# Is a 10 gallon big enough?



## caitic10 (Apr 30, 2011)

Hi!
I have a nice 10 gallon tank, with a filter, that currently has two old goldfish living in it. When they, pass away, I'm planning on putting a betta in there.

Is 10 gallons big enough for about three or four females? 

Thanks


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## amberjade (May 28, 2010)

OLD goldfish? You do know they can live for 30 years, right? And it is cruel to have even one in a ten gal?
Sorry, but methinks you need to find someone with a 55gal for them, or a pond.

As for your betta question, you could put a group of 5 girls in a 10, but make sure they have plenty of cover - they don't always get along. 

Not trying to be nasty, just looking out for the welfare of the animals.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## iheartmybettas (Jan 31, 2011)

That is kind of a morbid question. I mean I have thought about how in years I will buy giant bettas once my bettas die of old age but that is not any time soon hopefully.

If you don't like your goldfish you should see if someone will take them plus with 2 goldfish they should realistically be in _at least_ a 40 gallon tank (20 gallons per goldfish) due to how messy they are. They die fast typically because people don't keep them in the proper size tanks so their insides outgrow their outsides. Definitely not a pleasant way to die. I really hope you do the right thing for them. They don't deserve to go out this way.

And 10 gallons is plenty for 5 or 6 female bettas...


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## caitic10 (Apr 30, 2011)

Those two goldfish are tiny and are perfectly happy in their tank.

I don't mean to sound rude.... I just wanted to know. I've had very long living goldfish in that tank before. I know that they will live longer, I just meant 'old' because I've had them for a long time.

Thank you for your awnser.


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## SashimiBetta (May 7, 2011)

I have 3 Goldfish now, (got 2 yesterday) & I have a 10 gallon tank. So all I have to say is: Goldfish can live for a long time - So planning their death..well..might take a while.


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## iheartmybettas (Jan 31, 2011)

This was like a 5 second google search:

http://howtotakecareofagoldfish.com/beginners-goldfish-bowl-size/

"The basic rule you should strongly consider following is that you need one goldfish per every 10/15 gallons or so. Some people say you need 20 gallons per goldfish but realistically, not everyone is going to have a 20 gallon goldfish bowl with only one goldfish in it? Goldfish can in fact survive in a smaller goldfish bowl but this will stunt their growth and potentially shorten there life-span. This will require a lot more maintenance to keep the bowl clean and the goldfish healthy (see Nitrogen Cycle for more info)."

While I still say 20 gallons per goldfish, I will take 10-15 per fish. Do a little research people...


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## iheartmybettas (Jan 31, 2011)

And I'm really not trying to be mean. It just frustrates me to see fish in an environment that is to small. My daughter has 2 goldfish in a 30 gallon but the tank is filtered like a 55 gallon. Filtration also makes a big difference.


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## Teishokue (Mar 10, 2011)

the goldfish isnt the problem here >.>.... ive kept many tanks overstocked. its just the matter of how the fish will acclimate to it and how well the owner cleans it.... <.< if you go females, should prefer small females -- young females rather than older. some females tend to "fight" depending which species you got. but younger ones in a group tend to be not as agressive if they are prone together for a while


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## trono (Mar 30, 2011)

OP, you're being very vague. Words like "old" and "long time" are very subjective.


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## Jupiter (Aug 30, 2009)

Teishokue said:


> the goldfish isnt the problem here >.>.... ive kept many tanks overstocked. its just the matter of how the fish will acclimate to it and how well the owner cleans it.... <.<


Not if stunting is an issue, which I believe it is for goldfish...especially commons, who will grow to be huge in the proper tank.

Anyway, to answer OP, 4 or 5 female bettas in a 10 gallon is fine.


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## amberjade (May 28, 2010)

It isn't just water volume, that's for sure. Physical space is very important for goldfish - especially commons, who are very active and streamlined. Stunting is painful and a horrid way to die - imagine your internal organs growing and growing but you aren't growing on the outside. 
When someone says they have tiny goldfish that they've had for a long time, it doesn't sit well with me. I'm sorry, but it sounds to me that you are talking about juvie goldfish that you've had maybe 6 months - a year at top! 
To the OP -
I'm really not trying to be nasty. Can I ask how old you are? How long you have been keeping fish?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Teishokue (Mar 10, 2011)

your body and a fish's body will not grow like that. if organs are too big the surface will have to fix itself just to fit the conditions. its called adaptation, acclimation, assimulation. simple evolutionary theories. put yourself in a foreign country, you learn to speak thier language. put yourself in cold weather, your body increases in brown fat cells, put yourself eating too much lard, your body stretches causing stretch marks. although it will never burst (human skin) it will cause marks. if the tank is too small, the body will adapt to it. its just like aquarists keeping arowanas. no point in keeping because it grows as big as the tank size, even bigger. so should we keep a single arowana fry in a 15,000 gallon tank?


