# Starting first El Natural tank, how many fish for a 10g?



## Tamberav (Dec 30, 2007)

Hello! I'm working on piecing together my first El Natural tank. From what I read a high plant load and low fish load is what is needed.

So exactly how many fish is a low fish load? and are shrimp/snails considered part of the load?

For a 10 gallon I was thinking:

1 betta
6 neon tetras
1 otto
2 shrimp
Malaysian Trumpet Snails (I have a seperate tank I was thinking about just getting 2-3 Zebra loaches for and putting extra snails in there for them to snack on - can they share a tank with an African Clawed Frog or a Pictus Catfish?)

If this is too many, maybe someone could give me some ideas. Thanks!


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## flagg (Nov 29, 2004)

Tamberav said:


> Hello! I'm working on piecing together my first El Natural tank. From what I read a high plant load and low fish load is what is needed.
> 
> So exactly how many fish is a low fish load? and are shrimp/snails considered part of the load?
> 
> ...


I think your stocking level is fine. I might even add three small cories, though that might be pushing it a bit...

-ricardo


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## guppyramkrib (Sep 5, 2007)

Tamberav said:


> Hello! I'm working on piecing together my first El Natural tank. From what I read a high plant load and low fish load is what is needed.
> 
> So exactly how many fish is a low fish load? and are shrimp/snails considered part of the load?
> 
> ...


In my opinion you should be fine with the selections you have made for a 10gallon.I would start with the betta wait a few weeks and add the neons than the otto & shrimp in another few weeks.

African clawed frogs will eat fish if they can catch them.

Best of luck!!!


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## Tamberav (Dec 30, 2007)

Yah, I had one that would nip the fins of large goldfish. My current one lives with a betta and the pictus catfish. I have never seen him nip or bother either of them. I guess its just a personality thing. Sometimes the catfish and the frog sit together like they are best buds or something.

Thanks for the info on if my setup will work!


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

Tamberav said:


> Yah, I had one that would nip the fins of large goldfish. My current one lives with a betta and the pictus catfish. I have never seen him nip or bother either of them. I guess its just a personality thing. Sometimes the catfish and the frog sit together like they are best buds or something.
> 
> Thanks for the info on if my setup will work!


I had a dwarf aquatic frog, which is different that the clawed. My DAF shared a 2.5 gallon non-natural planted tank at work with my peppered cory catfish. They would shoal together and even sleep side by side. The DAF would sleep in the peppered cory catfish's back and the cory did not mind. I had a bad case of algae in the tank and although the water quality tested fine and the cory and DAF were not bothered by it, my co-workers would drive me insane by telling me how ugly the tank looked with all the algae and how I really needed to clean it up. I finally got fed up with the comments and decided to transfer the DAF and cory to a new 2.5 gallon bowl. The cory survived the transfer but the DAF did not. The DAF died but keep in mind he survived 7 years.

DAFS would make a good addition to a 10 gallon. Just make sure you have a tight fitting lid on the tank, so they don't jump out. When I set up another 10 gallon, I plan to add 2-3 DAFS as inhabitants to the set up.


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## Tamberav (Dec 30, 2007)

Homer_Simpson said:


> I had a dwarf aquatic frog, which is different that the clawed. My DAF shared a 2.5 gallon non-natural planted tank at work with my peppered cory catfish. They would shoal together and even sleep side by side. The DAF would sleep in the peppered cory catfish's back and the cory did not mind. I had a bad case of algae in the tank and although the water quality tested fine and the cory and DAF were not bothered by it, my co-workers would drive me insane by telling me how ugly the tank looked with all the algae and how I really needed to clean it up. I finally got fed up with the comments and decided to transfer the DAF and cory to a new 2.5 gallon bowl. The cory survived the transfer but the DAF did not. The DAF died but keep in mind he survived 7 years.
> 
> DAFS would make a good addition to a 10 gallon. Just make sure you have a tight fitting lid on the tank, so they don't jump out. When I set up another 10 gallon, I plan to add 2-3 DAFS as inhabitants to the set up.


This one is not a DAF, hes even albino and I don't think DAF can be albino. However I had a DAF before this frog and had a simular experiance. When I transfered him to a new tank he died. I never really understood why.

This Clawed frog prooved to be hardier as I moved from Florida to Minnesota and he rode the whole way in his tank (but only filled a couple inches).

Thats really cute that he would sit on his back and sleep.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

watch out for the betta hunting down the shrimps.


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## Tamberav (Dec 30, 2007)

mistergreen said:


> watch out for the betta hunting down the shrimps.


Thanks for the heads up, didn't know a betta would possibly do that.


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## Revernance (Aug 20, 2007)

Tamberav said:


> Thanks for the heads up, didn't know a betta would possibly do that.


I had two bettas. One would hunt down shrimps like a game. The other one acted as though the shrimps didn't exist.


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