Cycling & Stocking a 10G

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SakranMM

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
14
Hi Everyone:

Recently, I bought a 5G acrylic tank. I put a male betta in there, and a few days later I added 5 small corys. The betta was getting stressed out, and I really wanted more than a betta, so I went and purchased a 10G, to be used a community tank.

So I set the 10G up, and let it run for about 16 hours. Then I put the 5 corys in there, and I am intending on leaving the betta to himself in the 5G.

I know I have to let the 10G go through the nitrogen cycle. I plan on leaving the corys in there, testing the water, and doing fwc until it cycles.

Now that you have some background, my questions are:

1.) Will the 5 corys be ok to cycle the tank?

2.) Once the tank is cycled, my plan is to add slowly the following (in addition to the 5 corys):

- 1 Male Guppy
- 2 Female Guppies
- 1 Male Platy
- 2 Female Platies

Is this too many?
 
You're going to want to check your water parameters twice a day and do water changes as necessary. Cycling with live fish is going to take a while. Did you have a filter on the 5 gallon? I would say the Betta's bioload will be lower than the Cories. If you put the filter on the 10, you can speed along the 10 gallon cycle. The 5 gallon with a single Betta can do fine with a water change every other day if it's not cycled.

With those livebearers you want to add, you will have room, but you're going to have tons of fry, which will be a problem. Unless you have someone to take them, you will have too many in a matter of a couple months.
 
I've got filters on both tanks...an internal whisper filter on the 5g, and an "hang-on-the-outside" filter for the 10g.

For the 10G, I'm not sure what else I would put in there with the corys. I originally wanted to get a school of neon tetras, but I've got pretty hard water, and the neons I've had experience with haven't been too hardy.

I suppose I could feed the fry to the betta? (I'm half kidding, and half serious).

Any other suggestions for stocking?
 
In my experience, even large fishes won't eat fry you place in front of them all the time. Feeding isn't the way to go as a solid plan. I'll let someone else chime in on what else you can stock there as Neons are my best answer.
 
Thanks for the advice.

Regarding the neons, will they be OK in hard water?
 
I have had very little experience with Neons due to harder water in the past. It just made me steer clear of them. My experience is that they aren't so easy to keep alive with harder water conditions. I'd avoid them, but I'll let someone else chime in on that.
 
My tap water is about as hard as you can get and I have 12 neon tetras in my tank now for a year and they have thrived. You might check with your LFS and see if they would buy back or just take your fry. That is what I do with mine and my lfs gives me store credit. Good Luck
 
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