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## amberjade (May 28, 2010)

It has been proven that the internal organs of fish continue to grow even if the outside body doesn't. And fish grow all of their lives.
You cannot compare fish to mammals.
And there are many species of fish kept in aquariums that have no place being there - arowanas being one of them.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Teishokue said:


> your body and a fish's body will not grow like that. if organs are too big the surface will have to fix itself just to fit the conditions. its called adaptation, acclimation, assimulation. simple evolutionary theories. put yourself in a foreign country, you learn to speak thier language. put yourself in cold weather, your body increases in brown fat cells, put yourself eating too much lard, your body stretches causing stretch marks. although it will never burst (human skin) it will cause marks. if the tank is too small, the body will adapt to it. its just like aquarists keeping arowanas. no point in keeping because it grows as big as the tank size, even bigger. so should we keep a single arowana fry in a 15,000 gallon tank?


I'm sorry to go off-topic, but that is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. 

Comets and commons are exceptionally active fish, and can cover the distance of a 3 foot tank in a couple of seconds. They are also fish with a longer life expectancy than a pet cat or dog. Comparing the release of stunting hormones and the negative impacts it has on the health and longevity of a goldfish to learning to speak another language is so absurd it's laughable. 

How is keeping a couple of goldfish in a 10 gallon tank, any less cruel than keeping a betta in an unheated 0.5 gallon bowl? Sure both fish may survive, but that's a long way away from thriving, and neither of them will ever reach their full life expectancy.


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## Jupiter (Aug 30, 2009)

Teishokue said:


> your body and a fish's body will not grow like that. if organs are too big the surface will have to fix itself just to fit the conditions. its called adaptation, acclimation, assimulation. simple evolutionary theories. put yourself in a foreign country, you learn to speak thier language. put yourself in cold weather, your body increases in brown fat cells, put yourself eating too much lard, your body stretches causing stretch marks. although it will never burst (human skin) it will cause marks. if the tank is too small, the body will adapt to it. its just like aquarists keeping arowanas. no point in keeping because it grows as big as the tank size, even bigger. so should we keep a single arowana fry in a 15,000 gallon tank?


That's...not how it works. If we wanted to compare, I'd say the fish's body 'adapts' in the same manner as women's bodies used to 'adapt' to the tight-laced corsets. Just because your fish is alive, doesn't mean it's healthy. Stunting has been shown to have ill effects on fish.

As for keeping arowanas, people who want to keep it should know the size that it gets. So yes, if it would need a 15,000 gallon tank, you should be prepared to provide that...otherwise don't get the fish.


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## Teishokue (Mar 10, 2011)

you do know that arowanas grow to the size of the tank that it allows. which is the reason why most arowana die from. 
as for the corsets, a woman's body will adapt to the corset. although it would not be the same as what a woman would like it to be, it does adapt. similar to a woman wearing heels. the pointed shoes will cause woman's toes to converge and protrude the bunion on the feet while the gastronemius and the soleus will shorten. i am an anatomist, im aware of growth in humans. specially women with constrictors.


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## Thunderloon (Feb 6, 2011)

iheartmybettas said:


> This was like a 5 second google search:
> 
> http://howtotakecareofagoldfish.com/beginners-goldfish-bowl-size/
> 
> ...



But you gotta ask yourself WHICH goldfish they're talking about. The really ornate ones? The giant ones? The ones with golfball sized cheeks that can't swim against any current at all?

Remember they're also talking about UGF bio-loads. Not all cut-and-dry as that and the claim that their insides outgrow their outsides being caused by small tanks is BS too... overfeeding causes this, not tank size.

Comets DO get big but they only get big if you feed them like livestock and they do so predictably. Most of them only get to six inches naturally and that's well within the 10-gallon-with-power-filter range of life support.

There is NO MAGICAL FORCE that repels a fish's scales from the sides of a tank. Technically you could have an 18 inch goldfish in a 10 gallon tank if you had sufficient filtration, nutrient, cycle and flow support. It'd be a fairly low quality life but it is do-able.


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