Fish That Can Fit In A 10L Tank?

Hi Barney 

I have to tell you that a 10 litre tank is not suitable for any fish. You might get away with keeping shrimps in it but that's about all. Please ignore all those comments on Amazon. This size is not suitable for neon tetras, white clouds etc and certainly not for goldfish.
If you went for something a bit bigger you would be able to keep a siamese fighting fish, usually known by the name betta these days. The minimum for a betta is 5 American gallons, which is 19 litres.

But small tanks are harder to maintain and don't give you much choice in fish. If you could accommodate something with a footprint of 60 x 30cm you'd have much more choice. The 50 litre tank in my signature is this size, though it is a shallow tank. Taller tanks would give you something like 60 litres. And even bigger would give you a lot more choice.
If a larger tank like this costs a bit too much for a first tank (you may decide fish keeping isn't for you after all) look at second hand tanks on Ebay, freecycle, facebook groups etc.

You will need a tank with a filter, heater and lights. There are few cold water fish suitable for small tanks, most small fish are tropical which is why you need a heater.


Something your family may not have known about when you were a child is cycling a tank. This is the name given to the process of growing bacteria in the tank which 'eat' the toxic waste made by the fish.
Before you go any further, can I suggest you read these:
Cycling without fish
Cycling with fish

Cycling without fish is easier because if you make mistakes you don't kill any fish.

A 25L tank is still very small, it's a "nano" tank and you could only fit a very few small fish in it. They are almost the same price as bigger tanks and take up almost as much space.

If you want to buy from EBay, look at something like the CLassica Paradom 58 litre, it's only £10 more than the one you mention and holds over twice as much water, hence more than twice as many fish. There are plenty more tanks about the 60 litre mark available cheaply.

Everybody here will probably discourage you from buying a small tank as most have tried it and been disappointed!

Hi,
I appreciate that the small tanks do not give much of an option but my main restricting factors are cost and space.
I would love to have a bigger tank but I simply don't have the space. I liked the 'Superfish Home 25' because it is rectangular and not too big. If there is a tank similar to the superfish but slightly taller/wider (Horizontal depth/front-back depth) to increase the volume without being much more expensive that would be good, but I am struggling to find something like that....

I can only get the types of fish that my local fish store stocks. I need to go and see what they have in because this changes frequently. I will definitely know what kind of fish I will be getting before I get the tank so I get an appropriately sized tank.

Thanks again.

EDIT: Just found a 40L version of the Superfish Home: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Superfish-Home-40-Fish-Tank-Aquarium-White-40-Litre-/161686559065?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item25a5451959

Would this be a good choice or is it still too small/bad quality?

Thanks.

You can save a fortune buying second hand. Check out eBay and Gumtree, they are usually filled with bargains. Most of the time the seller will also throw in heaters, filters, siphons, nets, food and all sorts of other fishy paraphernalia. I have an aquanano 40 due to space limitations. Cracking tank and whilst its cube shape does limit fish choices, there are still plenty of suitable fish. It's 55l and I wouldn't recommend anything smaller if your after a shoal of fish. 

Spot on notungz. I'm amazed the price some tanks go for. I saw someone giving away a Fluval Rio 180 with external filter, two heaters and lighting just down the road from me (already gone before I spotted it ). Lots of very expensive tanks go for well below what you'd expect on eBay and they almost always come with extras. Sorting by distance is a great way of ensuring you don't get a bargain on a tank only to spend what you've saved on petrol!

I've got three carrier bags full of ornaments in my shed that came with my aquanano 40 and stand. I also got a spare filter, three heaters, bucket, net, siphon, two algae scrapers, loads of food and treatments. All for the grand total of £50! I only had to buy substrate, new ceramic noodles, plants and of course fish! 

Hi again,
After doing a bit more research and going to my local fish shop I found this tank: http://www.seapets.co.uk/products/aquarium-supplies/aquariums/fluval/elite-and-marina-fun-aquariums/marina-premium-54-aquarium-set-white.html

It seems to have a better filter, is slightly cheaper and bigger. Additionally the local shop had one on display and it seemed to be of good quality.

Anyone know about this tank? Struggling to find reviews online.

That's actually the very same tank as I have - I got it for the 'footprint' (60x30 giving more choice) but without the extra weight which the taller tanks would have. I really like it - looks good, is 'finished' well (better than the Clearseal tanks I used to have, where the sealant looked a bit dubious), and heater and filter function absolutely fine.

The filter that came with mine is actually a Marina i110 with one carbon-filled cartridge; as Sue says, you could replace this cartridge with filter sponge (or filter wool). The filter has a 'waterfall' effect - it sits above the water line, causing the water to fall in, but it tends not to have much surface agitation; this doesn't seem to have had any negative effect on my tetras and cories, though - and fish which tend to prefer more surface agitation (eg danios) would be better in bigger tanks anyway. Where the water falls in, the substrate tended to scatter, so I've placed some rock there, and that takes the 'brunt' of the waterfall.

My 50 litre tank is an Eheim of the same dimensions. With my tank, the volume of water is less than the stated volume of 54 litres as that is the volume of the entire tank ignoring the fact you can't fill it right to the brim and have to leave a couple of cm gap above the water line. If you get that tank, check the volume when you set it up - it is easy enough to measure the inside (stopping the height measurement 2 cm short of the rim) and calculate the volume. Then deduct a bit more for the space taken up by the heater, filter, sand/gravel and ornaments.

If you don't mind spending a bit more  to change the filter, that's what I would do.