Hi, I want to get some gold barbs. How many of them can i keep in a 10 gallon tank? all I have in it at the moment is 3 little mountain minnows.

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3 would be stretching it and would proably be the max. With a 10G I wouldn't recommend getting any because they like to be in larger groups of 5-6. Get some more White Cloud Minnows, as you can probably have as many as 10 in there, and they also like to be in large groups.

Also make sure to get a filter that's designed for at least a 20G tank if you do get more fish.

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30G planted aquarium with Aquaclear 50 and two Aquaclear 20s. 7 Cherry Barbs, 12 Cardinal Tetras, 1 Albino Bristlenose Pleco, 1 Golden Honey Gourami, and a handful of Ghost Shrimp.

Agreed. It's never good to stretch a tank's filter or bio-load to the max, (I did with mine - as you can see in my signature - and have suffered the price). I had fish dying left, right and center! Things are calming down now thankfully. The 1 inch of fish per gallon rule actually doesn't work. It's a 10 gallon tank, but when you add gravel and decor, it's not actually 10 gallons of swimming space.

As mentioned, maybe a few more minnows? (You were getting some Assassin snails too right?) They are fun to watch. If you don't want anymore minnows, you could try some shrimp, such as Red Cherry, Ghost or Amano. (Just make sure you check to be sure the minnows won't eat them first, of course).

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36g Bow Front Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981

can red cherry and ghost shrimp be kept in a cold water tank? (think I read somewhere online that they can) because I think theyre interesting creatures and I bought 2 ghost shrimp from my local aquarium shop 2 months ago but in the morning I woke up to find them dead laying on their side at the bottom.

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Shrimp can adapt to pretty cold water...much lower than room temp, but you need to properly acclimate them since the water at the shop you're buying them at is probably significantly higher than what your tank is. Float them at the top of the tank for a few hours before putting them in next time and see if you get better results. They won't be as active and energetic at temps below 68-70 degrees Fahrenheit, but they won't die due to it.

Also what kind of tank were they in when you bought them? Ghost Shrimp are commonly used as feeders for larger fish and if they are in an overstocked tank with a ton of other Ghost Shrimp, they are most likely underfed, possibly ill, and not very well taken care of since they are being sold to be eaten. If the store has them in a tank with other fish and there aren't too many of them, or if they are a few in several tanks, then these ones will probably be much better off.

I think it'd be safe to purchase up to 6 shrimp for your tank, you could possibly even get away with 10 but 5-6 seems like a good number. Buy smaller ones because there is a slight chance of bigger ones trying to pick a fight with your Clouds, especially if they are a certain species of "ghost shrimp" (several species are sold under the name ghost/glass shrimp). Usually, however, they avoid fish and don't want to risk injury but will get feisty with each other.

Remember they molt too, which can make them appear dead..and if disturbed during the process they may die, so they need hiding places. If they look white they're molting, if they look pink/red they are dead.

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30G planted aquarium with Aquaclear 50 and two Aquaclear 20s. 7 Cherry Barbs, 12 Cardinal Tetras, 1 Albino Bristlenose Pleco, 1 Golden Honey Gourami, and a handful of Ghost Shrimp.

Agree with all the above with the additional fact that my Golden Barbs got BIG! In my 60g, in about 4 months, they grew from small store size to these huge (2.5 inch, lol) fat, footballs with fins. They must be getting more than their fair share of food because they are so fat they can hardly swim. I exaggerate, but you know what I mean.

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60g tall, all artificial plants, Rainbow tank; 55g for African Cichlids. 20g long for fry; 20g hex, 2 black Angels at my desk; 10g planted, with 50 Molly fry; 10 gal, 2x 13w cfl lightning, planted; 2g hex for "Buddy the Betta"; Wanting a 200g +, MTS getting bad.

Gold barbs are quite fat lookin lol. Do they ever swim after your finger if you move it across the aquarium glass?

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Amano Shrimp | The Shrimp Farm Amano Shrimp

Red Cherry Shrimp | The Shrimp Farm Cherry Shrimp

American Glass Shrimp (Ghost Shrimp) Ghost/Glass Shrimp

So far the Cherry looks like your best bet. I'd maybe google a few more sites just to be sure though. (What temp' is your tank kept at?)

P.S. Did you end up getting some Assassin snails?

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(What temp' is your tank kept at?) - Its at average south of england room temperature its not cold because my floor is kinda warm because there are gas and heating pipes under the old wooden floorboards which acctually feel like they are warming up parts of the floor.

P.S. Did you end up getting some Assassin snails? - yeah I bought 2 of ebay, they arrived yesterday. I like the colouring on their shells and their odd body shape. they're only tiny ones at the moment so they keep hiding in the gravel but they should be out and about doing some cleaning when theyre a bit bigger. I might buy another 12 of them for £11.

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Not only that, when I feed them bloodworms from an eyedropper, they put their mouths up to it like a baby pig nursing. They take all they can, swim away for a second and come back for more! I have to watch how much they get and move the eyedropper away from them so others can eat. (Probably why they are so fat!)

My Clowns do the same and for a "shy" fish, those Clowns spend a lot of time swimming with the herd, which is a bunch of Rainbows for the most part.

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60g tall, all artificial plants, Rainbow tank; 55g for African Cichlids. 20g long for fry; 20g hex, 2 black Angels at my desk; 10g planted, with 50 Molly fry; 10 gal, 2x 13w cfl lightning, planted; 2g hex for "Buddy the Betta"; Wanting a 200g +, MTS getting bad.

Who knows if variable platys are schooling fish? or are they ok to keep 1 or 2 on their own? (with my mountain minnows). I cant seem to find that info anywhere.

I have been wondering the same thing for a while and it's difficult to get a definitive answer. From what I can tell; livebearers and gouramis generally prefer groups but are much better alone than true community fish (barbs, tetras, danios, etc). The owner of the LFS I recently started going to encouraged me to buy a single Honey Gourami for my 30G and said he would be fine, and it seems guppies/platies are similar.

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30G planted aquarium with Aquaclear 50 and two Aquaclear 20s. 7 Cherry Barbs, 12 Cardinal Tetras, 1 Albino Bristlenose Pleco, 1 Golden Honey Gourami, and a handful of Ghost Shrimp.