1) adding Pygmy Cory's 2)Changing tank substrate in "re-established" tank

[Alec M]

Hello all,

I'm up on about 5 weeks on a tank that I took over from a neighbor - by
this point syphoning is finally bringing up normal amounts of debris
(was very *very* dirty at the beginning.

The facts are

20 gallon tank - 24L x 12W x 17H (does this make it long or tall?)
Substrate: Thick - almost pebble-like - rounded
3 plants that are now beginning to settle in
Ph is running on the high side 7.4 or so
To "reestablish" the tank since I changed filters I've been doing about
a 20% water change every 5 or 6 days.
Was expecting a new cycle, (since I switched to a new filter and did
not bring over medium- my error) but ammonia and nitrites stayed
indetectible - it might have cycled at lower levels than I thought -
also cleaning a lot of the gunk in the gravel may have lowered bioload.

Nitrite staying constant at about 20-30 ppm.

(There's a whele

Current fish load is:

2 small (1") leopard danios - which are not going to grow any more -
they're about 3 years old and I think were stunted
3 x 2" golden barbs - again won't grow any longer - pretty aged.

So, I think I have room for growth.

I've been going back and forth between kuhlis and cories - both of
which I love. The cories in particular seem to prefer to be in groups
of 5 or 6 at least - which I think would be overstock for my tank for
regular size cories. (Interesting - many years ago everyone thought
that one or two cories was fine).

However - maybe pigmy cories is the way to go? I think I could handle
at least 5 with current tank size.

What concerns me right now is the gravel - it's what I would call small
pebbles. Smooth, not jagged.

My reading seems to indicate that cories prefer finer smooth gravel. I
don't want to replace it all at the same time since I fear I'd loose
some good bacteria. So....

1. If I did some kind of a divider at bottom of the tank - maybe
replaced 1/3 a week? or every two weeks? (so the divider would move
across the tank and eventually I would have the new gravel). Am I
overthinking this? Could I just replace the gravel if I think my
biofilter is established in the hanging filter on side?

2. Does everyone agree I need smaller gravel?

3. Do you think having pygmies is the was to go so I can have a nice
group?

4. Eventually - maybe I could add a couple of kuhlis too - would have
to look at how all fish are doing. Not sure I want to add any more
upper-level fish until the old danios move on - they're kinda
aggressive.

5. How do you introduce your pygmies - 1 at a time makes for a very
lonely fishy for a while - maybe 2... then some weeks later 2
more...then the last?

One factor is that I'm pretty good at the regular monitoring and water
replacements.

6. Ok... one more - recommendations for good cory hiding places that
are attractive - I really don't like any plastic decor in the tank.

Thanks all - this is kinda long.

Best,

Alec in PVD

[MarAzul]

I'm only going to address a couple of your questions for now.. First of
all, you tank is a 20 high. I have a long, they're about 30L x 10-12H.

And you can still keep about 10 regular cories in a tank that size.. Once
it's cycled, I'll have a colony of 22 cories in my 20L. Also I'm not sure
that pygmies are the way you'd want to go at his point in time - they tend
to be a bit more fragile than their bigger cousins. IIRC, golden barbs (and
even Danios to some extent) can be kind of nippy.

For the substrate, cories can live with gravel if it's smooth, but they do
much better in sand.

