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I'm setting up a 10 gallon aquarium.  I previously had swordtails many years ago and wasn't very successful. Planning to put tetras and pygmy corydoras.   Live in central Texas.  Room temperature usually between 70 and 80. Do I need a heater? Do I actually need minimum of five pygmy corydoras? If I'm thinking of some combination of neon, cardinal, black neon and glowlight tetras, and pygmy corydoras, I can have how many in a 10 gallon tank? If I can have 12 fish in a 10 gallon tank and 5 of them must be pygmy corydoras, and the others will all be tetras, what is the minimum number of each kind of tetra that I can have? Do I need a test kit for nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia or only for Ph? What do I actually do if the ph is off? How many live plants do I want to put in a 10 gallon tank?   Both tetras and corydoras like cover.   I ordered maybe a dozen plastic plants, none of which are much on cover. Ordered a tetra whisper power filter.  20 Economy. http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2753026 It says it comes with a bio-bag filter cartridge, and the bigger models also include free samples of bio-foam and water conditioner.   I ordered some water conditioner.  Do I also need to order bio-foam? Should I use a tank maturing agent? How good an idea is it to run the tank for a week or two before I put in any fish? Yours, Dora Smith Austin, TX This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

How good an idea is it to run the tank for a week or two before I put in any fish? Please allow me to introduce you to The Krib. Focus especially on the cycling section. http://faq.thekrib.com/begin.html And please keep those questions coming. MG

Any chance it's because the biobag appears to contain a sponge? http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4204&rel=1 So three pygmy corydoras would be enough?   I don't want too many of my precious 10 fish to be catfish. On the tetras, will more than one variety of neons, cardinal, black neon, and glowlight form a school, or do I have to get a minimum of so many of each? Yours, Dora Smith Austin, TX This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it - Ukryj cytowany tekst -- Pokaż cytowany tekst - 

One other thing - with what should the tank be tested daily?    Test kits I've seen seem to have a few tests per $30. Yours, Dora Smith Austin, TX This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it - Ukryj cytowany tekst -- Pokaż cytowany tekst -

One other thing - with what should the tank be tested daily?    Test kits I've seen seem to have a few tests per $30. My test kit should do hundreds of tests. It's Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Inc Freshwater Master Test Kit. Believe it was around $30 Canadian at a Big Al's store in Toronto. d.

My test kit should do hundreds of tests. It's Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Inc Freshwater Master Test Kit. Believe it was around $30 Canadian at a Big Al's store in Toronto. I've relied on the API Freshwater Master kit since forever. It costs around $20 on line. It is good for hundreds of tests. I purchased the API GH/KH kit for about $6. Like Whisper leaving out the sponge on the model 20, I'm irritated because API doesn't include the hardness test in their so called Master kit. Most of the tests are seldom used after the initial nitrification and settling of the tank, but they sure do come in handy now and then when something doesn't seem right. MG