Mr. Gardener wrote:

I'm envisioning a jungle animal pacing back and forth in his
"generously sized" cage.

They usually spend a lot of time playing with each other in the bubbles
and a lot of time swimming in and out of the plants and rocks looking
for scraps on every surface.


All too often, some LFS people will tell you anything to make a sale.
There are very few fish that will thrive in a 5 gallon, especially if
more than a single fish is being considered. Surviving is not the same
as thriving.

Yup - and I want thriving if I can arrange it. The main fish I wanted
in the tank was the male betta and my feeling is that he's quite happy
there. The FS suggested a couple of Corys to clean up the bottom and I
went for it. (I really love those little guys.) This may have been a
mistake, although, saying that they seem happy again now I've upped the
water changes again.


My dozen Corys are only about half grown, and they use every inch of
their 15 gallon tank. I am already planning for their 20 Long, which
will give them lots more horizontal space - they love zooming back and
forth and back and forth, sometimes together, other times as if they
were playing a game of tag. The more space they have, the more fun
they are to watch. And without going overboard with the
anthropomorphizing (I love that word), I think they're having fun.

That sounds really lovely. I think that's definitely one of the
biggest joys of fishkeeping for me - when you get it right and are
rewarded by happy, healthy fish. It's certainly what I'm aiming for!

Regards,

Muddy