Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Could I add a snail and maybe a couple more neon tetras into my tank?

I have a 10 gallon aquarium and i currently have 4 dalmation mollies and 1 neon tetra. In the past, the tank has been very dirty and i go through alot of trouble to clean it. Would a snail help anything? I also was wondering if it would effect the fish (health wise). Thanks.|||Snails are good for Algae on the sides of the tanks. That's it. Otherwise they give off a lot more bad stuff that can harm your water quality. If it's "Very Dirty" it's probably because of your filtration system (or lack of one). Instead of investing in more fish, maybe you should look into a better filter?





The main issue with your tank is the size. It's such a small tank that you'll have to clean it at least once a week. The more fish you add, the more often you need to change the water. I've got a 150 gallon tank and I only have to do a 30-40% water change every month. But when I had my 20 gallon it was a week, week 1/2 between water changes.





As a rule of thumb, you should have 1 inch of fish for every gallon of water. Mollies can get up to a few inches full grown and so you're just about tapped with what you have in there currently. You can add more but expect to be cleaning the tank more often then you do now.|||You're welcome! :D

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|||No, the snail won't have a lasting effect on the cleanliness of the tank, neither will it have an affect on the fish.





A 10g unestablished aquarium will become quite messy with mollies considering they can grow up to be around 5" when fully grown. That's why a group of 4-5 should be kept in nothing less than a 30g aquarium.





Neon tetras should never be kept alone, or in groups less than six. They should be kept in aquariums 20g and larger, in groups of 6-8 at the bare minimum. They're too active for small tanks such as yours.





Get one male betta and a group of 4-5 ghost shrimp, as long as it's fully established and cycled.|||your neon tetra must be very lonely because they need groups of six or more. the snail might help though i doubt that one snail would do anything big|||The snail won't drastically change how clean the water/tank is. If you're noticing a big algae problem, is your tank sitting in a window or somewhere that receives a lot of direct sun? That could be one problem. As for whether the dirty water/tank will affect the health of the fish, absolutely!! You might see signs of stress or disease if the tank stays dirty. Tanks require a lot of maintenance to keep clean. That's part of the responsibility of owning one, much like a dog or a cat or any pet. If you're unable to return or rehome all of these fish (try a larger tank? larger tanks are sometimes easier to keep clean because you have more room for error), I would at least try rehoming the neon or returning it to the fish store. They most likely won't give you your money back, but at least you'll know the fish is much happier to be with many of its own kind. Don't try adding more fish to make it happy, as that will just make the waste problem worse. Good luck with your tank!! Hope you can find a good home for the neon and that your mollies stay healthy. :)|||Get a Plecostomus they eat the algea they're cool and easy to care 4 too

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