[Annie]

I just rescued 2 BABY tetras from my brother's place. He hadn't cleaned the tank or the water in ages. We replaced half the water w/ new treated water and put in plants and a decoration from petco. We have a ten-gallon tank and a filter. Anything else? I'm considering getting a snail or algea-eater or something....The tank isn't new, he has had the mother in the same tank for a few months, and she gave birht to 18 baby tetras, he left for the summer and left the poor fishies to fend for themselves. (awful, i know) and the next time i saw them, there were only 2 babies. They grow incerdibly slowly! Each one is still only 1/2 long!!!We don't want to buy a heater unless its completely necessary. We live in South Florida and don't use the air conditioning too much. Right now the thermometer in the tank says its about 78 degrees.

[lilith]

If that is all you have in the tank I would suggest only feeding them at most a tiny pinch of flake food a day. Too much food will decay in the tank and kill the fish. If the pleco is in the tank you might want to try sinking vegi pellets for him. 1waffer every other day (if it disapears) is good. If you want to put more fish in there I woudl suggest guppies and other small tetras. You should only add a few (2-3) small fish at a time and you should not have any more than 8 small fish in a 10 gal. Good luck!

[sunshinegirl]

Do you have a heater and pump for air,air stones I have both an algae eater (small) not a pleco they grow and could take over your tank snails are good but keep in mind that they multiply but you can always get rid of the ones you don't want.Good luck

[MyBabyLucky]

Yeah a snail AND algae-eater would both be nice.They will help to filter your tank along with the filter.Just feed them once a day and make sure they eat enough. DON'T over feed them. Just try your best to take care of them.

[Rose L]

Yea, fish are probably the hardest to take care of. Don't get to much decoration. Seaweed might tangle your fish. Mine got tangled and died. I strongly recommend that you don't buy these little house-like, tower shaped buildings for my fish got trapped in there and died. Don't feed it to much, it'll become fat and drown, don't feed it to less, it'll starve. Just shake the food thing 2 times. Feed it one time a day. Change the water one time in two weeks. Keep half of it the old water and pour in only half of new water. If a fish is dying, keep it in another bowl and fill the bowl with saltwater. I mean DRINKING WATER and pour in A LITTLE SALT. I managed to save a few of my fish with that trick. Don't keep it in where the sun can directly shine at it, don't keep it where it's too dark either. Keep it in a place a little sun can shine and you will go visit it every day. Another hot tip: In Chinese culter, keeping a fish tank in front of your house entrance, in your living room, is a good meaning.

[Brad]

We have a 29 gallon fresh water tank with about 15 fish in it. The best thing to do to keep it clean is to buy 1 or 2 algae eaters and get a strong filter. Algae eaters clean more algae off the tank (we've had both.) Another good investment is a magnetic cleaner. You can get them at petsmart for about $5. They are very easy to use.

[feketaboutit]

some species of fish are easier to take care of than others. Tetras should be pretty easy, an algae eater would be a good addition, plecostymus are very hardy and difficult to kill. A snail is good too, if you get two snails they will make thousands of snails.

[vort3xyz]

Tetras are very delicate fish compared to many other species. They're highly sensative to sudden changes in ph. They will also not do as well if there are only a couple of them. They do well in minimum school sizes of 6 fish. If they don't have buddies, they will be nervous & stressed all the time.Avoid common plecos sold as algae eaters. They get way too big for 10 gallon tanks. Ideal algae cleaner fish for your size tank are rubber lip pleco, and ottocinclus (aka midget suckermouth catfish). You don't really need anything that eats algae unless your lights are bright / left on too long, and especially if your tank is brand new.Be sure you have a heater. 76-78 is ideal for tetras.Expect most plants to die. There are only a few species good for small tanks without a million watts of light on them. Java fern, java moss, and wisteria are the best plants for lower light. You will be best off with plastic plants since there will be no decaying plant matter to foul the tank..Snails are great cleaners. They will suck up a ton of garbage from the tank. Just try to find a variety of snails that will not breed like crazy. To help biological stability in small tanks like a 10g, I often add a sponge filter to the air pump or as a pre-filter to the main filter. They're like $6 and can help bacteria colonize / stabalize tank conditions.