--
Mar
---------
Vet Tech student

"Alec M" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hello all,
>
> I'm up on about 5 weeks on a tank that I took over from a neighbor - by
> this point syphoning is finally bringing up normal amounts of debris
> (was very *very* dirty at the beginning.
>
> The facts are
>
> 20 gallon tank - 24L x 12W x 17H (does this make it long or tall?)
> Substrate: Thick - almost pebble-like - rounded
> 3 plants that are now beginning to settle in
> Ph is running on the high side 7.4 or so
> To "reestablish" the tank since I changed filters I've been doing about
> a 20% water change every 5 or 6 days.
> Was expecting a new cycle, (since I switched to a new filter and did
> not bring over medium- my error) but ammonia and nitrites stayed
> indetectible - it might have cycled at lower levels than I thought -
> also cleaning a lot of the gunk in the gravel may have lowered bioload.
>
> Nitrite staying constant at about 20-30 ppm.
>
> (There's a whele
>
> Current fish load is:
>
> 2 small (1") leopard danios - which are not going to grow any more -
> they're about 3 years old and I think were stunted
> 3 x 2" golden barbs - again won't grow any longer - pretty aged.
>
> So, I think I have room for growth.
>
> I've been going back and forth between kuhlis and cories - both of
> which I love. The cories in particular seem to prefer to be in groups
> of 5 or 6 at least - which I think would be overstock for my tank for
> regular size cories. (Interesting - many years ago everyone thought
> that one or two cories was fine).
>
> However - maybe pigmy cories is the way to go? I think I could handle
> at least 5 with current tank size.
>
> What concerns me right now is the gravel - it's what I would call small
> pebbles. Smooth, not jagged.
>
> My reading seems to indicate that cories prefer finer smooth gravel. I
> don't want to replace it all at the same time since I fear I'd loose
> some good bacteria. So....
>
> 1. If I did some kind of a divider at bottom of the tank - maybe
> replaced 1/3 a week? or every two weeks? (so the divider would move
> across the tank and eventually I would have the new gravel). Am I
> overthinking this? Could I just replace the gravel if I think my
> biofilter is established in the hanging filter on side?
>
> 2. Does everyone agree I need smaller gravel?
>
> 3. Do you think having pygmies is the was to go so I can have a nice
> group?
>
> 4. Eventually - maybe I could add a couple of kuhlis too - would have
> to look at how all fish are doing. Not sure I want to add any more
> upper-level fish until the old danios move on - they're kinda
> aggressive.
>
> 5. How do you introduce your pygmies - 1 at a time makes for a very
> lonely fishy for a while - maybe 2... then some weeks later 2
> more...then the last?
>
> One factor is that I'm pretty good at the regular monitoring and water
> replacements.
>
> 6. Ok... one more - recommendations for good cory hiding places that
> are attractive - I really don't like any plastic decor in the tank.
>
> Thanks all - this is kinda long.
>
> Best,
>
> Alec in PVD
>

[Lisa]

I have 6 corys in smooth, large gravel. (I am not sure if they are
dwarf varieties or not - white with rows of back spots. Might be C.
agassizii, or C. schwartzi, or even C. ornatus or C. pulcher.) The
average size of the gravel is maybe 1/2-inch to one-inch. They seem to
be doing fine (I've had them about 3 months). I think the important
thing is that the substrate is smooth.

I did, however, put a smooth ceramic "dish" in the back corner so that
I have a place to drop their sinking pellets. They appreciate having a
place where the food won't get lost. This has become quite the
congregational spot for all the other fish in the tank - they like to
hover above and grab bits that fly off as the corys are eating. I
alternate algae wafers and sinking carnivore pellets. The corys still
scavenge other food from the bottom, but I needed the dish because the
pellets would wedge down in between the pebbles, where the corys
couldn't get it.

Hope this helps.

- Lisa

[Elaine T]

Alec M wrote:

<snip>

> 1. If I did some kind of a divider at bottom of the tank - maybe
> replaced 1/3 a week? or every two weeks? (so the divider would move
> across the tank and eventually I would have the new gravel). Am I
> overthinking this? Could I just replace the gravel if I think my
> biofilter is established in the hanging filter on side?
>
If you are intent on replacing it, I think doing it at once would be
less stressful to the fish overall. Your hanging filter should have
plenty of bacteria and you have a very light fish load at the moment so
it will catch up quickly if there is a bit of ammonia.

> 2. Does everyone agree I need smaller gravel?

