nippy when kept in small groups.

also- what is the danio in OP's pic? I've had one like it for a while, mixed in with my zebras but I've never ID'd it
>> Anonymous
>>210875
It's a glow light tetra
>> Anonymous
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nope. try again

it is definitely a danio.
>> Anonymous
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>>210875
Its so called glow-light danio, official name Danio Choprae (sp?). Recently (~1990) found specie of danios, still somewhat rare in a hobby. Its pretty much the same as your normal danio exept for the colour. They cost about 4-10 $ a piece.
>>210842
What he said. Keep them with other small fish - tetras, smal cichlids (kribs, rams), other danios, rainbows, barbs, loaches. Danios usualy do not bother other fish, your main concern should be that other fish do not eat your danios. Also keep in mind temperature and hardnes preferences, obviously danio would not work with goldfish.
I recomend to keep a school of them, at least 6, the more the better.
Tank size is very important - danios are very active fish, a school of danios would not feel good in 10g tank. I would recomend something like 29g and up. The bigger the better. They like plants too and do not eat them.
>> Anonymous
>>210884
I guess Danios would not be a great choice for me. I need fish that can live comfortable in a 10 gallon tank.
>> Anonymous
>>210889
There are a lot of fish that would be happy in 10g. The rule is they should be small and not very active. Danio are not good because of activity.
Do you want a school of small fish or 1-2 bigger fishes?
>> Anonymous
>>210898
I'd love to have a school of middle dwellers and possibly a couple of algae eaters. My visual preferrence would be vertically striped fish or a colored striped fish.
>> Anonymous
>>210905
In a 10 gallon, you'd probably be restricted to keeping 0-1 algae eater. They all get fairly large, with very few exceptions, and even then the little ones get around 5in long
>> Anonymous
>>210930
Will it be fine as the only of its kind? I thought fish get lonely.
>> Anonymous
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>>210937
There are fish that would die if not surrounded by 10 of its buddies, and there are fish that would shread anything that resembles another fish to pieces. Its all REALLY depends.
For algae eaters you might want to get 1 small size pleco - bristlenose stay small, for example. But plecos are very dirty (eat a lot and poop a lot) and very inactive fish. They sleep all day and poop all night. You might want to get some otos or shrimps instead, or have no algae eaters at all - the right chemical balance in the tank would keep algae at bay better then the army of algae eaters.
School of small fish? You might try small tetras, cories, rasboras. Threadfin rainbows {pic related http://members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/Werneri.htm ), would work too, you might get about 5 for 10 g. There are some small barbs (gracilius, gelius, jae), but most easily obtainable barbs grow too big to be comfortable in 10 gallon.
>> Anonymous
>>210945
From what you have shown me I decided to get 5 neon black tetra and possibly 3 emerald eye rasboras if space is available.

If I do come across an algae problem, I'll look into getting an algae eater.
>> Anonymous
>>210958
>3 emerald eye rasboras and 4 black neon tetra
All schooling fish prefer at least 5 fishes of the same kind, otherwise they either get "lost" and waste away, or become very cranky. I would recomend you, after cycling your tank, to get 5-6 black neon tetras, and if you dont feel the fish is cramped, to get another school of rasboras in after a month or so.
Is this your first tank? I am surprised to see a first-time owner who is treading carefuly and not trying to keep a pair of goldfish, couple bala sharks, a pike cychlid and an oscar all in one 10 g tank.
>> Anonymous
There is no better algae cleaner for a 10 gallon tank then couple of Amano shrimps. Just make sure to have hide spots for shrimps to molt and do not treat your water with copper and you will be fine.
>> Anonymous
>>210966
I'm a cautious man. I don't want my first aquarium to be a total failure.

>>210969
Thanks for the suggestion. I wasn't thinking about shrimps.
>> Anonymous
>>210974
>I'm a cautious man.
There is nothing worse then hurrying in fishkeeping.
Are you going to have planted tank? Fish love to swim around plants, hide in them, some even eat them. Its also easier to keep your tank stable with plants - just dont jump right away in heavytech plant aquarium with pressurised CO2, very high light and fertilizers. Keep it simple and you will be rewarded.
>> Anonymous
I do plan on having living plants and some sort of drift wood for shelter. What kind of plant should I go for that looks good with black neon tetra?
>> Anonymous
>>210985
> What kind of plant should I go for that looks good with black neon tetra?
Every plant look good with fish.
It all depends on the light and substrate. What kind of light fixture are you going to get? It does not has to be expensive.
I have a 10g kit that came with 2 weak incandescent light bulbs. I changed them to daylight 13w compact fluorescent screw-in bulbs. Cost of 10 gallon kit - $12, cost of 2 screw-in compact fluorescent - $4. As a substrate I used some gravel from my old tank + added some Flourish root tabs.
This way I can keep durable plants. Now, I would never see any pearling in my tank (its when plant produce so much oxygen that it can not be disolved in water anymore and creates small bubbles on leaves, beautiful sight), i will not have a nice richia carpet, nor will there be crasy growth - but thats not what I am after.
You might try with something easy - some common cryptocoryne, anubias, java fern, bacopa. a good idea is to get some small piece of java moss and tie it to a base of driftwood - slowly, moss will grow and you'll end up with a driftwood covered in moth.
http://www.tropica.com/default.asp - some info about plants
http://www.plantedtank.net/
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/
http://www.plantgeek.net/
Some useful sites about plants, all three contain articles and forums with tons of info.
>> Anonymous
>>210992
Thanks for the info!

Thanks everyone for helping me out with planning my first aquarium. Now I have to find out my costs and get some sleep.