Nope. I've kept cories on both pea sized gravel and 2-3 mm gravel and
they lived for years. Heck, their natural habitat is a mud bottom and
muddy water that you can barely see through. Who wants to reproduce that?
>
> 3. Do you think having pygmies is the was to go so I can have a nice
> group?

I think a pair or trio of most corydoras is fine. I had two C.
trilineatus for many years that were healthy, active during the day, and
didn't seem shy. I had a friend with 3 panda cories in a 20 long that
even spawned. You can start with two or three, see how they behave, and
add more if they seem overly shy.

Pygmies can be a bit delicate, and I've been told that you actually need
a larger school of pygmies than the other sorts of cories.
>
> 4. Eventually - maybe I could add a couple of kuhlis too - would have
> to look at how all fish are doing. Not sure I want to add any more
> upper-level fish until the old danios move on - they're kinda
> aggressive.
>
Danios aggressive? That's kind of unusual. You should certainly be
able to add other barbs and danios, since they have a similar nature.
I'd think a dwarf gourami could take care of itself as well.

> 5. How do you introduce your pygmies - 1 at a time makes for a very
> lonely fishy for a while - maybe 2... then some weeks later 2
> more...then the last?
>
> One factor is that I'm pretty good at the regular monitoring and water
> replacements.

Well, first you quarantine them. Pygmies are fragile and you don't want
them dying or carrying any diseases into your tank. They're quite
small, so introducing 3 and then 2 if you find you need more would be
fine. I think 3 of any cory at once would be fine, really.
>
> 6. Ok... one more - recommendations for good cory hiding places that
> are attractive - I really don't like any plastic decor in the tank.

Rocks, bogwood, live plants with broad leaves they can hide under like
crypts or anubias. You can even silicone rocks together to make caves.

--
__ Elaine T __
><__'> http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><

[Jim Anderson]

In article . com>,
says...
> 3. Do you think having pygmies is the was to go so I can have a nice
> group?
>
>

Some cory's need a group more then others it seems.

My first cory experience was with a heavily planted 55 gallon Discus
comunity tank (lots of diff tetras w/ 4 Discus) had 5 Panda Corys. They
were always together, and very playfull. At 2:30 every day they would
line-up front and center to take turns swimming up the filter return
current against the glass each taking a couple of turns while the Discus
watched in amusement. Then when the 'Fat Kid', the only-slightly largest
Panda, took his 2nd or 3rd turn the other Pandas jump him and play pull
his wiskers and they would fall to the bottom and roll around all
hanging on to a wisker. This always resulted in a nap, all of them piled
in their favorite corner, with the fat kid in the middle.

I now have 4 'Pepper' corys, they are almost never together.

--
Jim Anderson
( 8(|) To email me just pull my_finger

[Alec M]

Thanks everyone for the great responses - I think I might be going w/ a
few Panda Cories (hard to resist Jim's tales). I'll change gravel -
probably all at once. You're right, I think I should be ok w/ side
filter.

Why didn't I think of siliconing rocks together - seems so obvious in
retrospect.

The aggressive danio - yeah - and he is pretty small - not *too* bad,
(doesn't bite fins or anything - is just...er... assertive.)

I like the little dish idea to. Have actually just added two small
Japanese shrimp and I think this might help them get fed.


Nice to be in a group where you get good responses like this.

[MarAzul]

"Alec M" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Thanks everyone for the great responses - I think I might be going w/ a
> few Panda Cories (hard to resist Jim's tales). I'll change gravel -
> probably all at once. You're right, I think I should be ok w/ side
> filter.
>


Let me just say as a caution....... *I* have had good luck with Panda's,
HOWEVER, I know many very experienced fishkeepers who have no luck keeping
Panda's alive. They are very sensetive to water chemistry. Most people seem
to think it's the tank bred Pandas that have the most problems. *shrug* I
don't know how true that is.. Like I said, I've had good luck with mine.
*knock on wood* But make sure to take a lot of time when acclimating them
to your tank..

--
Mar
---------
Vet Tech student